FoodSocial Scales from 0 to 150 Brands in One Year While Simplifying Sales Tax Compliance with Zamp

FoodSocial combines the best of social media and e-commerce by creating a unique platform where food enthusiasts can share recipes and discover new products. The company operates as both a recipe-sharing website, featuring nearly 10,000 user-uploaded recipes, and an online marketplace, which showcases approximately 150 brands and over 4,000 products.

What makes FoodSocial special is that recipe creators help run the platform, creating an authentic community-driven experience. The marketplace component, while only about a year old, has experienced rapid growth, scaling from zero to 150 brands in just twelve months. This explosive growth brought with it the complex challenge of multi-state sales tax compliance.

Challenges

Growing businesses can quickly become overwhelmed by the complexity of multi-state sales tax regulations.

As FoodSocial's marketplace grew exponentially, its sales tax obligations became increasingly complex. What started as a simple recipe-sharing website quickly evolved into a sophisticated, multi-state commerce operation as they went from zero to 150 brands within just one year—and had to navigate the tax implications of selling products across multiple jurisdictions.

Tony Ryan, FoodSocial’s Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer, had previous experience with sales tax, which had already shown him the challenges of multi-state compliance. He knew from past ventures that keeping up with changing regulations across multiple jurisdictions was "definitely cumbersome and probably not the best use of my time." The interpretations by different states regarding tax obligations were often confusing, especially when regulations changed without clear notification to businesses.

As FoodSocial continued scaling rapidly, Tony realized they were facing a decision point. They could either dedicate significant internal resources to becoming sales tax experts themselves or find a truly managed solution that handles the complexity while allowing them to focus on what they do best—connecting the world through food.

I know sales tax can get quite complicated. We went from zero to 150 brands on the marketplace within a year. The complexity of handling onboarding, registration in different states, and understanding which products fall into which categories seemed overwhelming.

Solution

Not spending time on sales tax allows Tony and his team to focus on connecting the world through food and growing their recipe-sharing platform and marketplace.

Benefit #1: Expert Team Support Beyond Software

Tony emphasizes that pure software solutions would likely not be enough for FoodSocial's complex needs.

"Most importantly, because of the complexities, a pure software solution to me is going to be very tough to do unless you have experts that you can contact right away."

The Zamp team provided the expertise FoodSocial needed, particularly during the critical onboarding phase.

"As I was going through that process and talking to them about the onboarding side of things, it was very easy to work with the team."

Benefit #2: Seamless Multi-State Registration Process

FoodSocial's onboarding experience with Zamp was remarkably smooth despite the complexity of their business model.

"We did registrations in around 15 or so different states at the same time. Very little was required of me, other than initially gathering information and then reviewing it afterwards."

This hands-off approach allowed Tony to focus on running his business while Zamp handled the intricate process of establishing compliant operations across multiple jurisdictions.

Benefit #3: Proactive Communication and Future Planning

One of the most valuable aspects of the Zamp partnership is its proactive approach to regulatory changes. Tony highlights a specific example:

"When there are changes, like there was a change with respect to how Shopify was treated as a marketplace at the beginning of the year, Zamp was the first one that came to me in advance and said, this is coming up."

This forward-thinking communication extends to strategic planning discussions about FoodSocial's future growth and potential tax implications.

Benefit #4: Seamless Shopify Integration

For FoodSocial's Shopify Collective-powered marketplace, Zamp’s integration was crucial. Tony notes:

"I would highly recommend Zamp as far as the simplicity of integration into Shopify. It’s a fantastic integration and very seamless."

Results

Tony spends no more than an hour a month on sales tax, since Zamp handles all of FoodSocial’s needs from registrations to filing.

See how the FoodSocial team’s sales tax requirements have been taken care of since partnering with Zamp:

• 8 months of accurate and timely filing
• 29 registrations completed
• 29 state accounts managed

With sales tax handled by Zamp, Tony and the FoodSocial team can concentrate on what they do best: connecting food lovers and growing their platform. The peace of mind that comes with expert tax management allows them to focus on serving their community of recipe creators and the 150+ brands in their marketplace.

Advice to Those Considering Zamp

Tony offers valuable perspective for other business owners evaluating sales tax solutions:

"I would say that before looking at things such as price, think holistically about what the price is of spending a lot of your time and getting something wrong. I'll tell you the confidence that I have in the team, and getting it right through Zamp was something that is worth a lot more than even a couple of dollars a month."

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