The goal of profit first is NOT to cut costs simply for the sake of profits - the goal is to build a financially sustainable business.

cutting costs abruptly can negatively affect your product quality, customer service, and employee attitudes.

By implementing Profit First in your food business, you can reduce costs in a way that will positively impact your business, and in this video I’m sharing the steps for doing so.

Discover how to become a Financially Sustainable and Profitable Good Food Business!

I’m here to support you - so join us in the Profitable Food Business Community to share your questions.

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About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Profit First Certified Food Business Financial Consultant and Coach with over 8 years of food industry experience. 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.

Can I Still Use Credit Cards, Loans and Investment if I implement Profit First?

Yes! IF you are someone who loves credit card points and wants to pay operating costs with your card and pay it off every month, do it!

If you’ve built a financially efficient business and can see exactly where and how investment or loan money will help you grow top and bottom line numbers do it!

Again, Profit First is a framework and a cash management strategy.  When you Know Your Numbers and are informed about the financial decisions that you are making, you can do whatever you think is right for you and your business.

What I don’t recommend is seeking a loan, line of credit or funding for a business that is NOT set up for financial sustainability - where you don’t know the exact impact and outcomes of utilizing those funds or how you’ll pay them back.  

Discover how to become a Financially Sustainable and Profitable Good Food Business!

I’m here to support you - so join us in the Profitable Food Business Community to share your questions.

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About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Profit First Certified Food Business Financial Consultant and Coach with over 8 years of food industry experience. 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.

Should I grow first, THEN focus on Financial Sustainability and Profitability?

The simple answer is NO.

You’ve got to build a financially sustainable business from the INSIDE, and once that’s done growing sales WILL produce more profits -- but if you haven’t yet done that work, MORE SALES can equal BIGGER Losses. 

I saw this happen in my own food business, and it’s often the catalyst for people reaching out to me for Consulting + Coaching Services.  

The most extreme example I’ve seen first hand was a business that did a Facebook Promotion and her online sales soared to over $50,000 in a single month.  That same month she experienced over $30,000 in LOSSES because her business was not structured to support those sales and she hadn’t done the work to understand what shipping offer and discount level would work for her business.  

I see less extreme versions of this all of the time, where businesses are slowly and steadily growing revenue, but their profits are stagnant, or declining — I share a few examples in the Profit Assessment Online Course.

I want business owners to stop believing that losing money is “how it is” when you’re a young business and that more sales will solve the problem.

Taking the steps to understand your financials, set the right goals for your business, and implementing Profit First strategies, if it’s a good fit for your business, will help you become financially efficient and ensure that as your sales grow your profits do too. 

Discover how to become a Financially Sustainable and Profitable Good Food Business!

I’m here to support you - so join us in the Profitable Food Business Community to share your questions.

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About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Profit First Certified Food Business Financial Consultant and Coach with over 8 years of food industry experience. 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.

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Focusing on profits within your food business is vital and not just because you’re a business, but because you’re a Good Food Business.

I know that some of you reading this might be thinking, or saying out loud, “We’re a mission-driven business, we’re not focused on Profit!”

I hear you, I felt the same way when I owned my food business.  But here’s the deal, if you want to achieve the mission of your business long-term you have GOT to be financially sustainable and profitable. 

Profits are the funds that you’ll use to invest in growth, efficiencies and other improvements. Maybe you’ll use profit funds to develop the new product you’ve been dreaming of.  Or perhaps it’s your goal to donate a portion of your profits to a charity.  Maybe you’ll celebrate with that money, or maybe you’ll do what I do and do a little bit of all of it, PLUS take a share for yourself and offer a profit-share with your employees. 

You started a business to do good, create change, earn a living doing something you love... No matter what your WHY is, Financial Sustainability and Profitability ensures that it becomes and remains a reality.

Do not be ashamed of profitability, do not be ashamed of wanting to make money.  If you’re struggling with this, if you’re having strong feelings right now, I recommend you go back and listen to The Good Food CFO Podcast Episode 06 with Caroline Snyder of Verdi Advising, I encourage you to read “We Should all Be Millionaires” by Rachel Rodgers  or “You’re a Badass at Making Money” by Jen Sincero, and listen to The Good Food CFO Podcast Episode 20: Profit First:: Will it Work For Your Good Food Business?

These will all help you along the journey of eliminating the guilt and limiting beliefs you have around money and financial success. 

Doing this work is a great gift to yourself and your community.

Discover how to become a Financially Sustainable and Profitable Good Food Business!

I’m here to support you - so join us in the Profitable Food Business Community to share your questions.

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About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Profit First Certified Food Business Financial Consultant and Coach with over 8 years of food industry experience. 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.

Financial reports offer a ton of insight and value to you as a business owner.

learning to read your financials + carving out time to do so each month will have a positive impact on your business.

IF YOU’VE BEEN AVOIDING YOUR FINANCIALS BECAUSE…

• You don’t have enough time

• You don’t understand what the reports are telling you

• You don’t get any value from your reports

I hear you, I totally understand, and I’m here to help.

It’s time to Get Confident around your Financials!

In this video I’m Covering:

Your Profit & Loss Statement
The 3 Sections of the report and what you can learn from each

Your Balance Sheet
What it tells you, and the value that it provides to your business

Your Cashflow Report
Why it's important, what you can learn from it, how often to review it

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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.

It’s common for good food business owners to calculate their perfect product price, only to find that it’s higher than they think they can, or should, sell it for.  (So many emotions!)

Doubts often follow as to whether or not you can successfully sell your product at a premium price, or whether the right move is to lower costs so you can sell at a lower price point.  

To help coach you through this decision making process, I spoke with CPG Consultant and founder of Retail Ready, Alli Ball to discuss the steps to making this important decision, and how you CAN build a successful food business with a “high priced” product. 

You can listen to our conversation here, where Alli shares:

• Why looking to your target market is key to landing on
  the right price for your product

• 5 Key Brand Questions to gain clarity on pricing decisions 

• The freeing truth that Everyone is not your target audience

If you decide that lowering your costs is the right move for your business. 

You’ll definitely want to tune in to this video, where I share Strategies for Lowering Your Costs WITHOUT Compromising Your Standards or Quality. 

As always, I’m here to support you as you work through the math and the decision making process. 
Join other food business owners doing this work in the free community. 

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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. To learn more about Sarah and opportunities to grow a more profitable food business Click Here.

I get excited when business owners ask “when is the right time to start paying myself?” because it means you’re actually thinking about it!

Many founders launch their food business with the expectation and belief that they will go unpaid for at least a year and that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.

Most go unpaid for much longer and have no plan in place for when, how or how much they’ll pay themselves in the future.
They simply aren’t thinking about paying themselves - even if they want to, the belief that they shouldn't or can’t, prevents them from really looking into it and taking action.

Does that sound like you? (It was 100% me, about 8 years ago)

One of my top priorities as a financial consultant is getting food biz owners paid! because you don’t truly have a financially sustainable or profitable business unless you’re paying yourself a fair wage.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this, but here are a few options to consider:

1. Pay yourself the same hourly rate as your employees.

   This is the approach I take in my business. It forces me to pay myself for my time each week and ensures that there is money left over in the business each month for reinvestment, growth, etc. I sweeten the deal by setting a monthly profit goal - if we achieve it I pay myself a bonus + my team gets one too!

2. SEE how paying yourself your dream salary will affect your business Financially. You may be surprised to find that you CAN afford your dream salary now!

   If you can’t afford that dream salary just yet, how many more units per month would you need to sell, or what other costs could you cut to make it a reality?
   
   If you can afford 50% or some other portion of your dream salary now start there. Then create a plan to increase sales or reduce costs, and increase your salary when you achieve certain milestones.

3. Record an In-Kind Donation to your business for your unpaid time

   If you can’t pay yourself for your time just yet, or can only pay yourself a little bit (there was a point in my food biz where I paid myself just $100/week), Financial Coach Caroline Snyder of Verdi Advising recommends tracking your unpaid time as an In-Kind donation to your business.
   
   Snyder agrees that it’s OK to not pay yourself so long as you have a plan in place for how and when you will start. And she says that tracking your time as an In-Kind donation (although it doesn’t actually affect your business financials) helps you see the value you’re giving to your business each month.

Do you have a method for paying yourself, or tracking your time that you’d like to share?

Join us in the Profitable Food Business Community and tell us all about it!

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About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Food Business Financial Coach and Consultant with over 7 years 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. To learn more about Sarah and opportunities to grow a more profitable food business Click Here.