International Wholesale Food-Industry Software

Owner of software company is ready to face the issues that come with serving international clients after 3 decades of adapting Challenges? He eats them up

By SANDRA BRETTING
For The Chronicle
As published in the Houston Chronicle May 08, 2008

People in the produce business have a saying, Henri Morris says: "Sell it or smell it."

"That's because there's such a rapid turnover in the food industry," said Morris, owner of a Houston firm that provides inventory and accounting software for the wholesale food industry. "And it's why I don't allow anyone in my company to have voice mail. If clients have a problem, they need answers right away."

Morris' company, Edible Software, has built a software package for produce companies, grocers, juice manufacturers and others in the food industry that allows them to track inventory, enter orders, monitor expenses and perform other accounting functions.

Clients, such as Brothers Produce, Cal-Tex Citrus Juice and Magnolia Fruit & Produce Co., then customize the software for their needs. Edible Software cracked the $1 million mark in revenue in 2006, according to Morris, and is on track to earn $2 million this year.

"We've been growing 50 percent a year over the last several years," he said. "We're up to 17 employees, most of them programmers, and next month we'll move into our own building."

What doesn't kill you ...

Though the company's fortunes appear to be rising, it's been a roller-coaster ride through almost three decades of change, Morris said.

What began as a one-man operation in 1980 nearly cratered 15 years later after one of the firm's big clients got ahold of his proprietary software.

That effectively cut Morris' company out of the picture.

"After that I didn't draw a salary for two years," Morris said. "But the one thing it did do was it allowed us to refocus. We'd been serving a lot of clients in a lot of different industries, and now was the time to focus on the food industry only."

In the end, Edible Software is going to be a better company, because now it understands its vulnerabilities, said Terry Hemeyer, an adjunct professor at the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University.

"This kind of thing happens all of the time — in big companies and small," Hemeyer said. "So I tell business owners they need to have safeguards in place."

A native of South Africa, Morris immigrated to the U.S. in 1978 as a certified public accountant to find a position in accounting or computer programming. After spending two years with a midsize software firm, he launched his own company and has never looked back.

"My first job offer in Houston was for this huge corporation," Morris said.

"But all I can remember is walking through a reception area and seeing hundreds of partitions. I didn't want to be just another person behind a partition."

According to Morris, today most of Edible Software's 100 clients are based outside Texas, with many on the East Coast.

The company has begun to court foreign clients as well, which brings its own challenges, Morris said.

"Dealing with the foreign exchange rate is a huge issue — as well as translating the software into other languages," he said. "After you've done it the first time, you're fine, because you've got all the parameters in place. But it's getting to that point that's hard."

Trade shows are key

Edible Software attracts most of its clients through trade shows. Once a client purchases the software platform, which can run upward of $20,000 for five licensed users, the client can customize the product for its needs. Normally, the company sells to 10 licensed users or more, Morris said.

Customers from as far away as Japan have expressed interest, which brings even more challenges, according to Morris.

"The thing about overseas clients is that you have to be able to support them once they've purchased the software," Morris said. "The only way to make it work is to partner with a local company who can provide support. That's what we're looking for as a next step."