Challenge

Since 2018, Berlin-based Choco has been helping make the food supply chain more efficient. Choco connects food and beverage distributors and wholesalers in one AI-powered platform for ecommerce, sales, and customer management. For example, Choco’s OrderAgent uses AI to autonomously process orders from email, WhatsApp, SMS, voicemail, and other channels directly into distributors’ and wholesalers’ ERP systems.

But while Choco’s ordering platform was streamlined and integrated, its financial systems were fragmented across businesses and regions. Because margins in the food business are historically thin, Choco offers flexible payment terms tailored to different distributors and wholesalers rather than a one-size-fits-all pricing and billing structure. At the same time, billing for these sales-sold subscriptions was handled manually by different accountants using different tools in every region.

Every month, four people on Choco’s finance team needed as many as six business days to determine how much to bill each business, then generating and sending invoices. As payments came in, the team had to reconcile them manually, making it difficult to maintain a real-time view of the company’s working capital. That challenge was exacerbated by payment times that varied across regions, as Choco relied on several payment providers to support distributors’ and wholesalers’ preferred local payment methods.

While this approach worked well in Choco’s early years, the company quickly realized this approach wouldn’t scale with the business. As Choco expanded internationally and introduced newer pricing models, it needed a more robust global financial infrastructure that could streamline operations and support commercial flexibility. That infrastructure also needed to integrate seamlessly with existing tools, including Xero, which Choco uses in the US, the UK, and the UAE.

“As we scaled, it was obvious we needed a global solution for billing, invoicing, and payments,” said Tobias Pfleger, director of strategic finance at Choco. “We needed the infrastructure and visibility that could support our international growth and evolve alongside our business.”

Solution

In March 2025, Choco chose Stripe as the foundation of its new financial infrastructure. Stripe’s global reach and flexible technology gave the Choco team the ability to integrate the tools itself, and then customize them as needed for the business.

Choco adopted Stripe Billing to manage its annual subscription billing. The low- and no-code tools allowed Choco’s team to update pricing models efficiently as the company’s offerings evolved, including offering usage-based plans as well as fixed subscriptions. “With Stripe, we have confidence that we’ll be able to automate any model through the API and self-serve capabilities,” said Pfleger.

The company chose Stripe Invoicing to automate and centralize Choco’s previously time-consuming, fragmented invoicing processes. Choco now uses Invoicing to automatically generate a virtual bank account number (VBAN) for each business, enabling Choco to accept one-time payments via bank transfer in the local currency of the distributor or wholesaler. The VBAN also simplifies reconciliation by automatically matching each payment to a specific invoice.

With Billing and Invoicing, Choco gained access to Stripe Checkout, a conversion-optimized payment UI, and Stripe Payments for core payment processing. Rather than managing multiple payment providers, Choco can now use its Stripe integration to accept payments from distributors and wholesalers all over the world through cards, SEPA bank transfers, and Bacs Direct Debit.

For implementation, Choco worked with AhoyAhoy, a Stripe partner, particularly for its subscription configuration and integration with Xero. AhoyAhoy used Finlert’s SubSync app to replicate Stripe invoices into Xero, enabling Choco’s accounting team to access accurate, real-time data within its existing systems.

Choco also partnered with Stripe’s professional services team to optimize its Billing implementation, including refining billing and subscription settings for performance.

Results

Choco completed implementation in four weeks with one engineer

The company was able to complete its Stripe integration across all geographies in just four weeks with one engineer working on it full time. “We did the implementation ourselves to understand exactly how the changes would affect customer communications, customer success, and other internal teams,” said Pfleger. “With Stripe’s self-serve functionality, we were able to do that faster than expected. We’d anticipated three months to implement, but were finished in one.”

Finance operations streamlined by 90% with Stripe

Choco eliminated more than 150 hours of manual billing and invoicing work per month. Today, one person handles accounts receivable, and work that previously required four people in over a week can now be completed by this employee in one to two days.

Automated accounts receivable reduces DSO by 34%

By automating accounts receivable and giving distributors and wholesalers dedicated VBANs, Choco has accelerated invoice collection. The company has reduced days sales outstanding (DSO) by 34%, improving cash flow and strengthening its working capital position.

With Stripe and AhoyAhoy consolidating financial data in one place, Choco has also gained deeper insight into the profitability of its distributors and wholesalers. “It makes a massive difference to our bottom line if a customer pays late,” said Pfleger.

Consolidating payment methods and processing with Stripe supports Choco’s global expansion plans

With Payments, Choco has been able to quickly enable the payment methods its distributors and wholesalers rely on, regardless of their location. As Choco scales, it can add new payment methods just as efficiently.

About AhoyAhoy
AhoyAhoy helps businesses streamline their commerce. As a Stripe Services Premier Partner, AhoyAhoy specializes in building and integrating revenue and financial systems that automate payments, sync data, and simplify accounting. Whether it’s a custom billing solution, a checkout integration, or a complete finance workflow, the team ensures every transaction and data point flows smoothly.

“The best integrations are the ones nobody has to think about. Stripe handled the subscriptions, SubSync bridged the data into Xero, and our job was to wire it all together so Choco’s accounting team could trust their numbers without lifting a finger. That’s the kind of work we love.”

Nathan Harper, Founder, AhoyAhoy