How Standing Sushi Bar uses CardUp to optimise cashflow

Meet Standing Sushi Bar, a popular Japanese restaurant chain in Singapore.

Standing Sushi Bar is amongst the multiple food and beverage concepts (Tanuki Raw, The World Is Flat, and more) owned by the Empire Eats Group. Inspired by the standing sushi bars in Tokyo, Standing Sushi Bar quickly became a popular dining spot in the heart of Singapore’s Raffles Place business district and Bras Basah arts area. They pride themselves on their handmade sushi, delightful sashimi, and having one of Singapore’s largest sake selections. Undoubtedly, their high emphasis on food quality placed them as the #1 sushi bar and #1 for sashimi by the Hungrygowhere community. They were also awarded "Top Sushi Bar" by City Nomads and Weekender. 

The Challenge

A growing restaurant chain needs business payment methods that can keep up. With its high number of monthly payments, Standing Sushi Bar was looking to get more value out of their regular supplier payments, as well as get an extension on their credit terms. They are also constantly looking for ways to adapt and utilise technology to boost operational productivity.

The Solution

CardUp is a credit card enablement and automation platform that allows you to shift non-card payments to your credit cards. By doing so, you get your invoices paid on time while you extend your payment terms by up to 2 months, interest-free​. Through CardUp's platform, you can manage payments seamlessly, streamline payables and monitor all payments on a singular dashboard. In addition, you also can earn miles and cashback on all these payments. 

Standing Sushi Bar shifted their invoice payments on CardUp’s platform and now uses their credit cards to settle large payments such as supplier invoices and rent. Using CardUp has given them more value out of their accounts payables process. They now have greater cash flow to work with, and are able to save more time and cost as their payments are digitised. What makes it extra rewarding are the miles and cash-back they earn – all while having their business needs met.

Enhanced cash flow 

After shifting their supplier and rent payments onto their credit card, Standing Sushi Bar has more cash on hand to work with and gets an interest-free extension on their credit terms by up to 2 months. They are now able to use the freed up cash on hand for more immediate business operations such as customer payments. 

How were the suppliers and landlords affected? They weren't! When Standing Sushi Bar shift their payments onto CardUp, their suppliers and landlords still receive payments on time via bank transfer as usual. Standing Sushi Bar, on the other hand, only pays off their credit card statement when it is due one month (or up to 2 months) later.

Maximised savings through rewards

While having their cash flow needs met, Empire Eats also earn miles and cash-backs on their expenses. These rewards earned through CardUp add great value to their spendings, and more importantly – help to save cost on their business travels and payments. Their team now gets to fly business class at a much lower cost through the miles earned, and are able to offset money spent on supplies via cash-backs. 

Increased overall team productivity 

CardUp's simple yet robust platform make payments a lot easier and less resource-intensive for their accounts payable team. All of their recurring payments can be scheduled ahead of time and automated. What that means is that once payments are scheduled on the platform, the team can leave it to CardUp to handle the rest. CardUp will ensure that all of their payments are made on time every month and will update the dashboard when payments are complete.

This automation feature improves their team productivity as they now have more time to focus on other more important business operations such as business growth and sourcing for better ingredients.

How to conserve more cash during tough times using a credit card?

CardUp is committed to helping businesses emerge stronger and thrive better in the new normal. The ever-evolving pandemic situation has and will continue to put companies all around the world in unprecedented circumstances. For many businesses, meeting cash flow needs remains a top priority in order to stay afloat and emerge stronger from the pandemic. 

For business such as Standing Sushi Bar, CardUp’s platform provides a fast and convenient way to free up more cash on hand and optimise working capital by leveraging on pre-approved credit line. 

CardUp’s Business Transformation Support provides lowered fees to support businesses better and manage working capital needs by freeing up more cash at a lower cost – making it a more cost-effective option compared to other financing options such as loans and overdrafts. 

Learn more about how CardUp can bring more value to your business’s payment processes through its Business Transformation Support!