Imagine you run a catering company. You’ve been tasked with creating an experiential menu for a launch party event put on by Moschino and H&M with designer Jeremy Scott. The theme is the ‘80s. Your ideas start to flow. A MTV-inspired TV dinner “Salisbury steak” reimagined as a beautifully seared New York steak with micro greens, piped mashed potatoes, and heirloom carrots with a vegan aioli and Shimeji mushrooms. Paired with a modern version of a Sex on the Beach cocktail, done molecular gastronomy style with liquid nitrogen.
For Love Catering co-founder and CEO Jonathan Darr, exhilarating challenges like this are at the heart of his business, and where he needs and wants to focus his energy. Thankfully, since automating the company’s accounts payable (AP) process with BILL, Darr has time to devote to creative planning and execution, and so much more.
Although Darr never went to culinary school, he’s been in the food and beverage industry his whole life. His mother loved to cook and that love continues to be the thread that ties together his entire professional career, leading up to the founding of Love Catering in 2007 by Darr, Jimmy Smith and the late Hermes Clausz.
Love Catering is a full-service catering company based in Los Angeles for a range of settings and clients. They provide social catering for private events; custom catering for experiential marketing and brand launches; production accommodation for major studios; and on-site hospitality services for corporate clients like JP Morgan Private Bank and Disney Animation.
The company grew rapidly in the years leading up to the COVID pandemic, expanding from the original founding team of three to its current staff of 32 full-time employees, and hundreds of on-call staff. Love Catering now processes more than a hundred invoices per month, with food and labor as their biggest expenses. They pay vendors for things like dry goods, produce, milks and cheeses, and premium meats. Then there are the miscellaneous expenses, from utilities to reimbursements.
As the company’s finances became more complex, their bookkeeper and office manager kept it “simple,” continuing to use paper processes for tracking invoices and paying checks. But when their office manager left the company and COVID resulted in other staff cuts, Darr had to step in and manage the finances himself. It was then that he discovered their AP processes weren’t so “simple” after all—in fact, they were a nightmare.
“When I tried to do things the old-fashioned way, I was like, ‘This is terrible,’” recalls Darr. “It was just too much manual work. We had to stuff envelopes, print out all these checks, and then staple things together. I said, ‘This is absolutely crazy. I am never doing this again.’”
Love Catering’s bookkeeper recommended using BILL to take their AP digital. Now, instead of spending hours sifting through paperwork and signing checks, Darr easily handles all the company’s payments in a biweekly Zoom meeting.
“I once heard Oprah say that she always signed every single check. We follow that rule. I still like to see the checks and look over the invoices, just making sure everything is right,” says Darr. “But with BILL, it only takes 45 minutes of my time every two weeks to review and approve. Then we make the payments electronically, and boom, we're done.”
“Now, every two weeks we make sure everything is approved through BILL, make the payments electronically, and boom, we're done.” — Jonathan Darr, CEO and co-founder, Love Catering
Handling incoming invoices has become easier and more simplified. “Our previous AP process was extremely time consuming, with turning in invoices, coding them, someone having to sit down and enter them into the computer,” remembers Darr. “Now, everything is digital. It's incredible, BILL saves so much time and effort.”
Digital AP has become even more valuable over the past year and a half because of problems with the mail. Now, if a vendor complains they haven’t received a payment, Darr can easily verify the payment has been made through BILL. “We can even send the vendor a screenshot of the payment,” says Darr. “BILL is a great tracking tool.”
BILL is even quicker when Love Catering can persuade vendors to sign up to BILL themselves. "We tell our vendors that if they connect through BILL, they can get paid much quicker and they don’t have to worry about payments arriving,” says Darr.
In fact, a lot of Love Catering’s clients are already using BILL. “Most of our vendors are already in the BILL network,” Darr says. “They love it because they get paid faster."
“Most of our vendors are already in the BILL network. They love it because they get paid faster.” — Jonathan Darr, CEO and co-founder, Love Catering
As the first catering company to be certified as a Green Business by the City of Los Angeles’ Green Business Program, sustainability is also a concern for Darr and Love Catering. They source their food sustainably and compost food to reduce waste where possible.
Saving paper by going digital hasn’t just enabled efficiency for the company; it also fits right in with their commitment to sustainability.
“I don't have a giant folder with all the paper invoices because now our vendors are emailing digital invoices through BILL. With everything shifted to the cloud, BILL is a huge paper saver,” explains Darr.
“I don't have a giant folder with all the paper invoices because now our vendors are emailing digital invoices through BILL, which is a huge paper saver.” — Jonathan Darr, CEO and co-founder, Love Catering
And then of course there is the time savings with BILL, and all the time for creativity that generates. Executive chef Marco Caballero and Darr frequently innovate on the Love Catering menu (and Darr’s signature bittersweet chocolate brownies are a top request from regular customers). Darr is thankful that BILL lets the team focus on the creative culinary side of the business as refreshing the menu requires a lot of time and effort.
“I need to be the owner and not be stuck reviewing and submitting invoices. The efficiency of BILL really frees me up to be able to go out there and help get back to growing the company,” says Darr.
As a small business still emerging from the pandemic, Darr has to watch every expense and BILL is totally worth it. “BILL is simple, it's effortless, and it pays for itself. When you're a small business owner, time is money,” says Darr. “Honestly, what we pay is nothing compared to the convenience that we get from it. For me, it's been a no brainer.”
“BILL is simple, it's effortless, and it pays for itself. When you're a small business owner, time is money.” — Jonathan Darr, CEO and co-founder, Love Catering
So what would Darr say to people considering BILL? “What are you waiting for? Do it now,” laughs Darr. “For me it was just so obvious. Once you take the plunge, it's very simple.”
Business is picking back up for Love Catering post-pandemic. They’re in the middle of moving their office to Burbank because they need a space that’s better suited to their changing business needs: more kitchen, less office. Says Darr, “The whole world has moved to the cloud. There’s still a lot of hold-up in the food industry, but we’ve embraced this shift. We’ve automated our AP, moved our hiring online, and more.”
The result of that shift? Says Darr: “Now that I’m not stuck scanning, entering, and reviewing invoices, I can focus on working with the sales team, helping with marketing, and updating our menu.”
“With the help of BILL, we’re leaving behind some outdated financial processes and taking our business to the next level.” — Jonathan Darr, CEO and co-founder, Love Catering
Even as Love Catering continues to evolve and innovate in mouth-watering ways, some things won’t change. They’ll continue to give back to the community through an ongoing strategic partnership with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank (to date they’ve donated over 170,000 meals to those in need) and they’ll continue to delight their customers.
As Darr summarizes: “We’re going to continue to serve up delicious food and unparalleled experiences for our clients. But with the help of BILL, we’re leaving behind some outdated financial processes and taking our business to the next level.”
