Local StoriesMay 22, 2023

Meet Allen Jackson

Local Stories

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Allen Jackson . Allen was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Tan Uckan.

Allen , thank you so much for joining us today. We’d love for you to bring our readers up to speed – can you introduce yourself and share your story?
I started in the payments industry in January 2020. I had just moved to North Carolina in August 2019. At this point, I still owned my beer store, Jackson Beer Co, in Oxford, MS, which I opened in 2016. I started in the beer industry in 2005. At the beginning of 2006, I moved from MS to Washington, DC. I continued my career in the beer industry for ten years in the DC market until I decided to open my store. My family and I moved back to MS in 2016, and that’s when I opened the first retail business I built from the ground up. We moved to NC to be closer to my wife’s family. I thought I would continue my career in beer, but I had the opportunity to work with a large credit card company and decided to try it. After I decided to change my career, Covid hit shortly after. This allowed me to spend a lot of time learning the payments industry. I knew that the payments industry was a pain point for most business owners, and I wanted to be the one that helped them with that. I stayed with the same company for almost three years until I decided to start another business. That’s when Oak City Payments went from a dream to a reality. I wanted to create a brand and company focused on customer service and give each account the best experience in an industry with a bad rap. I knew that I would have to create my own business to have more control over the day-to-day operations. Oak City Payments was started in June 2022 and has continued to grow monthly.

Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
My work career started in the beer industry in Washington, DC. I helped manage a beer distributor, one of the largest distributors on the east coast, delivering around 15 million cases a year. I did that from 2006 to 2016. In 2016 my family and I moved to Oxford, MS, where I opened Jackson Beer Co. JBC, a craft beer retail store that sold over 200 beers and had ten kegs on draft for sampling or enjoying while shopping. In 2019 we decided to move to the Raleigh area to be closer to my wifes family. My goal was to continue my career in the beer industry, but when covid hit, I had to pivot into a new career. That’s when I started learning about the merchant processing industry. I found a way to help business owners during covid to go online and curbside so that they could keep the business running. I worked with a larger processor to learn about the industry. Fast forward to June 2022. I decided to take a leap of faith and start my own processing company, Oak City Payments. What makes us different is that I have been on both sides of the business. I have been the business owner needing processing. That helps me to focus on the merchant and know their pain points because I dealt with the same ones. I approach all businesses as if they were my own. I get just as invested as the business owner. Each business is different, and that’s how we approach them.

Tan Uckan and Nils Mediterranean Cuisine have been great to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship with them as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Tan Uckan and Nils Mediterranean Cuisine and your experience with them.
I have worked with Tan for about a year and a half now. I met Tan when he wanted to add a brick-and-mortar location to compliment his food truck. Tan has a lot of passion for his food. He makes everything fresh daily. Nil’s Mediterranean Cuisine has quickly become a favorite spot in Fuquay-Varina. He is always coming up with new specials that will sell out weekly. I’m blessed to help Tan with his Point of Sale and credit card processing. I’m also happy to call Tan a great friend now!