Invoice Automation In The Food And Beverage Industry

The food & beverage (F&B) industry is like a never-ending race. Every day, businesses face all kinds of strict requirements: ingredients must always be fresh, orders need to arrive at the warehouse on time, cash flow must run smoothly, and especially, suppliers always need absolute peace of mind when delivering goods to businesses. But take a moment to stop and look at your operational process. Is your accounting department struggling to handle hundreds of paper invoices each day? Are they checking every number, every signature against information from dozens of suppliers, sometimes even written in different languages?

If this sounds familiar, then unfortunately – your business is at a disadvantage. In a highly competitive F&B market, where ingredient prices fluctuate constantly and profit margins are shrinking, slow or inaccurate accounts payable processing can delay your entire operation.

That is exactly when automation in F&B industry shows its strength. This solution doesn’t need to be flashy, but its effectiveness is clear. Automating accounts payable in the food and beverage industry removes paperwork burdens, speeds up approval processes, and improves budget control. Most importantly, automation in the F&B industry keeps the supply chain seamless – something every F&B business owner wishes for. As a result, cash flow becomes more stable, allowing the business to confidently focus on growth.

The Challenges Of Accounts Payable In The F&B Industry

The food and beverage industry is inherently volatile. It’s clearly seasonal, inventory is perishable, and supplier relationships are multi-layered and complex. Not only that, food prices fluctuate with the market, and there are countless strict compliance requirements that make cost control and financial operations a real headache. In that context, the accounts payable team plays the role of a “silent link”. Yet it is crucial in ensuring the entire supply chain runs without interruption.

One of the biggest challenges for accountants in F&B companies is the constant influx of invoices from various locations, departments, and even countries. This makes manual data entry and reconciliation processes several times more overwhelming. You probably already know how just one small mistake can delay payments, harm supplier relationships, and cause a domino effect throughout the supply chain. Meanwhile, F&B businesses always want to maintain profit margins while also retaining suppliers with transparent, on-time payment commitments.

And that’s the bottleneck: manual invoice processing is gradually becoming a real burden. It’s causing many accounts payable staff to feel discouraged and leave this manual profession, leading to a worrying talent shortage. And that challenge can be completely eliminated when businesses adopt accounts payable automation in F&B industry. According to a 2024 report, 78% of businesses in the F&B sector are leveraging automation to address labor shortages.

Some familiar “pains” that any accountant in the F&B industry understands before applying automation in F&B industry:

Huge invoice volumes and high transaction frequency, especially in restaurant chains, retail stores, or large factories, often overwhelm accounting departments with paper invoices to process weekly.
Diverse suppliers requiring fast processing – with dozens to hundreds of suppliers for ingredients, packaging, and logistics, each with different invoice formats, payment times, and terms. Accountants must be extremely agile and responsive.
Financial loss risks with manual processing. Not only time-consuming, manual processes are also prone to errors, double payments, or even internal fraud. Sometimes, just one missed invoice can create a major budget hole.

How AP Automation Solves F&B Pain Points

To smoothly run an F&B business, behind the bar or kitchen must be a strong accounting system. One that doesn’t miss a single cost and especially keeps pace with market speed through automation solutions tailored for the food and beverage industry, as adopted by many industry leaders.

Invoice Data Entry Automation With OCR – IDP

With OCR technology, accounts payable staff no longer need to type in each invoice line by line into software. Instead, when businesses apply automation in F&B industry using OCR (optical character recognition), it automatically “reads” invoices from email, scans, etc. Or even more advanced – IDP technology, which surpasses OCR, can process handwritten invoices in Vietnamese, English, Thai, or complex e-invoices. AFusion’s system can handle them all quickly and cleanly. This not only saves time but also significantly reduces errors compared to manual entry.

Matching Purchase Orders – Invoices – Receipts (3 way matching)

Instead of manually checking each line item between purchase orders (PO), invoices, and delivery notes, the automated system in the food and beverage industry does this automatically. If there’s any discrepancy in price, quantity, tax or item codes, the accounts payable automation system immediately alerts the server. This way, AP staff can quickly identify issues without wasting time investigating. It helps prevent payment errors and maintains supplier transaction quality.

Fraud detection and real-time budget control

The AP automation system can detect duplicate invoices, over-budget items, or unusual transactions. Thanks to real-time tracking, the finance team always has a clear view of spending, making it easy to adjust or issue early warnings if anything abnormal is detected through automation in F&B industry. This is the “silent protection” layer helping businesses avoid unnecessary financial losses.

Integration With ERP For Seamless Operations

A huge advantage of accounts payable automation in F&B industry is its smooth integration with the business’s existing ERP system. This ensures all data – from sales, inventory, invoice verification to payment – flows in a unified stream. It prevents information silos between departments. The most visible transformation after applying automation in F&B industry is that accountants no longer have to “run around” asking for information, and managers instantly get consolidated reports whenever needed.

A Real-World Case At Highlands Coffee

As one of Vietnam’s largest F&B chains, Highlands Coffee has to handle a massive volume of incoming invoices daily. On average, more than 600 invoices are received every day – that’s no small number. And of course, each invoice needs to be verified against the PO, checked in the ERP system, then entered correctly for accounts payable, storage, reporting, and audit.

But let’s pause and look again – this entire process was done manually. Everything revolved around… a paper invoice, leaving accounting staff drained and discouraged. Hundreds of invoices each day piled up, making the accounting room feel exhausting just at a glance. Though every process involves verification – matching – entry, each department does it differently. That’s right, with manual work, there’s no unified process, resulting in delays, constant errors, and weak control. What the team desperately needed was invoice data entry automation – a way to reduce manual input and bring consistency across departments. Everything changed once Highlands Coffee partnered with AFusion.

Specifically:

Over 600 invoices/day are now fully processed automatically.
Invoice processing time was reduced to one-third.
Manual matching errors were reduced – >99% invoices is successfully processed.
Month-end closing is on time, even during peak seasons.
Enhanced control, transparency, and audit readiness at any time.

But the most valuable part isn’t just in those numbers when applying automation in F&B industry. It’s that now, our partner has a strong operational foundation to scale without worry. With standardized, smooth accounting processes, they no longer stress over opening new locations, changing suppliers, or adjusting internal workflows. Everything runs seamlessly – no more touching outdated, error-prone systems because automation handles it all. After all, a tidy accounting engine doesn’t just save costs. It also brings flexibility to adapt to an ever-changing market. Most importantly, it helps businesses coordinate more smoothly with partners – those who help keep the supply chain running every single day. All thanks to smart and timely automation in F&B industry.

How Afusion Can Help F&B Businesses

At AFusion, we understand one thing clearly: there’s no room for delay in the F&B industry. When ingredients must be delivered before 6 a.m. and stores must close their books by 10 p.m., any delay in accounts payable can cause a domino effect across the entire operation. That’s why we developed iAutobot – an accounts payable automation platform tailor-made for automation in F&B industry.

With iAutobot, the entire invoice handling process is automated from A to Z: from downloading e-invoices from the tax portal, reading data with OCR, matching with POs, to posting into ERP. All of it – no manual steps required. This platform also supports flexible approval workflows, suitable for chain models with multiple branches. iAutobot helps standardize accounting practices, reducing dependency – especially useful in environments where each store often follows its own method.

Unlike generic accounting software, iAutobot is built on real-world experiences with major F&B chains across Southeast Asia, where hundreds of invoices are processed daily under time pressure and strict controls. This automation platform for the food and beverage industry can also automatically interact with national e-invoice portals – even handling captcha, something foreign software struggles with.

iAutobot integrates seamlessly with popular ERPs like NetSuite, SAP, or in-house systems, while also supporting multi-language, multi-invoice formats, and end-to-end encryption. And finally, we don’t just provide software – we walk alongside your business to redesign your accounts payable process flexibly, optimizing it without forcing change. With proven success alongside Highlands Coffee and many other major F&B brands, AFusion is confident in turning your accounts payable automation into real-world results – fast, accurate, and sustainable.