Spindrift makes sparkling water sold across grocery, club, and convenience channels nationwide. As distribution and SKU count grew, so did the complexity of forecasting revenue, margin, and cash across every customer and pack type.

At a Glance

• Client: Spindrift - sparkling beverage brand, founded 2010

• Industry: Food & beverage / CPG

• What BPC built: Custom NetSuite Planning & Budgeting (NSPB) model

• Timeline: Live in 20 weeks

• Key result: One connected model linking revenue, margin, and cash
  
  

The Challenge

Spindrift's planning process lived across disconnected spreadsheets and reports. Revenue allocations down to the SKU level were manual and time-intensive, margin visibility at that level was limited, and aluminum-cost swings were hard to model with any precision. Cash management lacked forward-looking visibility, so borrowing decisions were made reactively rather than as part of a proactive strategy. As the brand's shelf presence and pack-type mix kept growing, the gap between what the spreadsheets could handle and what the business actually needed kept widening.

How BPC Helped

Spindrift evaluated Workday Adaptive Planning alongside NetSuite Planning & Budgeting (NSPB) before choosing NSPB - drawn to its tighter integration between financial and operational data, bi-directional Excel connectivity through SmartView, and the ability to extend beyond financial planning into demand planning. The company then brought in Bryant Park Consulting to build the model. The engagement followed a design-first process: allocation logic was prototyped early and validated against historical data, and commodity modeling was tested through scenario simulations before go-live, with close involvement from Spindrift's finance and operations teams throughout.

Custom IP

• Proprietary top-down revenue engine, auto-allocating forecasts to the SKU level

• Dynamic trade and discount modeling embedded directly in the forecast

• Commodity-responsive COGS model for variable aluminum pricing

• Integrated balance sheet model with a proprietary line-of-credit trigger
  
  

The Impact

• One model connecting revenue drivers to expenses, working capital, and cash flow

• Significantly reduced spreadsheet dependency across finance and operations

• Faster forecast cycles and more reliable board-level reporting

• Proactive liquidity planning, replacing reactive borrowing decisions
  
  

"What used to take days of manual allocation across spreadsheets now happens automatically, down to the SKU level - freeing the finance team to focus on decisions instead of data entry."

What's Next

Following go-live, Spindrift moved into an ongoing managed services partnership with Bryant Park Consulting. The team continues to enhance the model, expand its modeling capabilities, and refine planning processes as the business grows - including new product launches, channel-level demand planning, and tighter alignment between supply and financial forecasting. Spindrift is also an early adopter of predictive, trend-based planning within NSPB, and is exploring how tools like Claude and ChatGPT could support deeper forecast analysis.