In the fast-paced world of food and beverage, restaurant finance teams face a unique operational challenge: staggered receiving. This refers to the common scenario where a single purchase order is fulfilled across multiple deliveries, typically due to logistics, perishability, or supply chain constraints.
For operations, staggered delivery is business as usual. But for finance and accounts payable (AP) teams, it’s a recurring nightmare.
The Pain Point: One Invoice, Multiple Deliveries, Endless Matching
Let’s take a typical example: Your central kitchen places a purchase order for 200 kilos of vegetables. But the supplier doesn’t deliver everything at once. Instead, they send 80 kilos in the morning, 70 in the afternoon, and the remaining 50 the next day. Still manageable for the kitchen team. But the vendor invoice, sent ahead or along with the last batch, reflects the full 200 kilos.
Now the finance team must match this single invoice against multiple delivery notes—often across different timestamps, formats, or even communication channels (like email, print, or phone confirmations).
This means manually:
- Collecting delivery slips from each outlet
- Checking quantities against the PO and the invoice
- Verifying rejections or discrepancies
- Chasing down approvers across teams
Multiply this across dozens of locations and hundreds of SKUs daily, and you’ve got a process that’s slow, error-prone, and frustrating.
The Result: Operational Drag and Payment Delays
Manual matching in staggered receiving leads to:
- Delayed invoice approvals
- Missed payment deadlines
- Unhappy vendors
- Higher chances of duplicate or erroneous payments
- Teams stuck in low-value, repetitive tasks
It’s a classic example of how finance teams in the F&B industry lose valuable time to a process that should have been automated long ago.
The Solution: AI-Powered 3-Way Matching That Understands Staggered Deliveries
Enter Intelligent 3-Way Matching Engine—purpose-built for industries where staggered receiving is the norm.
Here’s how it works:
- As delivery orders are fulfilled, the system automatically generates Goods Receipt Notes (GRNs).
- These GRNs are tied to the original PO and are tracked in real-time.
- When the vendor invoice arrives—whether partially or fully—it is matched automatically against the accumulated GRNs.
- If quantities and line items align, the invoice is cleared for payment without human intervention.
Benefits of AI-Powered 3-Way Matching in Staggered Receiving
- 90% faster invoice processing
- Near-zero manual reconciliation
- Improved vendor trust and payment reliability
- Fewer errors and exceptions
Why This Matters for Restaurant Finance Teams
In an industry where margins are thin and volume is high, operational efficiency isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential. By closing the loop on staggered receiving, restaurant finance teams can cut down processing times, reduce friction with vendors, and free up their staff for strategic work.
If your AP team is still spending hours matching invoices with delivery slips manually, it’s time to ask: Are we solving this the hard way—or the smart way?
With Peakflo’s AI-driven matching solution, restaurant finance teams can finally bring order to the chaos of staggered deliveries—and get one step closer to touchless AP.