Helping Simply Fresh Food ride a wave of success

From café beginnings to food manufacturing powerhouse

For any growing business, managing cash flow can be a challenge, and for Simply Fresh Food, navigating this volatility has been crucial to their success.

"Cashflow, especially in the food business, is vital because it's a volatile game, and Earlypay helped us immensely as we grew", says the founder of Simply Fresh Food, Frank Vecchiarelli. 

Vecchiarelli recounts the early days of the business, which began when he was running his own café in Melbourne's Fitzroy and has now grown into a food manufacturer creating millions of food items for the masses. 

Scaling up: opportunities and challenges

According to Vecchiarelli, his move into the wholesale food business began with sushi, before he moved into supplying sandwiches to hospital cafes around Victoria. As this business grew, he started to dabble in creating snack foods, beginning with arancini balls, which grew into a venture supplying all the big supermarkets. 

"As we expanded, cash flow started to become an issue because we had to fund our growth, so we turned to Earlypay. 

For Vecchiarelli, scaling up is very difficult when you're growing rapidly. Earlypay played a vital role, especially after he created a mash and gravy ball for KFC. 

Earlypay: a growth partner

"We moved from a very small 600 sqm factory in Thomastown to quite a large factory of around 2500 sqm, which was quite a jump in scale and expenses," Vecchiarelli says. 

"Big orders started coming in, and cashflow became tricky because these orders are in the 100s of thousands, and you're not getting paid for three to four months, but you still have to keep making stock to meet demand." 

"Earlypay's service is fantastic whether it's uploading invoices or having money in our account the following day; it's a huge bonus for us to be able to make our suppliers happy and, of course, pay our wages on time, which is something I pride myself on," Vecchiarelli says. 

He says Earlypay have been very flexible and varied their lending capacity over time depending on Simply Fresh Food's needs as they scaled up and have played a major role in the company's success. 

Continuing the partnership: new horizons with major clients

The relationship continues, with Vecchiarelli reaching out to Earlypay again in recent months as the company takes another giant step forward with "substantial new business from Red Rooster, Nando's and a few others." 

"Earlypay's invoice financing is very convenient and has really helped us ride the wave in a volatile industry." 

If you'd like to learn how Earlypay's Invoice Finance & Equipment Finance can help you boost your working capital to fund growth or keep on top of day-to-day operations of your business, contact Earlypay's helpful team today on 1300 760 205, visit our sign-up form or contact [email protected].