PurposeThe purpose of this article is to examine how Keo and Carlsberg (Cyprus), the two main companies operating in the Cypriot brewing industry, have recently introduced enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in their effort to obtain competitive advantage and to increase their market share.Design/methodology/approachThe paper was based on primary data collected through personal interviews with senior managers of the two companies.FindingsBoth companies have been among the first organisations in Cyprus to implement ERP systems, which have provided the two companies with a single interface for managing all their operations – from entering sales orders to coordinating shipping and after‐sales customer service. The new system has offered considerable benefits to the two companies, both in their production and in other operational functions.Practical implicationsA number of suggestions are made for other Cypriot companies considering the implementation of ERP systems, so that they can achieve maximum benefit from the adoption of such systems.Originality/valueThis paper has examined, for the first time, how the two main Cypriot breweries have implemented ERP systems, the similarities and differences between the two implementations, and the benefits that such systems have brought to the two companies.