Customer stories

Jet's Pizza

Nick Woods, Owner

Nick Woods first started his career in the restaurant industry as a pizza delivery driver, later moving on to become a store manager. Knowing the ins-and-outs of the business gave him a leg-up when he decided to go the franchise route and buy his own Jet’s Pizza. Over 10 years later, Woods is now the owner of several Jet’s Pizza locations throughout the state of Michigan.

Expecting the unexpected
After purchasing the stores and refurbishing them, Woods felt strapped for cash. Like many restaurants, managing his cash flow was a top priority.

“We had incurred and paid off debt which dropped us down to almost nothing in the bank,” Woods recalled, “We really needed to get a cushion if something were to happen, such as an oven going out, so that we wouldn’t be wrecked.”

Since Worldpay is his credit card processor, Woods was intrigued by Worldpay Working Capital. “I had just started looking into Liberis and Worldpay. The terms were really good and fit exactly what I needed,” said Woods.

The unexpected arrives

Woods took out an advance for his Hartland location to keep in the bank for emergencies. Little did he know that the emergency would be the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the pandemic started, Woods was forced to delivering online orders only. “Obviously, when you cut off half your business, your sales go way down. Our sales plummeted quite a bit – probably dropped at least in half if not more and we were just struggling along,” Woods said.

Once the legislation for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was underway, Woods received an email from Worldpay, connecting him with an SBA-approved partner. Woods applied and was later approved for his PPP loan.

A little cushion goes a long way

Before receiving his PPP loan, Woods relied on his Working Capital advance.

“It was handy that we had that little cushion for the first few weeks of the pandemic before the PPP came through and I think that played a significant role in keeping us afloat until we got the PPP,” said Woods.

Woods went on to say, “One of the best things was that it was pretty much no touch. With Worldpay processing our card payments already, it was all done automatically. It wasn’t taking a huge payment every month. It was basically being paid without affecting our books at all.”

The Working Capital advance is designed to support businesses with varying cash flow. The merchant pays for the advance via a pre-agreed percentage of their customer card transactions, a feature that Woods found particularly helpful.

In the right place

Having weathered the pandemic and corresponding lockdowns with the help of the advance and the PPP loan, Woods now feels like his business is well-positioned for the future, “For me, the advance served its purpose exactly and put me right where I wanted to be.”

All-in-all, Woods is happy with the support he’s received, “Throughout the whole process, from the card processing to the advance to the PPP, Worldpay has been great at keeping me informed, responding to any questions I’ve had, and forwarding me on to the people that I need to talk to. As far as the company goes, great customer service all the way along.”