Ripe Coffee use PayHero to balance work and life commitments with confidence

As owners Cate & Jason Hall say, Ripe Coffee is 'relationship coffee.' They deeply value who they work with and for. PayHero ensures Cate can stay focused on the community, instead of feeling burdened by all the shifting demands of a small business.

Ripe Coffee began roasting over 20 years ago, and they are proud to have remained 100% New Zealand-owned and operated. Jason and Cate manage three different sites, including the roastery and Small Batch cafe in Petone, along with the Hauora cafe in central Wellington. 

Cate recalls the learning curve of starting their business, and how technology has evolved since. “There was nothing online. Now, it feels like there are so many systems, and we don’t have the time to be updated on every single one.” Cate values how she doesn’t need to work hard to understand PayHero. “Everything just flows, and if I’m not sure about something, I can figure it out intuitively, or reach out to support and it’s quickly resolved.”

Compliance isn’t just a marketing statement

One element of business that Cate learned quickly was the importance of compliance. “We soon discovered that you had to be able to cover every aspect of the business, and that includes paying your employees correctly and staying compliant.” Of course, it’s easy for payroll companies to preach that they take compliance seriously, but then leave users in the dark about what this practically looks like. When the PayHero system is updated due to legislation changes, Cate is grateful to “get a clear explanation of what’s changed and if there any steps we need to take.”

“Our backgrounds had nothing to do with payroll and business, but with PayHero it’s easy to understand and stay updated.”

Location and leave visibility is a huge advantage

Running a multi-site business brings a whole new world of complexities, such as keeping the pulse on where your staff are. Cate appreciates how the photo time clock provides visibility across every venue. “PayHero gives an accurate picture of what’s happening - we can see where any of our staff are at any particular time.” In addition to location tracking, Cate values the leave calendar. “I can see who has leave at any particular time, so it’s easy to manage requests and arrange the roster.” 

“We can solve tricky staffing problems thanks to the leave and time-tracking information.”

Flexibility for when the unexpected happens

Ripe requires a system that can adapt to their fluctuating needs. As Cate says, “whatever is happening with our staffing, we have to open the doors, so having flexibility and ease of use with our payroll is key.” Cate herself is often jumping into different roles throughout the business. She might be in the cafe kitchen one week, and the next she’s in the office. Cate isn’t concerned by this as the ease of payroll processing isn’t a concern. Recently, Cate flew overseas unexpectedly for a personal emergency, but thanks to PayHero being a cloud-based payroll system, “I was away for two months and still able to do everything on my iPad.”

“PayHero provides total flexibility for small businesses.”

Clever budgeting thanks to reporting data

Cate has witnessed a lot of change over the last twenty years of operation, however, she commented that wage costs have risen most dramatically since COVID. “Now more than ever you need to be efficient and see what shifts people are working.” Cate finds the solution in PayHero’s reporting function - “we generate reports to find out exactly how much it costs to run each site.” Cate and Jason prove that running a business focused on community doesn’t mean sacrificing strategy and productivity.