How Good Spirit Hospitality Saves $30k Annually With AP Automation
Good Spirits Hospitality (GSH) is New Zealand's leading specialty hospitality operator, running 12 pubs, gastrobars and dining venues across Auckland, Hamilton and Waiheke Island. GSH has built a portfolio of distinct, community-rooted venues united by a single ambition: creating world-class social, dining and entertainment experiences for New Zealanders.
Behind the scenes, processing over 2,000 invoices a month across 12 venues demanded more than manual data entry could sustain. By integrating Lightyear with NetSuite, GSH now processes 500 invoices at a time with 99.9% accurate data reaching NetSuite. The business saves roughly $30,000 a year on AP costs and Accounts Manager, Alex Burton, has freed up 75% of his week away from manual data entry to strategic finance work.
Volume, Complexity and the Limits of Manual AP
Prior to Alex joining GSH as Accounts Manager, the company’s AP process was entirely manual.
"It was a lot of data entry. They used to input everything into the software manually."
For a hospitality group running 12 venues and processing over 2000 invoices a month, that wasn't sustainable. Although many accounting systems have their own built-in invoice processing capabilities, Alex explained that these tools are designed for simplicity — not volume.
“I'd used built-in invoice processing feature of accounting software before, but it's very manual. You have to actually sit down and spend quite a lot of time entering data.”
What GSH needed was a dedicated AP automation layer that could process high-volume invoices accurately, automatically route approvals across departments and venues, and export clean, reconciled data directly into NetSuite, and they found it in Lightyear.
Everything had to be entered manually into the software. It was a lot of data entry.
A Dedicated AP Automation Layer That Works With NetSuite
For Alex, the Lightyear and NetSuite integration quickly proved its worth. With hundreds of invoices moving between systems each week, a seamless, reliable data flow is essential.
“The integration is pretty seamless. Once you have it set up, it reads the invoices correctly. We export 500 at a time, leave it to run, and it puts everything through fine.”
And when it comes to the quality of data landing in NetSuite, Alex has full confidence. Accurate data flows through to cleaner reports, and cleaner reports give GSH finance leadership the visibility they need to make decisions quickly
“I would say 99.9% of the time, the data reaching NetSuite is accurate.”
For a business processing invoices across multiple venues and departments, visibility over every transaction is equally critical. Two features stood out to Alex in particular: approval workflows and statement reconciliation.
"The approval workflows are really good in terms of having an audit trail. You can go into the activity section of an invoice and see everything that's happened with it — who's approved it, whether they've reassigned it to someone. The statement feature really helps too, because we can immediately see if anything's missing. We just email the supplier and say, hey, you're missing these invoices.”
30-Minute Onboarding: A Product That Keeps Improving
“Discovering Lightyear has been good because I can see that the team is really passionate about continuously improving the software.” said Alex.
Beyond the platform itself, Alex found Lightyear's support and training resources instrumental in getting up to speed quickly.
“I've always found the support very helpful. You can just flick a message, and they get back to you. The webinars and knowledge base articles have helped a lot, too — I became pretty familiar with the platform within a few months.”
That ease of use extends across the venues. As the person responsible for onboarding new staff onto Lightyear, Alex found that even non-finance team members could get up to speed with minimal effort.
“When we get a new chef, I go in and spend maybe 30 minutes getting them up to speed on how to use it. After I've done the training, I don't get too many questions — it all seems pretty straightforward for them.”
In terms of invoice processing software, Lightyear is definitely the best I've used.
$30k Saved Annually on AP Costs
“Without Lightyear, I would basically be spending my whole job on data entry. Currently, Lightyear allows me to support our Financial Controller and CFO on other strategic areas, such as financial reporting and cost analysis. I actually have probably three-quarters of my workload free to spend on that.”
Along with redirecting 75% of his working week to strategic work, GSH estimates monthly cost savings of around $2,500 with Lightyear. On an annual basis, they save roughly $30,000.
“The more updates Lightyear has had, the more proficient we've become using it. Before, there would probably be 2 people in my position doing AP. Whereas now, you can cut that down to 1 role.”
When asked what advice Alex would give to other businesses looking at Lightyear, he said:
“I would definitely advise trying out Lightyear, especially for hospitality businesses in peak season. In terms of invoicing software, it's the best I've used — for its efficiency, the time saved, and the level of support and training on offer. It'll save you a lot of money and free up time so your finance department can focus on what matters.”
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