Little Farms’ objectives

Little Farms, a fast-growing premium grocery retailer and café in Singapore, was rapidly expanding its presence across retail and F&B. With 18 outlets and multiple supplier contracts, its finance team faced mounting complexity in managing accounts payable. The objective was clear: build a more efficient, scalable, and accurate system to handle invoices and supplier payments while supporting business growth and maintaining strong vendor relationships.

Before fileAI: Challenges and risks faced

Accounts payable at Little Farms was heavily manual, requiring staff to collect, check, and input invoice data across hundreds of suppliers and thousands of SKUs. This led to several risks:

• Processing delays: Invoices took up to 5 days to process, creating backlogs and delaying payments.
  
• Cash flow uncertainty: Manual handling made it difficult to accurately forecast cash flow and track spending.
  
• Strained supplier relationships: Delays and errors in payments risked damaging relationships with valued partners.
  
• Scalability issues: As Little Farms acquired new brands like Starter Lab and onboarded more suppliers, the workload grew exponentially.
  

Relying on manual processes was no longer sustainable. The company needed automation to free finance resources, improve accuracy, and keep pace with its regional expansion plans.

The solution: fileAI automation integrated into ERP

Little Farms explored several options but rejected off-the-shelf systems that would create inconsistent, siloed workflows. They needed a partner that could integrate tightly with Microsoft Dynamics, scale across multiple brands, and deliver automation that adapted to the nuances of F&B retail.

fileAI stood out because of its:

• Seamless ERP integration, ensuring data flowed directly into existing systems without disruption.
  
• Customization for retail and F&B, such as smart SKU mapping and perishable goods price alerts.
  
• Scalability, supporting acquisitions like Starter Lab and future expansion without extra system fragmentation.

fileAI collaborated with Little Farms to design and deploy a fully automated accounts payable system integrated into Microsoft Dynamics. The solution addressed both immediate operational needs and long-term scalability:

• Automated invoice capture and processing: fileAI extracted, classified, and validated data from supplier invoices within minutes.
  
• Smart SKU mapping: Automated mapping reduced errors in item coding, a critical need for perishable goods.
  
• Real-time price-change alerts: Finance and procurement teams received instant updates, ensuring accuracy and control over fast-moving inventory.
  
• Standardized workflows across brands: By incorporating Starter Lab and other acquisitions into the same system, fileAI allowed Little Farms to eliminate fragmented financial processes.
  

Key outcomes: From days to minutes

The results were transformational for Little Farms’ finance operations:

• Drastic time savings: Invoice processing dropped from 5 days to just 3 minutes.
  
• Greater productivity: 100+ staff now use fileAI’s mobile app daily to process and review invoices, freeing the finance team to focus on strategy.
  
• Improved supplier relationships: Faster, more reliable payments strengthened trust with vendors.
  
• Scalable growth support: Automation created a finance backbone capable of supporting outlet expansions and new brand integrations.
  
  

Joe Stevens, Co-founder and CEO, summed it up best:

“fileAI transformed our accounts payable process, significantly reducing turnaround time and enabling our finance team to contribute more strategically to our business growth. It’s become an essential part of our daily operations.”

What’s next: Building on the automation foundation

Having eliminated manual bottlenecks in accounts payable, Little Farms is now looking to extend fileAI’s capabilities into advanced spend analytics and forecasting. By leveraging deeper insights from financial data, the finance team plans to further improve cash flow visibility, optimize vendor negotiations, and enhance decision-making for future expansions.

The company also envisions rolling out automation across procurement and contract management, ensuring the same level of speed, accuracy, and scalability across all financial operations. With fileAI as a strategic partner, Little Farms is poised to sustain its growth momentum and strengthen its market leadership in the premium grocery and café space.