Posts tagged CPG Brands
Honest Ecommerce Podcast Guest Appearance
 
 
 

I had the honor of being a guest on an amazing and resourceful podcast "Honest Ecommerce" hosted by Chase Clymer.

If you haven't listened before, I highly recommend it. Honest Ecommerce is a weekly podcast, community, and endless resource for ecommerce store owners and managers who are focused on continued wins.


In the episode we discussed:

  • The Financial Success Formula

  • When to Raise Your Prices

  • How to determine the financial health of your business

And more…

You can listen to the full episode here, enjoy!


Join us in the Profitable Food Business Community where we're talking Shipping Offers, Product Bundles + Discount Strategies for a Profitable Holiday Season!

If you haven't yet, complete your Profit Assessment to get a clear understanding of your numbers and make informed financial decisions as we head into the holidays. Learn more here.

 

About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Food Business Financial Coach and Consultant with over 8 years of working in the food industry. She received her MBA from Rollins College and In 2017 she founded Sarah Delevan Consulting based in Los Angeles, CA and serving clients across the United States. She is the creator of the Financial Success Formula and the founder of the Profitable Food Business program as well as the host of The Good Food CFO Podcast. To learn more about Sarah and opportunities to grow a more profitable food business Click Here.

5 Lessons from a Failed Food Business
 
 
 

Celebrating success in good food businesses is always motivating, but reflecting on failures is vital.

I recently read an article featured in Food Business News about a good food business that “failed” but whose owner said it was “not a waste”.

Here are the 5 Lessons Kyle Peters, founder of Carter & Oak learned from his experience as a Good Food Business owner:

1. Margins matter: 

“Everyone says it, but margins, margins, margins. Your margins need to make sense from the jump. I can’t stress it enough that you should be reaching out to co-packers before you need one to learn what the cost structure could be if/when you eventually are ready to scale.

“Reach out to your suppliers and find out pallet, half truck and truck load pricing. This also will help you get a better idea of what your COGS (cost of goods sold) could be in the future. If the numbers don’t work, then you need to change something.”

2. Adapt, but don’t compromise: 

“People think all you need to be successful is hard work and passion. That’s not true. Economics matter. The finance of the business matters. You need to understand numbers and also realize that saying, ‘I can’t create this product the way I want to for the price I need to’ and then moving on, that’s a strength. That’s a win.”

“You may have failed at making that product successful, but you’re succeeding in becoming a better entrepreneur and a better person because it takes a lot of self-awareness to recognize that, and ultimately that makes you stronger. Now you can put your efforts and energy into something that will work.”

3. Be realistic: 

“I was blinded by that grind, hustle, success culture in the beginning. I quit my job right away and had nothing else, and that’s silly. You have to be practical. You have to look at things with a business mind. You’re going to come into those situations where you do need passion, you do need drive and grit and everything else to push through, but for me, right now, this wasn’t one of those times. I couldn’t passion or grit my way to better unit economics.”

4. Be patient: 

“Have aggressive patience. You need to understand that things take time, but that doesn’t mean just forget about them or stop working on them… Give people (especially buyers) the appropriate time and space. But don’t get discouraged after a month… or six.”

5. Be humble: 

“Have a clear plan and vision for how you want to execute on your business. But don’t get so married to the original plan that you fail to recognize if/when things need to be changed… like a rebrand. You must learn to put the business and others before your ego.” 


You can read the article in its entirety here Five Lessons from a Failed Food Business.


Join us in the Profitable Food Business Community where we host Free Live Q+A Sessions on the first Tuesday of every month.

If you haven't yet, complete your Profit Assessment to get a clear understanding of your numbers and make informed financial decisions as we head into the holidays. Learn more here.

 

About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Food Business Financial Coach and Consultant with over 7 years of working in the food industry. She received her MBA from Rollins College and In 2017 she founded Sarah Delevan Consulting based in Los Angeles, CA and serving clients across the United States. She is the creator of the Financial Success Formula and the founder of the Profitable Food Business program as well as the host of The Good Food CFO Podcast. To learn more about Sarah and opportunities to grow a more profitable food business Click Here.

3 Things Profit First Can Do For Your Food Business
 
 
 

Profit First is a Cash flow Management System that supports prioritizing Financial Sustainability and getting business owners paid.

It is a tool for helping you implement a financial strategy that will lead to financial sustainability and profitability. I am a proponent of the strategy because it has proven to be a valuable extension to the work that I do with my clients and program members, BUT Profit First will NOT make you financially sustainable and operating as a cash-based business overnight.

What Profit First CAN Do is:

1.Help with the implementation of your financial strategy

Have you ever created a budget, a financial model or plan, and after a few weeks or months the whole thing is out the window because you didn’t stick to it? It’s totally normal and co common because it’s human nature! Many of us, me included, need some guidelines on spending to stick with the plan. Profit First is a strategy that can provide that for us.

2. Normalize Cash Flow

Rather than peaks and valleys in your cash accounts, rather then getting caught in the “debt cycle” where you pay off a bunch of debt with the cash on hand, only to run short on cash a few weeks or months later REQUIRING you to rely on Credit again, the Profit First cash flow strategy helps bring consistency.

3. Enable you to understand HOW and WHERE you are spending money in your business

Separating your cash into different accounts allows you to easily identify where you spend the most money, and if you have a tendency to 'overspend' or make purchases without thinking about the overall budget and ROI, or if you’ve been hanging on to money that could be reinvested into your business to help it grow.

a group coaching program member recently shared with me…

“I want to thank you for implementing Profit First in your coaching - it has really given me the confidence to buy materials and ingredients to prep for the holiday season! And your tools have been so helpful for assessing our new wholesale prices.”

Join us in the Profitable Food Business Community where we're talking Shipping Offers, Product Bundles + Discount Strategies for a Profitable Holiday Season!

If you haven't yet, complete your Profit Assessment to get a clear understanding of your numbers and make informed financial decisions as we head into the holidays. Learn more here.

 

About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Food Business Financial Coach and Consultant with over 8 years of working in the food industry. She received her MBA from Rollins College and In 2017 she founded Sarah Delevan Consulting based in Los Angeles, CA and serving clients across the United States. She is the creator of the Financial Success Formula and the founder of the Profitable Food Business program as well as the host of The Good Food CFO Podcast. To learn more about Sarah and opportunities to grow a more profitable food business Click Here.

4 Resources for a Successful Holiday Season
 
 
 

The holidays are among us and we want you to have a successful holiday season!

We know how important it is for CPG brands to impress past, present and future costumers during this time of year, but you don’t have to sacrifice profits to make that lasting impression.

You CAN have a profitable holiday season and we've got some resources to help you figure it all out:

  • CNET article detailing all of the changes for USPS shipping

  • Resource Roundup of USPS, Fedex, and UPS rate charts + a Calculator to help you understand your costs

  • The Good Food CFO Podcast Episode 26

  • My Blog Post: 4 Steps to Creating a Profitable Shipping Offer


Want more support and resources?

Join us in the Profitable Food Business Community where we're talking Shipping Offers, Product Bundles + Discount Strategies for a Profitable Holiday Season!

If you haven't yet, complete your Profit Assessment to get a clear understanding of your numbers and make informed financial decisions as we head into the holidays. Learn more here.

 

About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Food Business Financial Coach and Consultant with over 7 years of working in the food industry. She received her MBA from Rollins College and In 2017 she founded Sarah Delevan Consulting based in Los Angeles, CA and serving clients across the United States. She is the creator of the Financial Success Formula and the founder of the Profitable Food Business program as well as the host of The Good Food CFO Podcast. To learn more about Sarah and opportunities to grow a more profitable food business Click Here.

Why You Should Stop Chasing Industry Standards
 
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I have been working to bust the “30% Food Cost” and other ‘industry standard’ MYTHS for years. 

Good news: progress is being made and the result is an increase in profitable food businesses all across the country! 

Why am I so passionate about this? 

Simply put: Industry Standards are a danger to your profitability, period. 

Partially because the “standards” are for restaurants, NOT CPG Brands, Meal Delivery, Catering or Wholesale businesses. Partially because they are old and outdated. Mostly because industry standards are taken out of context and not incorporated into a holistic approach to building a profitable food business. 

That’s right, I said it. HOLISTIC. 

The parts of your business don’t operate in a vacuum...

...They are all interconnected
…Each must hit its goal
...They must work together to produce a profitable outcome.

Your business must be viewed as a whole. 

30% Labor Costs might be the right goal for your business! 
IF your other costs total less than 70%.
If they total more, hitting a 30% labor cost will result in monthly losses instead of profits.

One member of the Financial Success Formula program joined with a 25% labor cost and struggled with cash flow + financial sustainability

Another hits 38% labor costs and is consistently profitable! 


Let go of industry standards and find the RIGHT MIX of revenue + cost targets for YOUR business. 


READY TO GET STARTED?
 

Get the control and confidence you need as a business owner and get your Profit Assessment to identify WHERE your business is on the road to profitability, and the next steps you can take to find the right targets for your business.

 

About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Food Business Financial Coach and Consultant with over 7 years of working in the food industry. She received her MBA from Rollins College and In 2017 she founded Sarah Delevan Consulting based in Los Angeles, CA and serving clients across the United States. She is the creator of the Financial Success Formula and the founder of the Profitable Food Business program. and the host of the Good Food CFO Podcast. To learn more about Sarah and opportunities to grow a more profitable food business Click Here.