Setting up Financial Workflows and processes free up your time, improve financial reporting, and help you make more money.

As the Founder and CEO of your Good Food Business, your time is your most valuable asset. And ensuring that you are spending it on tasks that help move your business forward and make more money is extremely important. If you’re spending time making your financial workflows work that is not a valuable use of your time!

IDENTIFY YOUR ROLE IN YOUR FINANCIAL WORKFLOWS

Think about your Financial processes…

• How integral are you to making everything work right and get reported correctly to your Bookkeeper and Financial Team?

• Where in the process do you have a manual responsibility?

• Who else on your team is part of the process and what are their responsibilities? Are there better uses of their time?

• Think about the accounts or credit cards you use that your bookkeeping team can't access and require extra manual steps for you to verify and reconcile each month.

Things that feel like they only take a minute... ADD UP.

Once you’ve identified where you fit in your financial workflows talk to your team members about how you can automate or hand off anything that you are currently doing.

Don’t say, “it just takes a minute” or “It’s just quicker and easier if I do it”.
Remember that time is your most valuable asset and you need to be focusing on the things that move your good food business forward and make more money.

An Example of Financial Workflow that can and should be improved:

a Payment system that doesn't allow you to track who payments are from.

Let’s say you bill all Wholesale customers through Shopify, but they can pay through paper check or ACH that takes place outside of the Shopify system.

After payment or at the end of the month, you have to identify the payments received and link them to the right client and sales channel. As the CEO of your business this should not be part of your job, it is NOT a money making task so it also shouldn't be the responsibility of someone on your team.

Instead, create a system that do this work for you...

If you are billing your customers through Shopify, require that they pay through Shopify and have a clear set of products that only get sold to wholesale accounts so they are easy to track.

Otherwise use an alternate system like QuickBooks that offers an ACH payment option that links the invoice to the payment automatically, and if you accept paper checks create a simplified system for tracking checks received and reporting them to your Bookkeeper.

There are so many ways to streamline your Financial Workflows and get you focused on making more money!

If you want to learn more about Financial Workflows and connect with other Good Food Business owners, Join us in the Free Profitable Food Business Community!

And check out Episode 38 of The Good Food CFO Podcast.

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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 Group Coaching 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.

The USPS recently announced a slow down in delivery speed and a temporary increase in shipping rates for the holiday season. Likewise, Fedex and UPS both raised their prices in 2021.

So, what can you do as a business owner to ensure that you’ve got a shipping offer that is both enticing to your potential customers AND protects your financial sustainability?

Here are 4 Steps For Creating a Profitable
Shipping Offer:

1. Know the Cost to Ship Your Product(s) -- Both individually and in any popular bundles or combinations.

• If your products fit into a Flat Rate shipping box or envelope your shipping costs are pretty easy to determine

• If your products don’t fit into a Flat Rate box your Shipping costs will be based on the size/weight of the package and how far you are shipping it.
  
  Each carrier uses a “Shipping Zone” system for calculating the costs for domestic shipping - if you aren't sure what it costs to ship your package we’ve got a roundup of USPS, Fedex and UPS resources as well as a really great calculator from ShipStation to help you understand how the “Shipping Zone” system works, and to find your max shipping rates based on where your business is located. Click here to access the shipping cost resources.

  Knowing this information will help ensure that you’re factoring the RIGHT shipping cost into your shipping offer.
  

2. Know Your Margins

Know and use your margins as a guideline to determine how much you can afford to spend or contribute to the cost of shipping without hurting profitability. For example, do you have 5% of online sales revenue to contribute to your shipping costs or are your margins tight at this phase of your business and you need your customer to cover the cost of shipping entirely?

Knowing your overall business margins, as well as your margins for your online sales channel and EACH of the online platforms you utilize can help ensure that you’re selecting the right offer for each site.

You DON’T have to have a consistent shipping offer across all online platforms!

3. Consider the Shipping Offers that could be well-suited for your business financially, and offer benefits to your customers:

You may offer…

• Free Shipping on ALL Products , and work all or some of the cost of shipping into your product price.

• Flat Rate Rate for ALL Shipments (even if you don’t use a flat rate box) - this means that you and your customers share the cost of shipping - but remember to check your margins and only contribute what makes sense for your business.

• Free Shipping Only When Customers Spend a Certain Amount of Money

• Free Shipping Only when a set minimum number of items is purchased

• You may not have an offer - you may charge for shipping based on actual costs and pass any business discounts on to your customers
  

4. Know your Customer

Online data and research is conducted across all retail categories and customers of mission-driven food and beverage businesses tend to have different values than the general population.

So while knowing that, in general, the majority of online shoppers expect free shipping, learning more about your customers values is an important element to determine IF a free shipping offer would indeed have a positive impact on sales, or IF charging for shipping is deterring people from purchasing your product.

This may not be something that you can ASK your audience, but we’ve seen a lot of success with testing -- for example, a seasoning blend company based in Oregon recently did A/B Testing to see how customers responded to lower product price with a fee for shipping vs. a higher product price and no shipping fee. They tracked consumer behavior on the website, the number of abandoned carts and at what point in the process the cart was abandoned to determine the best shipping offer option for their audience.

For more insights into creating a Profitable Shipping Offer check out Episode 26 of The Good Food CFO Podcast.

And join us in the free Profitable Food Business Community for additional resources and support for a profitable holiday season!

Sarah’s Instagram: @sarah.delevan.consulting

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

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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.

“Setting your prices to achieve Product Profitability does not guarantee that you’ll achieve Business Profitability.”

If there is one critical concept that I want every food + beverage business owner to know, understand and accept this year, it’s the one I’ve written above. 

I’ve talked about it on The Good Food CFO podcast, The Real Food Brands podcast, The Food Biz Wiz podcast and even on a few webinars like the one I did with WeStock.

We’ve been misled on how best to approach our pricing. 

I got it wrong in my food business...

And when businesses get it wrong they can hit or exceed their sales goals but struggle to achieve profitability and they aren’t sure why.  When the cause goes unresolved or the source of the problem is unidentified, losses start to mount and the result can be the closure of the business.

So how do you ensure that you’re pricing your products for BUSINESS profitability? 

Follow my 3 rules for pricing:

1. Don’t calculate your prices using your per unit labor cost

2. You CAN’T successfully price your products in a vacuum

3. You CAN price your product with a simple formula, and your target ingredient cost %

Ready to learn more and get your products priced right? 

Click here to listen to The Good Food CFO podcast. 

Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube, complete with helpful slides. 

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 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.

In a past video post, I’ve talked about the big AH-HA moments, discoveries + breakthroughs that Food biz owners have when they look at their Food Costs as a % of revenue, rather than as a simple dollar amount. 

It’s a small change in HOW you look at your business that can have a BIG impact. 

If that has you wondering...

• Why is my Food Cost PERCENTAGE so important? 

• What Food Cost % should I be aiming for? 

• HOW do I lower my food costs? 

You’re not alone!
Here are the answers to these very common questions.

1. Why is Your Food Cost percentage So important? 

Your Food Cost percentage tells you how much of every revenue dollar gets spent on making and selling your product.  

It should be steady month to month and NOT change based on how much or how little you produce and sell.  

It is a KEY factor in building a financially sustainable and profitable food business. 

2. What Food Cost % Should You Be Aiming for? 

As always, there is no one-size-fits-all answer.  

Finding the Food Cost % that will help you price your products right and create long-term financial sustainability + profitability takes an hour or so to iron out and requires looking at your whole business. I’ll touch on that more on that in a future blog post, BUT here are the basics:

Your Food Cost % + Labor Cost % + Operating Cost % MUST consistently total less than 100% to have a profitable business.  

If it totals 100% or more, even if it only happens some of the time…  You need to set and achieve new, lower cost targets to bring that total down.

What do You need to lower your Food Cost % to, to be profitable or improve profitability?  Start there! 

3. How Do You Lower Your Food Costs? 

The first step is to identify the cause(s) of your high food costs:

• Do you have products that are priced too low?

• Ingredient costs that are too high?

• Is there over-purchasing / inefficient ordering happening in your biz?

Once you’ve identified this, you can get to work fixing it and start seeing financial shifts. 

Remember, your sales are never the cause of high food costs, it’s your job to get and keep your food costs under control.

Not sure what your food cost percentage is? Need some helping understanding the numbers of our business?

Download the free Profitability Roadmap!

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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.

costs of goods sold, aka “Cogs”…

Many food business owners are Confused as to what their costS of goods sold (COGS) are…

• Should my rent be included?

• What about labor?

• Merchant Fees are a COG?!

some know exactly what their food business COGS are, but don’t know why understanding + tracking your COGS is so important…

• My COGS go up and down depending on what I make and sell each month… why do I need to track them?

• WHAT exactly should I be tracking?!

Whichever boat you’re in, You are not alone!

In this video I'm answering these 3 common questions about food business COGS:

1. What are Costs of Goods Sold?

2. Why are COGS important to track, and how do i track them?

3. How can understanding my COGS help me build a profitable food business?

Dig in and comment below to tell me what nugget of info you found most helpful!

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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.

Your Financial Reports are meant to summarize your food business financial data and present it to you in a meaningful way.

financial reports should provide value to you, and help you make key strategy + business decisions.

For example, you should easily be able to answer the following just by reviewing your Profit + Loss Statement (aka Income Statement):

• Which line of business is bringing in the most revenue?

• What does it cost to package + ship your online orders?

• What are your total labor costs with taxes, benefits and fees included?

If your Profit + Loss, or Income Statement, isn't providing this type of valuable info about your food business (without having to do side calculations or dig for additional data) you're working with what I call "Basic" financial reports in need of a revamp.

Still not quite sure if your financials are in need of a revamp?

Here are 3 signs that they your food business financials
need a revamp…

#1 - All of your sales are lumped into one line item

Even though you sell online, wholesale and at farmer's markets... if you've got more than one revenue stream you should see individual income data for each of them.

#2 - All of your Cost of Goods Sold are lumped into a single line item

I know you've got more than one COG!

#3 -Your Expenses are shown in a simple list - likely in alphabetical order

Accounting software includes a "standard" list of common business expenses. Categorizing your expenses to fit into this simple list will NOT help you understand how your business is performing and build a profitable business.

Your expenses WILL be unique, and your financial reports need to reflect that.

Does this describe your reports?

The good news is that you have a say in what your financial reports look like, and these things are easy to change!

When your reports are designed for YOUR business and are working FOR YOU, you can count on them to show you how your business is performing, set meaningful goals + get to work on building a profitable food business!

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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, 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.

We all know that the quickest way to achieve our goals is to have a plan.

You identify where you are right now, and where you want to be.
Then you connect the dots and detail the steps for getting from point A to point B. 

Except when you’re running a growing food business, it’s not quite that easy... 

You’re likely implementing multiple strategies to achieve your business objectives - most or all of which will cost money to implement - and you’ve got your eye on increasing sales. 

There are a lot of people, information and money to manage! 

Profit Planning helps you see the big picture of your business and keep you on track to reaching your goals. 

Here are just some of the ways that Profit Planning can benefit you in your business: 

1. Helps you get clear on your business objective and goals (if you haven’t already). 

2. Allows you to see if increased sales, decreased costs, or both are your keys to higher profitability. 

3. Helps you establish what the right monthly sales target is for our business.

4. Provides a baseline + the ability to monitor your progress toward your goals, as well as the success of the strategies + tactics you've implemented. 

5. Enables you to get detailed on how you’ll grow sales (and the costs associated), get clear on when and how to hire, what your cash runway forecast looks like, and allows you to run financial scenarios to assist in decision making.

Inside the Profitable Food Business Community we’re talking about Profit Planning and how to set the right goals for your business.  In fact, the first Tuesday of every month I do a LIVE Q+A session to answer your questions and support you on your Food Biz Financial Journey! 

Join the community and our next Q+A session here

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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 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.

Do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed in your business sometimes? Pulled in many directions and unsure where to focus your attention?

If you answered yes, odds are that you’ve either lost sight of your business objectives, or you don’t have one.  

It’s possible Covid-19 played a role in this, but its also possible that you started a passion project and now that it’s off the ground you need to figure out where you want to take it and how you want it to grow. 

Knowing your business objective(s) is key to:

• Identifying the right goals for your business

• Creating a clear plan of action for yourself + your team

• Focusing your time + attention where it will have the most impact, and 

• Ensuring that you are spending your money wisely

Hello, clarity + focus! 

When we think about how clear business objectives help us spend our money wisely, the list is nearly endless.  From the tools + services you choose to invest in, to the marketing strategies you implement, if and how you grow your team, etc. 

So, what IS a business objective? 

Simply put, it’s a specific target or group of targets you want to achieve within a stated time frame.  

Some examples of business objectives include:

• Increase Wholesale Revenue by 25% this year

• Improve Overall Profitability 10% within 6 months

• Capture 5% of market share by quarter 3

• Double our return customer rate this quarter

With your objectives identified, you can get to work on identifying HOW you will go about achieving them - the strategies + tactics you will implement in your business. 

And when you stay focused on your objectives and track your progress, focusing your time and making key financial decisions becomes easier. 

Need help identifying + achieving your Business Objectives?

If you need help identifying the right business objectives to build a financially sustainable + profitable food business the “Know Your Numbers” template can help you see your business and the areas to focus on to improve financially.  

The template is available in our toolkit, workshop + online program. Click here to find out which resource is right for you!

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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.

What does slowing down REALLY look like?

Here are a few of the ways that my clients + program members have been slowing down in their businesses:

• Recipe costing (with actual ingredient costs) BEFORE launching a new product.

• Calculating how various discount percentages (15% vs. 25%) for a “bounce back” offer will impact the bottom-line, THEN choosing the option that is a win for both customers AND the business.

• Considering all ingredient sourcing and packaging options for a new (big!) foodservice account to hit the client’s needed price point AND to be profitable.

• Identifying packaging + shipping costs to understand the financial impact of offering free or discounted shipping, THEN implementing the offer that meets customer expectations and maintains profit margins.

All of these examples are situations where the business owner slowed down to look at their numbers and make an informed decision, rather than rushing to get that next sale.

I know what it’s like to launch an incredible online campaign that generates $20,000 in monthly revenue, only to experience $25,000 in monthly losses because of unforeseen shipping + increased labor expenses...

I want you to have BIG sales.
But I REALLY want you to have big profits.
Slowing down makes all the difference.

P.S. Need some support in slowing down, or a little guidance on how to make sense of the information you need to consider for your next important decision?

Join us in the Financial Success Formula Program for daily support + Monthly Coaching Calls. Click here to learn more.

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About the Author: Sarah Delevan is a Food Business Financial Consultant + Freelance CFO with over 7 years 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 wish we could never ever see numbers so the creativity flows without the annoyance of the other side of the business..."                               

Do you ever feel this way? 
There is a very good chance you did not start your food business to focus on numbers.

No, you got into this because you're passionate about food and beverage, making delicious products and CREATING.

But the numbers are there and the numbers are important.
How many times has wondering about the state of your finances caused so much stress and worry that it actually caused a creative block? 

Here’s the thing: LOOKING at the numbers FREES you from the numbers.

When your food business financials aren’t in order your mind is ALWAYS on money.  Worrying, wondering, constantly checking in on your balances and your sales numbers … 

When you slow down and fully understand your numbers you become informed and empowered. 
You can implement systems that help your business thrive financially - without constant attention - and there is only a need to look at your financials once a week, or even once a month!  

You know what’s going on, you feel in control, and creativity starts to return. 

This is a transformation I see ALL the time.  

The freedom to be creative in your business comes when you embrace the numbers.

building a solid financial foundation is the first step.

Download the Profitability Roadmap + Checklist to ensure you’ve got a solid food business financial foundation in place, so you can understand your numbers and start building a more profitable food business!

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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 build a more profitable food business Click Here.

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.

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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. 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.

I get asked all the time…

How do I calculate the right price for my products?
What’s the right target number for my Cost of Goods Sold?
How can I make sure that my food business is profitable? 

My answer...

Find Your Financial Success Formula!

No two CPG Brands, Wholesale Businesses, Manufacturers, Caterers, or Meal Delivery Businesses have the same ingredient costs, labor costs, or operating costs. 

Your products may be similar.
Your suppliers could be the same.
But, your Financial Success Formula is all your own.   

…it is the key to helping you find financial success in your food business. 

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Want to learn more?

Tune in to the most popular episode of The Conversation Series to learn:

• What the Financial Success Formula is

• How to identify YOUR formula

• Why knowing your formula is critical to your success

• How you can use your formula to price your products, set budgets + more

Click here to listen now. 

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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 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.