Pizzabaker is one of Europe’s fastest growing pizza chains. Following extraordinary growth initially in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, they have now expanded to over 180 stores worldwide, recently entering the Irish and UK markets.
The fast casual pizza franchise is thriving even with the world on lockdown, as these pizzas can be bought directly from the store or delivered to homes or offices.
Sean Largey is Pizzabaker’s CEO. Pizzabaker uses BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA) point-of-sale (POS) card terminals in stores to take face-to-face payments and BOIPA’s online payment gateway to process online orders through their website Pizzabaker.ie. When setting up his ecommerce website, Sean chose BOIPA’s Payment Gateway for its online payment solution. We sat down with Sean to discuss why he chose BOIPA.
“We use BOIPA’s Payment Gateway for all online payments and BOIPA’s card terminals for collection or delivery in Ireland and the UK. We’ve been using BOIPA for about a year now. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m feeling neglected as I still haven’t received the anniversary flowers from them,” Sean jokes.
The anniversary present analogy was appropriate as Sean spoke at length of the partnership he feels with BOIPA. “The difference I found talking with other providers and comparing them to BOIPA was like night and day. They were really fantastic on the end of the phone helping me from the get-go. I felt they cared about me and my business. It has felt more like a partnership, a family, from day one as opposed to a transactional service provider.”
Sean spoke of his frustration with other online payment solution’s. “In this market there are a lot of payment gateway providers. I met with other providers, but I found them all to be disingenuous. There is often a lack of transparency. Many make big claims, but then they add in stealth charges when you look into the details. They are like wolves in sheeps’ clothing. They promise you one thing and do another. That’s the biggest thing that struck me about BOIPA. Put simply, they were honest and truthful throughout and they helped me through stormy waters setting up the business.”
“You have to be competitive to survive. BOIPA offered the best deal for us and they were the only ones who were authentic. They were far and away the most competitive. And we can pass the savings onto our customers and become more competitive ourselves. The partnership pays off in both directions,” says Sean.
“Also what I like about them is that I can expand into the UK with the system, easily changing currencies. When setting up the business in Northern Ireland I had plenty of headaches – new banking, new currency, new problems. BOIPA helped me cut through the bureaucracy. Boundless and borderless, that’s how I would describe BOIPA.” says Sean.
When Sean spoke of the payment gateway onboarding process, he was full of praise for the support he received. “It was really easyto get set-up. They took me through the journey of setting up the payment gateway on our website. It was all so simple and easy. They guided me with baby steps throughout this journey.”
When asked about his favourite feature of BOIPA’s online payment solution, Sean reverted back to his first, and lasting, impression of BOIPA’s support network. “The support network and the people that work there completely won me over. They helped me set everything up. They took the time to help me get clarity of thought. As I’ve said before they feel like a partnership to me, almost part of the family.”
“Another example I can think of was when I needed an extra POS terminal. Within one day we had an engineer sorting out issues and the next day, the machine arrived. So fast and so simple. And when you see your bank balance – you see they haven’t taken away any charge that shouldn’t. It’s the way it should be, but like I said before, there are plenty of others out there with their stealth charges,” says Sean.
When asked for the effect on business growth that partnering with BOIPA has made, Sean was emphatic in his gratitude. “The only real metric is the bank balance. For me BOIPA offer great value. And it’s made it so much safer to grow, knowing I have their support. Their timing, speed and support is all crucial too. We have our own App and we integrated the App directly with the BOIPA payment gateway. This helps with our GDPR compliance as we don’t hold customer details.”
“Without their interventions I wouldn’t have been able to set up as quickly as I did.
So absolutely, with every new franchisee that comes onboard, I’ll get BOIPA’s support. They tick all the boxes. Price transparency, a dynamic way of doing business, excellent support, and a true partnership. No other payment provider comes close to ticking all those boxes,” says Sean.
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