Ask any cafe or restaurant owner about what happened during the pandemic’s many lockdowns, and they’ll tell you two things: staff members were hard to come by and cashflow was very tight.

For a time, the federal government’s wage subsidy scheme JobKeeper was a crucial lifeline. Now the economy is powering back to life and staff are back to work and expecting their pay packet. Meanwhile, supplies must be purchased and paid for more frequently.

“Venues are actually finding cash flow tougher now than they were during lockdown,” said wholesale ordering platform Foodbomb co-founder and chief Paul Tory.

Though Australians are now out and about again and choosing to dine out instead of eating in, venue operators are facing higher prices for produce. The availability of food produce itself has been patchy at times, thanks to lingering supply chain issues.

The recent catastrophic floods have added extra pressure, forcing closure of roads, restricting deliveries and dampening hopes of many hospitality venues aiming to throw open their doors again.

“You combine all these factors together and cashflow has never been tighter,” Mr Tory said.

Foodbomb has launched BombPay, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution tailored specifically for the hospitality industry, giving venue owners an option to pay suppliers without leaving them strapped for cash.

Rather than having to hold separate accounts with dozens of different suppliers and paying out a month’s worth of invoices all at once, BombPay gives Foodbomb users 21 days’ worth of credit – or 30 for those with good payment history — letting them stagger invoice payments.

After submitting a digital application to use BombPay, venue operators are approved within 48 hours. Once an order is made to one of hundreds of local wholesale suppliers on the BombPay platform, the operator gets 21 days to pay an invoice.