For Manufacturers Supplying Retail
Working capital for South African food manufacturers who've landed a retail contract. We fund raw materials and packaging before the run, and bridge the wait while the retailer pays.
NCR Registered
NCRCP18413
Rapid Access
48h decision · 5-day disbursement
We fund established operators, not pre-revenue. South African food manufacturers trading 1+ year with R85k+ monthly revenue – supplying retailers, foodservice, or direct-to-consumer.
Up to R5m
Amount
48 hours
Decision time
~5 days
Funds paid
Daily, weekly
or monthly
Repayment
A bureau score describes your past. A signed order from a national chain describes what happens next, who's paying, and when. We read that first.
A signed order from a national chain is a commitment from a buyer with its own payment record. We assess whether that buyer pays, because that is what repays the advance.
The order gives us the volume, the deadline and the value. That is your funding need, in writing, before you've spent anything on ingredients or packaging.
Delivery date plus payment terms (30, 60, sometimes 90 days) is the window we bridge. A defined period with an end date, not an open-ended overdraft.
Have you supplied this buyer, or one like it, and did the money come in? Repeat retailer settlements on your bank statements count for more than a bureau score.
A worked example: 12,000 units confirmed by a national chain, delivery in six weeks, payment on 60-day terms.
The chain confirms the volume and the delivery date. Your suppliers want paying now, weeks before a unit ships. This is where most manufacturers shrink the order or turn it down.
We read the PO alongside six months of bank statements and give a preliminary decision inside 48 hours. On approval, funds are paid to your suppliers within 5 business days.
Your cash isn't tied up in raw materials and packaging, so a second order mid-run doesn't have to be refused.
The pallets ship and the invoice goes in. On 60-day terms the money is due around week 14, often a little later in practice.
Repayments run weekly or monthly, sized to clear against your normal trading income rather than one settlement. By the time the retailer pays, you're most of the way through the term.
The point isn't surviving one order. It's that the next listing and the next run don't have to wait for this one to clear.
Pumpkn's product is one flexible working capital advance. Your purchase order is evidence we use to underwrite it, not something we buy, discount or take over.
We don't contact your retailer or ask them to redirect payment, and nothing changes on the invoice you send them. The advance is from us to you, repaid on a schedule we agree up front. Your relationship with your buyer stays yours.
Bakeries
Beverage manufacturers (juices, sauces)
Snack and dried-fruit producers
Value-added meat processors (e.g. biltong – processing, not primary livestock farming)
FMCG producers supplying retail chains
This is working capital for the production cycle – raw materials, packaging, production runs and payment-gap bridging. It isn't capex, and it isn't for pre-revenue businesses.
A quick self-check before the conversation. Five simple criteria, built around how an established food manufacturer actually runs.
I manufacture food or drink products for retail or foodservice
My business is registered with CIPC
I am a director of the business
My business has been trading for at least 12 months
My monthly average turnover is at least R85,000
No. We don't contact your buyer, we don't ask them to redirect payment to us, and there is no notice or assignment placed on your invoice. The purchase order is evidence we use to underwrite the advance. As far as the chain is concerned, nothing about your account changes.
Tell us early. The advance is from us to you and repayment isn't contingent on that single order clearing, so a cut order is not automatically a default – but the sooner we know, the more room there is to restructure the schedule around what you're actually shipping. The only version of this that gets worse is the one where nobody says anything until a debit order bounces.
Yes, and it's one of the most common reasons manufacturers come to us. A first PO with a new chain is exactly where cash is tightest, because you have no history of that buyer paying you. We lean harder on your delivery record with other buyers, your trading history and the strength of the counterparty itself. You still need a year of trading, five or more full-time staff and R85,000 a month coming through.
It depends on your cash flow, your margin and the buyer – up to R5 million, with terms up to 9 months. We size to what your business can comfortably service across the cycle, not to a fixed percentage of the order. Funds are paid directly to your suppliers on disbursement.
Yes. Everything that hits your cost of goods for that run can sit in one facility – raw materials, ingredients, packaging, labels and freight. We structure it around the production run rather than splitting it into categories that don't match how a factory actually spends.
Start the conversation. Preliminary decision inside 48 hours, with reasons either way.