Case Study of a Multi-Location and Chain

Elephants Delicatessen

For over 30 years, Elephants Delicatessen has been Portland’s favorite specialty foods & catering company. They are a trusted and integral part of the community fabric. Their taste creations have been reviewed in publications from Portland Monthly to the New York Times. Elephants Deli takes great pride in ensuring that the pleasure of eating is an all-encompassing sensory experience.

CHALLENGE

Looking for a restaurant accounts payable solution that is simple and efficient

Growing from one to eleven locations, it was tough staying on top of everything.

“I knew that we were spending way too much time processing paper and that there had to be a better way,” Elephants Deli’s Controller Becca Peters recalls.

On average, Elephants Deli processes approximately 2,000 invoices a month for the entire business. “We’re not a super large operation,” Becca says, “so we need every aspect of our a/p process to be as resourceful as possible.”

Prior to Sourcery, most invoices were picked up by delivery drivers and brought to headquarters. Some vendors mailed or emailed their invoices to the corporate office, and Becca would print out and categorize them by hand. There were tons of loose papers and straggler invoices every week. While some payments were automatic, others required a time-consuming manual review process.

After tracking down invoices, reviewing them and finally approving, Becca then wrote over 700 checks per month, stuffed and stamped envelopes, and even mailed some checks.

“I was spending a huge amount of my time processing paper checks,” she recalls. “It was quite the undertaking…then on top of it, I was taking calls from vendors and managing relationships as well.”

These chores took her personally more than eight hours each week and took away from the other urgent priorities of her growing business.

SOLUTION

Streamlined processes through Sourcery

Becca knew there had to be a way to automate the payment process, but wasn’t sure there was an a/p solution built specifically for the food service industry. Down two accounts payable managers, she was in a tough spot and needed answers fast.

So she took a call from Dain Laverty with Sourcery.

“It was important to me to find a partner that was open to understanding our unique needs and a technology solution that was nimble enough to grow with us,” she says.

Sourcery was built to empower people in the food and hospitality industry. Their goal is to provide more accurate ways of invoice and modern accounts payable experiences. Clients have real-time insights into their operational costs so they can be financially viable, and allowing the business tofocus on doing what they love – creating incredible food and providing a great service.

Elephants Deli selected Sourcery to bring new efficiency to their payment process.

“I knew we needed to do something and Sourcery was just the right fit,” she recalls. The Sourcery implementation team worked hard with Becca to create a customized onboarding plan that met her needs from initial setup to training.

“It was very easy to pick up – and the learning curve was not steep”.

“Every single need, every question is answered – I feel like I’m their only client – I feel that important”

Elephants Deli was fully up and running on the Sourcery platform within two short weeks.

With the Sourcery platform, Elephants Deli gains a complete end-to-end AP and Payment Automation solution. And it’s one that brings new efficiency to every stage, from invoice intake to approvals to payment execution

THE BENEFITS

A better process means a more efficient business

“We’ve more than cut our time in half,” she says.

The Sourcery A/P solution is a natural fit with Elephants Deli. Now Becca and her team can use Sourcery to make her process a new model of efficiency at her organization.

“Our store-level people are now having to look at and think about what they’re purchasing as they go through the categorization process in Sourcery.”

Alexa is unbelievable…so smart, capable. She is genuinely engaged and interested in my business. She’s what makes Sourcery special.

Becca also sees the process as more mobile and flexible now. “If I happen to be out of the office, it doesn’t put the business on hold,” she says. Sourcery’s anytime, anywhere approval process lets Becca and her team review and approve invoices and payments online, quickly and easily. “In the past, I was the gatekeeper,” she says. “Now if I travel, I can still get the payables out.”

They key Sourcery capabilities that help Elephants Deli are invoice categorization according to Elephant’s chart of accounts; the payment controls interface that allows Becca’s team to float, hold or dispute invoices; and vendor and setup as well as ongoing vendor relations.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Why Sourcery?

Sourcery is a/p automation technology built for restaurant groups, chains and accounting teams. Our goal is to save you time and money by making the back of the house paperless while still giving you full control over the invoice-approval-to-pay process.

For owners and executives of multi-unit restaurant organizations, Sourcery provides a scalable solution to help them create productive AP processes and, ultimately, grow their business while impacting their bottom line.

One final crucial benefit: the Sourcery dedicated account manager. The account manager knows and cares about Elephants Deli’s business as much as Becca does. They look after her operations and keep her posted on any changes that they notice “Alexa is unbelievable. (She is) so smart, (so) capable. She is genuinely engaged and interested in my business. She’s what makes Sourcery special”

To read more about what Sourcery offers, see all the features

Learn about all the features restaurants like Elephants Delicatessen use to make their AP process more efficient.

Learn More