The verdict in three sentences
An Amsterdam craft brewery brewing 6,000 hectolitres a year, running a busy taproom and supplying cafés, bottle shops and supermarkets needs software that links brews, packaging, stock, keg tracking, Dutch excise duty reporting and taproom sales. The 2026 market budget sits between 30,000 and 100,000 EUR for 4 to 8 months of work, and the brief decides where in that range you land. A brief with measurable requirements (volumes, entry times, tolerated variances) is what stops vague quotes and overruns.
The context to put on page one
| Context item | Value for the brewery (example) |
|---|---|
| Annual volume | 6,000 hL |
| Active recipes | 25 to 45, 10 core beers |
| SKUs | 70 (cans, bottles, 20 L and 30 L kegs, taproom pours) |
| Customers | 400 cafés and bottle shops, 2 supermarket chains, export to Belgium and Germany |
| Keg fleet | 3,000 to 5,000 kegs |
| Users | 15 (brewers, logistics, sales, finance, taproom) |
| Market budget | 30,000 to 100,000 EUR, 2026 estimate |
| Target timeline | 4 to 8 months |
State your excise status (tax warehouse licence), your accounting package and your taproom point of sale, because the excise module, accounting export and sales sync all depend on them.
Requirements template, module by module
| Module | Measurable requirement | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Recipes and brews | Create a brew from a recipe in under 2 minutes with auto scaled malt, hops and yeast | Must have |
| Fermentation tracking | Gravity and temperature entry on tablet, alert when outside recipe thresholds | Must have |
| Packaging and lots | Unique lot per packaging run, traceable from malt to customer in under 30 seconds | Must have |
| Stock | Monthly cycle counts with a maximum 1% variance | Must have |
| Excise | Volumes and ABV released for consumption, monthly return data ready for submission to the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, warehouse movement log, intra EU shipment records | Must have |
| Keg tracking | Barcode or QR per keg, balance per customer, reminder after 45 days | Should have |
| Taproom integration | Taproom POS sales deducted from stock and excise volumes daily | Should have |
| Orders and delivery runs | Mobile order entry for reps, picking, 4 to 6 weekly routes optimised | Should have |
| Dashboard | Volumes, margin per SKU, kegs in the trade, live | Nice to have |
Do not hard code duty rates or thresholds in the brief: require them to be configurable and updated from the official rates published by the tax authority.
Non functional requirements and plan
| Requirement or phase | Content | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Brewhouse tablets keep working through short outages, then sync | Offline mode |
| Backups | Daily, with a tested restore | Maximum 24 h data loss |
| Data protection | EU hosting, GDPR processing agreement | Signed before go live |
| Discovery and wireframes | Workshops with brewers, logistics, taproom | 3 to 5 weeks |
| Build in releases | Production and stock, then excise, then kegs, taproom and routes | 10 to 20 weeks |
| Acceptance and parallel run | Compare two monthly excise returns with the old process | 4 to 8 weeks |
Several routes exist: brewery software from the market with configuration, an adapted open source ERP (Odoo type), an agency or IT services firm for custom work, or a freelancer for a focused layer. Kolonell is one nearshore option: Kolonell's prices are 6,100 to 10,670 EUR for a medium application and 10,670 to 22,870 EUR and up for a complex one, with Standard maintenance at 114 EUR a month. Whatever the provider, have each module priced separately against this brief.
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Sanne, co-founder of a brewery in Amsterdam Noord, loses about 7% of her 4,000 kegs a year, 280 kegs at 85 EUR each: 23,800 EUR. Preparing the monthly excise return and reconciling taproom sales takes her finance lead three days a month.
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With QR keg tracking and automated reminders she aims to halve losses, saving 11,900 EUR. Automated excise preparation and taproom sync cut the monthly work to one day, freeing 24 days a year at 320 EUR loaded cost: 7,680 EUR. On a 70,000 EUR project, a direct gain of 19,580 EUR a year means payback in about 3.6 years, faster if lot traceability prevents a single product recall.
FAQ
How long should the brief be?
Around 15 pages is enough for a 6,000 hL brewery: context in numbers, requirements per module, constraints, plan and acceptance criteria. Beyond 30 pages, vendors skim.
Should the software file the excise return itself?
It should calculate volumes released for consumption and prepare reliable return data; filing responsibility stays with the brewery. Plan 4 to 8 weeks of parallel running to validate at least two returns.
What does keg tracking alone cost?
As a 2026 market estimate, 5,000 to 15,000 EUR for QR based tracking with customer balances and reminders, plus durable tags at a few euros per keg.
Market software or custom?
Below 1,500 hL, market software is usually enough. Between 4,000 and 15,000 hL with supermarkets, exports and a taproom, an adapted or custom solution at 30,000 to 100,000 EUR becomes worthwhile.
How do we compare quotes?
Ask for effort per module in days, the monthly support cost and exit terms. Reject any offer that will not commit to a release plan spanning 4 to 8 months.
Let's scope your project. Send us your completed brief (volumes, SKUs, kegs, priority modules) and we will reply with module by module pricing, an indicative budget and a release plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
