[Case Study] Le Cordon Bleu Peru

Year after year, Le Cordon Bleu Peru’s renowned chefs pass on their experience and knowledge to students from more than 70 countries, teaching cooking, pastry, and baking techniques that have been codified in France for the last 500 years. Its training equips students with the knowledge to develop any type of cuisine anywhere in the world.

In 2000, Le Cordon Bleu Peru Culinary Institute expanded to Latin America and opened its first Spanish-speaking headquarters in Lima, Peru. This location offers international diplomas in Gastronomy and Culinary Art, Kitchen, Cake Shop, Bar, and Cocktail Bar. Le Cordon Bleu Peru was granted University status in 2018, adding bachelor degree programs in Gastronomy and Business Management, Hotel, and Tourism Business Administration, Nutrition and Food Techniques, and Engineering in Food Industries.

Challenge

With its global brand recognition and international curriculum, Le Cordon Bleu Peru attracts both local and international students. This created challenges in managing payments from assorted countries in different currencies. International bank transfers, the most common method of payment, extended payment cycles and were difficult to reconcile when ultimately received.

As a result, the school had to dedicate staff and time to the manual process of matching all inbound payments to each student payer. In addition, students often faced hidden fees and high transaction costs.

Solution

Le Cordon Bleu Peru was looking to streamline its payment processes to make it easier for all involved. The school was eager to enable students to make tuition payments in their local currency via their preferred methods. This, in turn, would reduce staff workload. The school was also looking to accelerate the transaction time, from payment to reconciliation.

Before deploying Flywire, the school was using another payment service provider for students paying from Peru. It also offered bank transfers through the main Peruvian banks, which allowed students to make payments in person at banking agencies, or online via mobile or desktop for banking customers. But there were still limited options for international students.

To meet the needs of students outside Peru, the school added Flywire in March 2021. Payers can now easily use credit or debit cards. In addition, students from Peru can also use PagoEfectivo, which allows face-to-face and online payments in all banks that operate in the country.

Le Cordon Bleu Peru has two portals integrated into the student intranet and two that are not — for applicants without access to the student intranet. In both cases Flywire offers local payment methods, so that applicants, students, and graduates can securely make payments from anywhere in the world, via their preferred payment method. Flywire also automates the reconciliation process for the finance team, freeing staff to focus on higher value activities. In addition, Flywire provides around-the-clock multilingual support for payment-related questions, saving additional staff time.

After selecting Flywire, the school launched a broad campaign to educate students on their updated payment options. With Flywire, students now have more payment options (online and in person) alongside the ability to pay in their local currency. Over the initial six-month period following the campaign launch, Le Cordon Bleu Peru saw an up to 60% increase in Flywire payment volume.

The growth has been exceptional. When the campaign launched, Flywire accounted for up to 4% of student payments; 6 months later, Flywire accounted for up to 60% of student payments.

“The ease with which the payment platform is used is really impressive,” commented Melissa Cáceres Andonayre, Head of Collections in the Finance Department at Le Cordon Bleu Peru. "Flywire offers the means of payment according to the country of origin, and the exact amount to be paid in the local currency. This solves a very common and difficult challenge with international transfers. We receive the correct amount and can confirm it in real time simply by reviewing our Flywire dashboard. It has simplified our entire process."

Flywire is the exclusive payment partner for Le Cordon Bleu institutions around the world, including the network’s London, Paris, Madrid, Ottawa, Lima, Kuala Lumpur and Rio De Janeiro campuses, as well as for Le Cordon Bleu schools across Australia and New Zealand.