From Acquisition to Growth: Red Dog Radios Gets Control with Fishbowl

Red Dog Radios is a nationwide provider of mission-critical two-way radio and communications systems serving public safety, emergency response, hospitality, and enterprise customers. Based in Colorado but operating across the U.S., the company designs, deploys, and supports complete radio ecosystems—from handheld radios to repeaters, combiners, controllers, and ongoing repair services.

When John Sapuppo acquired the business, he brought more than two decades of industry experience—and a clear vision for building a scalable operation with modern systems from day one.

The Challenge

After purchasing Red Dog Radios, John faced a dual challenge: learning the nuances of an established business while simultaneously putting the right operational systems in place. Prior to the acquisition, inventory and order management lived largely inside QuickBooks, which made it difficult to control access, standardize workflows, and scale confidently.

John knew that allowing employees to create sales orders directly in accounting software wasn’t sustainable. He needed a dedicated inventory management platform that could bring structure, consistency, and visibility—without slowing the business down.

The Solution

Having used Fishbowl earlier in his career, John made the decision to implement Fishbowl immediately after acquiring the company. Fishbowl became the operational backbone for Red Dog Radios, managing inventory, sales orders, cycle counts, and fulfillment—while syncing cleanly with QuickBooks for accounting.

The onboarding process took place over several months and focused on building repeatable workflows that matched how the business actually operates in the field. John also adopted Fishbowl Payments, allowing customers to pay invoices directly through integrated payment links.

The Results

With Fishbowl in place, Red Dog Radios gained immediate improvements in day-to-day operations:

• Accurate inventory visibility through regular cycle counts
• Cleaner order fulfillment with sales orders posting correctly to QuickBooks
• Better access control keeping employees out of accounting while still enabling sales
• Professional invoicing and payments with automated payment links that don’t tie up staff time

In its first year under new ownership, Red Dog Radios has already achieved modest growth while modernizing operations and preparing for scale.