Waitrose is to move its payment terms for all UK small food producers to a maximum of seven days.
The step, which will be phased in over the next two months, follows an internal review of payment terms for smaller suppliers and will mean that the supermarket now offers industry leading terms.
The supermarket has pledged to pay all its small scale suppliers, whose business with the retailer is worth less than £100,000 annually, within seven days of receipt of a valid electronic invoice. More than 600 UK food producers will benefit from the change.
Mark Williamson, Waitrose Commercial Director, said: "The internal review of how we pay our smallest suppliers was initiated because we wanted to make our good relationships with small suppliers even better by simplifying the payment process.
"We are passionate about supporting and nurturing British producers - and this step will help give smaller scale businesses, including new start-ups, more financial stability by helping with cash flow."
Waitrose has a dedicated buying team for local and regional suppliers and sells over 2,500 locally and regionally sourced products from 600 suppliers.
'Excellent' changes in retailer practice
The UK’s top ten supermarkets have all acted on issues raised by the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) and suppliers are seeing the benefit.
Adjudicator Christine Tacon said that she was achieving significant progress as a sector-wide survey showed a further fall in the number of suppliers experiencing Groceries Code-related issues.
"All the regulated retailers have acted on the issues I have raised over the past year and there have been some excellent examples of changes in retailer practice," said Ms Tacon.
"I am delighted that direct suppliers are seeing the impact of real change for their businesses. For the second year running the number of suppliers reporting Code-related issues has fallen."
