Small shops and the big chains
The business distributes food from Brisbane, to small independent retailers and to the biggest supermarket chains in the country. It’s a well-established business with customers at both ends.
The small retailers are the simple end. The supermarkets are different: a listing means orders in volume, delivered and invoiced, and then a payment that arrives on the chain’s terms.
A new chain, paid on its terms
When they signed up in May 2025, the owner told the FundTap team they had just got into another of the big supermarket chains and needed a bit of a boost to carry it.
The first orders went out, and then the wait began. The invoices to the new chain weren’t due until its terms ran out, and until then the business was carrying the cost of stock it had already delivered.
In August 2026, the owner told the FundTap team the big payments from the chain were still a few weeks off.
“...it’s a very short-term sort of thing until we get our sugar hit...”
From a call with the FundTap team, August 2026
Funding the supermarket invoices
Their broker had introduced them to FundTap in May 2025, and they’d signed up without needing to fund anything at the time. In August 2026 they put the account to work: connected Xero and funded five invoices that month.
The owner asked the FundTap team for a higher funding limit than the one first offered, and it was raised in August 2026.
The supermarkets still pay the business direct, on the terms they set.
“...That’s when we should start getting big payments through. So I’m only hoping to... just cover us over a little bit.”
From a call with the FundTap team, August 2026
Stock on the shelves, money to come
With the supermarket invoices funded, the business could keep supplying the new chain while its first payments worked through the chain’s terms. The money for orders already delivered was in, and the next orders could go out.
Three more invoices were funded in September 2026, eight so far.
There for the next big order
The owner told the FundTap team they’d keep the account there for when they need it.
Between orders there’s nothing to pay. The fee only applies to the invoices they choose to fund, and the next big listing can be carried the same way.
The timeline
- May 2025 Introduced by their broker and signed up, having just got into another big supermarket chain.
- August 2026 Connected Xero and funded their first invoices, five that month, with big supermarket payments a few weeks off.
- August 2026 Funding limit raised to the level the owner asked for.
- September 2026 Funded three more invoices.
In numbers
- 30 days from the invoice before the new supermarket chain pays
- 8 invoices funded since August 2026
- 5 invoices funded in August 2026, the first month
- 1 increase to their funding limit, to the level the owner asked for
Sound like your business?
The new listing is on the shelves and the chain pays on its own terms. Fund those invoices and keep the orders going out.
Fund the next order without waiting on the last one.
Invoice finance for makers and distributors • All case studies
