“Before Archie, it was such a manual, physical process to get contractors paid. Now, our payments have ease, visibility, and transparency.”
Ruggy Joesten, Head of Member Events at Soho House New York
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Companys name
Soho House
About the company
Founded in London in 1995, Soho House has 40 members’ clubs across 17 countries — with more openings on the horizon in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Today, every House is a home for the world’s creatives to come together and belong.
The Problem
With hundreds of monthly invoices, manual paperwork is a time-sink
Every day, Soho House runs at least one event at all three of its NYC locations: Soho House New York, Ludlow House, and DUMBO House. That comes out to over 100 events per month — all involving creative contractors like DJs, florists, and magicians.
Before using Archie, Ruggy Joesten, Head of Member Events, described the contractor payment process as a “very manual and antiquated system.”
1. Joesten would receive paperwork via email, print it out, and lug it in person to the Soho House corporate office.
2. Accounts Payable (AP) then issued physical checks, which Joesten would pick up.
3. Finally, he either mailed the checks or hand-delivered them to local vendors.
Retrieving invoices and W-9s alone took up 2 full working days for Joesten every week. Plus, it placed a huge burden on their AP team, who were already busy processing payments for everything from bed linens to building repairs. A better system was urgently needed.
“We work with a high volume of event partners, whom we want to get paid as quickly as possible. Luckily, since onboarding with Archie, they’ve brought a lot of transparency to our payment process and reduced the manual labor involved.”
The Solution
An automated platform that simplifies expense management, saves time, and offers real-time visibility
Purpose-built for hospitality, Archie has modernized how Soho House pays contractors. That means immense time and labor savings for three key parties: Joesten, their AP team, and the contractors.
1. For event organizers, Archie vendor onboarding and payments
Since using Archie, Joesten reports his job is a lot simpler in two key ways:
Everything is online. Invoicing, approvals, and payments all happen on Archie’s platform. He no longer has to run around the city, picking up paperwork and dropping off checks. Additionally, vendors can be onboarded by simply adding their email – a process which takes only 2 clicks.
With better visibility, it’s easier to allocate annual budgets. Joesten can segment invoices by event and location, monitoring what’s been spent at all three NYC Houses. This is especially important as some contractors work at all three Houses, so they must get paid out of the appropriate budget.
2. For your contractors, payments are rapid and transparent
Now that Soho House uses Archie, there’s zero red tape or back-and-forth emails for their contractors. All vendors have to do is:
1. Log onto the Archie platform
2. Connect their bank account via Plaid
3. Easily check the status of their latest payments
That means the onboarding and payments process takes 7–15 days, as opposed to anywhere from 30 to even 60 days when Soho House’s AP team was manually sending out physical checks.
3. For your Accounts Payable team, Archie makes tax season a breeze
Joesten admits that, at first, Soho House’s AP team was unsure about Archie. They were used to their own systems, and had run things the same way for a long time. But they couldn’t ignore the potential time savings that Archie offered.
Fast forward to today, and Archie has become a critical part of their Accounts Payable workflow.
Accounts Payable can process 1099s with a single click. This is what initially convinced them to try Archie: During previous tax seasons, 1099s were a major stressor.
Archie automatically onboards new contractors. Before Archie, Joesten emailed new vendors’ invoices and W-9s to the AP team, who’d have to onboard them manually.
AP sends ACH payments with a single click — all within Archie. No more issuing paper checks.
“Archie is a really easy tool to wrap your head around. I compare our new process to a tennis match: I serve it to the contractor, they return the invoice, I approve it, and then it’s off to Accounts Payable to get paid.”
The Result
Using Archie, Soho House onboards and pays contractors 8x faster
Today, Archie is a critical part of Soho House New York’s payment flow. Joesten spends several hours every day on our platform. It’s become an integral part of their AP team’s work, too: “I don’t think Accounts Payable could imagine a day where we aren’t using this platform.”
Here’s a snapshot of the results so far:
250+ invoices automed per month
Contractors onboarded and paid up to 8x faster
Reduced payment cycles from 2 months to 2 weeks
Soho House processes an exceptional volume of invoices each month. No matter what, it takes a lot of work to get everyone paid. But, with Archie, contractor payments are now dramatically faster than their previous manual flow.
Looking forward, this helps Soho House continue to build strong relationships with the contractors who make their beloved events possible.
“I don't know anybody who uses Archie who doesn't love it. It’s so much easier than cutting checks or wiring money, and a lot of our freelancers are excited about getting paid quicker.”
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