How to grow your payments app with street food vendors
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
In cities all over the world, street food vendors feed commuters, workers and students from stalls, carts and roadside grills. Each vendor makes many small sales a day, often needs change they do not have, and buys ingredients every morning from markets and suppliers. Many customers now carry phones rather than cash. A payments app that lets customers pay by scanning a code or tapping a phone, lets vendors pay their suppliers and shows them what they took each day can win street food vendors, and every customer who pays sees your app.
Talk to street food vendors
Ask local street food vendors:
- How do customers pay you today, and how often do you lose sales for lack of change?
- How do you pay for ingredients and supplies each day?
- Do offices or regulars ever order ahead or pay for a group?
- How do you keep track of what you took each day?
Take quick payments at the stall
A printed code on the cart or a tap on the phone lets customers pay in seconds, with no change needed, even during the lunch rush.
Pay suppliers from the same app
When vendors pay the market, the butcher or the gas seller from the same app, their takings and costs sit in one place and they carry less cash.
Grow through busy spots
Street food vendors cluster at bus stations, markets and office areas. Win a few on one street and their customers will expect to pay the same way at the next stall.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
What about market traders?
The market traders guide covers stallholders who sell fast, often with poor signal and lots of cash, and need to keep track of the day.
Market traders →What about food trucks?
The food trucks guide covers trucks serving lunch crowds, markets, festivals and private events, with many quick payments and deposits for bookings.
Food trucks →Can I call it a bank?
In most countries "bank" is a protected word you can only use with a banking licence. Call it an account, a wallet, an app or a platform. The accounts and payments behind a SendPay Business platform are powered by licensed partners.
Is there a step-by-step plan I can follow?
Yes. The free launch checklist takes you from picking your people and naming your app to setting fees, going live and winning your first ten customers.
Digital bank app launch checklist →How do I start?
Pick a template, name it and preview every page before you pay. Your platform can be live on your own domain within 24 hours of confirmation.
Build my platform →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.