Case Study: Hickory Farms achieves optimized seasonal sales and faster order fulfillment with Microsoft Power BI

Hickory Farms reinvents its business in the cloud

Hickory Farms, a Chicago-based gourmet foods retailer, faced the challenge of modernizing decades-old, siloed systems to support omnichannel growth and a workforce that swells from about 90 to over 4,500 people each holiday season. To gain a scalable, unified back end, Hickory Farms adopted Microsoft Power BI alongside Microsoft Dynamics 365 (Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations and Dynamics 365 for Retail), with partner RSM supporting the implementation.

RSM implemented Dynamics 365 to give warehouse, distribution, and retail staff real‑time inventory and order data via mobile devices, while managers use Microsoft Power BI dashboards to track inventory, production progress, and staffing. The solution established a single version of the truth across channels, improved decision speed during the two‑month peak selling period, enabled better order fulfillment and fewer stock‑outs, and supported scaling the seasonal workforce from ~90 to 4,500+—delivering measurable improvements in efficiency and customer experience.

Hickory Farms

Matt James

Chief Operating Officer