Why all catering equipment suppliers should offer a 'buy now pay later' service for their customers post-pandemic

We work with thousands of foodservice operators, supplying them with all kinds of professional catering equipment from commercial refrigerators and freezers, stainless steel kitchen furniture to cooking equipment and food prep machines.

We, our customers, and hospitality as a whole were heavily impacted by the pandemic. With the sudden impact of the first lockdown, as a business we had to very quickly adapt our customer base due to businesses having to close their doors overnight with no certainty as to when they would be allowed to reopen. We recognised there was an opportunity within the takeaway industry to cater our offerings towards these businesses that were still able to keep delivering. This became a significant turning point in the business as it opened the doors to a new pool of customers we’d not previously targeted.

Post-lockdowns, many of our customers needed new equipment for their reopenings after spending a lot of time out of action during the pandemic. But this extreme down time resulted in big losses, so businesses found themselves unable to pay for items outright and needed alternative payment methods to be readily available.

"It meant we were able to start offering foodservice operators a buy now pay later service. This has definitely resulted in a lot more sales for us, as our customers can get back on track and start buying the equipment they need again..."

With traditional banks frequently refusing foodservice operators credit – particularly throughout the pandemic, many of these restaurants, hotels and pubs looked to their suppliers – like us – for alternative finance options. Here at eCatering we’re “on your side”; we understand getting the right equipment to our customers quickly and efficiently is vital to keeping their businesses going during these hard times. Our team is dedicated to ensuring foodservice operators receive the highest level of care when shopping with us; going above and beyond their expectations is what defines who we are as a business and what drives us to delivering a service like no other.

So, we adapted quickly to try to support our customers, and began offering financing solutions for them on the equipment we sold. We did this through iwocaPay, which allowed us to offer built-in payment terms and provide immediate access to credit to our customers. It meant we were able to start offering foodservice operators a buy now pay later service. This has definitely resulted in a lot more sales for us, as our customers can get back on track and start buying the equipment they need again.

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