Payment Culture in the Food & Beverage Sector
Small businesses in the Food and Beverage sector in the UK are facing a range of challenges in 2023, from rising costs and competition to changing consumer preferences and pandemic-related disruptions.
One of the biggest challenges for small businesses in the Food and Beverage sector is the increasing cost of ingredients, supplies and their business operations. This is due to a combination of factors, including inflation, energy cost rises, Brexit-related supply chain disruptions, and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These rising costs are putting pressure on small businesses’ profit margins, making it harder for them to stay competitive.
Another major challenge is increased competition, both from other small businesses and larger chain restaurants and cafes. With so many options for consumers to choose from, small businesses must find ways to differentiate themselves and provide unique value to their customers.
The largest players in the Food & Beverage sector dominate the names of the slowest payers in the sector, with names like AB-InBev, Coca-Cola and Modelez Confectionary averaging over 100 days average payment times to their suppliers.
The Food & Beverage sector is the worst sector of all industries (in terms of time taken to pay). We can see from the figures reported, the ten slowest payers are taking between 80 and 117 days on average to pay suppliers. Where we see faster payment to suppliers in the Food & Beverage sector are in some of the more independent or family-owned or run businesses, that clearly state their commitment to their suppliers and follow that through with payment times of around 20 days or less.