The Problem
FarmToYou is a local food marketplace that connects small farms and producers directly to consumers. Orders come in online, get routed to the right vendor for fulfillment, and the vendor gets paid after delivery. Simple in concept — chaotic in practice:
- Manual order routing. Every order had to be manually checked, split by vendor, and forwarded via email. A single mixed-vendor order could take 15 minutes to process.
- Vendor payments were a spreadsheet nightmare. At the end of each week, someone had to calculate what each vendor was owed, account for returns and credits, and manually create payments in QuickBooks. This alone took a full day.
- Invoices lagged behind reality. Customer invoices were created in QuickBooks days after the order, leading to reconciliation mismatches and confused customers.
- Customer communications were hit-or-miss. Order confirmations went out automatically, but delivery updates, follow-ups, and re-engagement were all manual — and usually didn't happen.
- Inventory was a guessing game. Seasonal products would sell out with no automatic alerts, leading to overselling and unhappy customers.
The founder was spending 35+ hours a week on admin instead of growing the business — signing new vendors, expanding delivery areas, and building the brand.
What We Built
Order-to-Accounting Automation
The core workflow: when an order is placed, everything downstream happens automatically.
- Order processing — New orders are automatically split by vendor, with each vendor receiving their specific items and delivery instructions.
- Invoice creation — QuickBooks invoices are generated instantly for every order, with correct line items, tax calculations, and customer details.
- Vendor payables — Each vendor's share is calculated automatically, accounting for the marketplace commission, returns, and credits. Weekly vendor payment summaries are generated in QuickBooks without manual intervention.
- Reconciliation — Daily automated checks compare order totals against QuickBooks entries, flagging any discrepancies before they compound.
Inventory & Availability
- Stock tracking — Product availability syncs in real-time. When a vendor marks items as harvested/available, the marketplace updates instantly.
- Low-stock alerts — Automated notifications when popular items are running low, giving vendors time to update their availability.
- Seasonal transitions — Automated workflows handle the seasonal rotation of products, archiving out-of-season items and surfacing what's fresh.
Customer Communications
- Order confirmation with expected delivery window and vendor details
- Delivery day reminder the morning of scheduled delivery
- Post-delivery follow-up asking for feedback and suggesting next week's order
- Re-engagement sequence for customers who haven't ordered in 2+ weeks
- Seasonal announcements when new vendors or products come online
Vendor Operations
- Automated onboarding — New vendor signup triggers a workflow: welcome email, compliance document collection, payment setup verification, and product listing guidance.
- Weekly settlement reports — Every vendor gets an automated breakdown of their orders, returns, commissions, and net payment.
- Performance dashboards — Fulfillment rates, customer ratings, and delivery reliability tracked automatically.
The Stack
| Component | Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Workflow orchestration | n8n | All automation logic and triggers |
| Accounting | QuickBooks Online | Invoices, vendor payments, reconciliation |
| Email & CRM | Mautic | Customer and vendor communications |
| Database | PostgreSQL | Order routing, inventory, vendor data |
| Monitoring | n8n error handling | Alerts on failures, daily reconciliation checks |
Results
Fully operational within 3 weeks:
- 30+ hours/week reclaimed — Admin time dropped from 35+ hours to roughly 5 hours of oversight and exception handling
- Instant invoicing — Orders create QuickBooks entries in real-time, eliminating the 2-3 day lag
- Vendor payment accuracy — Errors dropped from 5-8/month to less than 1, with automated reconciliation catching discrepancies same-day
- 100% customer follow-up — Every customer gets delivery reminders, feedback requests, and re-engagement emails automatically
- Vendor onboarding time halved — New vendors go from signup to first order in days instead of weeks
What's Next
- Add multi-location delivery zone automation as FarmToYou expands
- Build predictive ordering suggestions based on customer purchase history
- Automate vendor compliance renewals (food safety certs, insurance)
- Integrate delivery driver routing and real-time tracking notifications