Seamless Payment Processing Leads To Incredible Time Savings

Legacy payment processing means a lot of time collecting checks and inability to pass on credit card fees to operators

Palmer Food Service, a family-owned full-line foodservice distributor, sought to streamline their payment processing while providing customers with a unified platform for ordering and payments. Their existing system required substantial manual intervention and struggled to adapt to complex regulatory requirements.

Palmer’s accounts receivable department was drowning in manual processes. Staff spent countless hours processing paper checks, manually triggering credit card payments, and managing customer payment plans—all while navigating complex state regulations regarding credit card fee processing.

"We take payments several different ways, and a lot of it is manual labor for an accounts receivable person. Customers send in checks, and we take pictures of their checks, go into our cash room, and use computer software to recreate that check. We also had to manually process credit cards by printing statements and clicking off each payment to be processed."

— Rachel Gagnon, Controller at Palmer Food Services

The company faced particular challenges with New York state regulations, which require invoices to display both prices with and without credit card fees—a capability their legacy system couldn't support. Additionally, their outdated ERP system created integration barriers with modern payment solutions.

Seamless collections with Pepper Payments

Palmer implemented Pepper's payment processing solution alongside the broader Pepper eCommere platform, creating a unified experience for their customers. This strategic decision was driven by the need for a comprehensive solution that could address their complex payment challenges while integrating with their existing systems:

"We rolled both [Pepper and Pepper payments] out at the same time because we wanted one-stop shopping for the customers," explains Gagnon. "We didn't want them to have to go onto multiple platforms to order and to pay."

The solution's flexibility was particularly valuable as it allowed them to comply with New York state regulations regarding credit card fee disclosure—something their previous system couldn't accommodate. The platform's customization capabilities also enabled integration with their legacy ERP system, despite the inherent challenges.

Palmer implemented a multi-faceted approach to maximize the value of Pepper's payment processing while addressing their specific business challenges and customer needs"

Creating a Flexible Customer Experience

Rather than forcing customers into a single payment method, Palmer leveraged Pepper's versatility to accommodate various customer preferences. "The food industry itself is a little bit slow to come on to technology in some areas," notes Gagnon. "We do have a mix of customers that still probably won't order online. They prefer the face-to-face and the relationship piece. But we've transitioned a lot of them into paying online."

Using Payments as an Entry Point to Digital Adoption

Interestingly, Palmer soon discovered that payment processing could serve as a gateway to broader platform adoption. "It can open the door for them looking into ordering," explains Gagnon. "People are accustomed to in their home life paying their bills through their bank on a website. So if it's intimidating to start ordering online instead of through your rep, once you're already on and see that it's easy to pay, you might open your mind to also ordering online."

Implementing Flexible Payment Options

The company utilized Pepper's partial payment capabilities to accommodate customers needing payment plans. "We'll set them up where if they need a few weeks to pay off a balance, a specific amount is taken out every week on a day that they choose. It's all scheduled through the app," says Gagnon.

Faster Payments Processing and Increased in Pepper Adoption with Pepper Payments

Implementing Pepper's payment processing solution has delivered substantial operational and financial benefits - with the most significant impact in operational efficiency. "We're seeing 20 to 40 hours a week saved in accounts receivable," confirms Gagnon. This dramatic time savings has allowed the company to reallocate staff to more strategic activities rather than manual payment processing.

Financial performance has also improved, with Gagnon noting, "The percentage of receivables past terms has decreased significantly. A couple percent for me is significant." This improvement directly impacts cash flow and reduces the resources needed for collections activities.

The ability to pass credit card fees to customers while maintaining compliance with complex state regulations has created additional cost savings: "We're saving because we're passing the credit card fee onto the customer. We've never been able to do that before," explains Gagnon.

Customer satisfaction has remained high despite the transition. "Super user-friendly. We haven't had any complaints,”. The platform's autopay features have further streamlined operations, with automated reports alerting the team to any failed payments.

Looking ahead, Palmer  continues to benefit from ongoing platform improvements. "I started getting a new report that has to do with autopay... I remember my Customer Success team told me months ago that was something they were working on. I never asked about it again, and it just appeared in my inbox this past week."

"The Pepper team is amazing. Very responsive. If we needed any reports built, which we did, if we had some things we were used to from our old way of paying that weren't offered by Pepper, you guys made it happen. Everybody's all hands on deck there."

— Rachel Gagnon, Controller at Palmer Food Services