Let's go digital: Why digital invoices save paper & time
Invoicing is a necessary part of any business. For wholesale fruit and veg suppliers creating invoices is a particularly lengthy and monotonous process. Coming out of Covid-19 there has been increasing interest in the dining experience, leading to new innovations in the fresh produce industry. This has led orders to become larger, and invoices to contain more line items.
Often wholesale food suppliers handwrite invoices or manually enter them into their accounting system and in an already time-poor industry, these tasks are unnecessarily labour intensive.
So what’s the solution? Going digital.
Here’s why.
In this Guide
Paper problems...
We often hear complaints from wholesale food suppliers of customers constantly requesting old invoices. Similarly, a common complaint from restaurants and venues is that they are missing invoices and waiting for new ones to be issued.
The nature of working in food hospitality means invoices will end up missing, damaged, or filed away somewhere where limited employees have access. While paper invoices are still the only way to reconcile orders, these requests take up valuable time but also continue to generate paper waste.
How are wholesalers currently managing their paper problems?
The process of resolving these complaints from restaurants and venues requires replicating old invoices. While this is a simple task, it requires double handling and consumes resources that could be spent more productively.
Digital access to previous invoices will eliminate the need for suppliers and customers to hunt for missing invoices. Going digital will give suppliers and customers a huge opportunity for significant time savings with invoices available in just one click!
Digitising: From paper to professional
An additional bonus to digitalising invoicing is making your business appear more professional.
It is commonplace in the wholesale food industry to do things with pen and paper. While noting how time-consuming this process can be, it can also create the impression that your business is not keeping up with the increasingly digital era.
Restaurants and venues are becoming more attracted to suppliers who keep pace with the digital trends and subsequently offer a high level of professionalism.
The pandemic has not only elicited a shift online for front-of-house experiences, but also for internal processing too. It is becoming clear that restaurants want to ‘streamline backend logistics’ and engage with partners who can offer this.
Jay Carroll, Owner of Carrolls Greengrocers in Sussex said “using Fresho helped to professionalise his business.”
As well as digital invoices creating significant time savings they also provide wholesale food suppliers with a competitive edge.
For restaurants, going digital simplifies the lives of chefs and restaurateurs, as well as increases professionalism on their side, by eliminating the disorganised paper trail.
Ultimately, centralising your wholesale business is having a positive impact across the whole supply chain.
"It’s saved us time having one admin staff that can produce 200-300 orders a week, in a day."
How do I go digital?
The first step to removing old-school paper invoices is implementing a software that streamlines your order-to-invoices processes.
Fresho, an online ordering software provides scope to easily process invoices, offering suppliers that next step to greater professionalism and significant time savings. The platform ensures your wholesale food supply business can stand tall against its competitors by providing that modern edge that chefs look for in the restaurant industry.
