Episode 243: How to Avoid the Most Common Food Biz Finance Pitfalls
Online, on TV, and from your next door neighbor, you’ll hear tons of financial advice for your business. “Avoid debt at all costs.” “You need to spend money to make money.” “Advisors from Fortune 500 companies will always know better than you.” It can be confusing to say the least!
In this episode, Sarah Delevan, the Founder & CEO of Sarah Delevan Consulting & The Good Food CFO, joins us to shed light on some of the most common financial challenges food businesses face, debunk some misconceptions, AND share how brands can navigate those challenges. In this episode of the Food Biz Wiz podcast, you’ll hear more about….
💸 Why higher sales don’t automatically solve a cash flow problem
💸 How critical it is to know all of your product margins
💸 What you can do to take a holistic approach to your cash flow and margin
💸 Reframing how we see debt and why it’s not inherently bad to have debt
Wizes, we can’t wait for you to listen to this conversation! We’d love to hear from you: what ONE piece of information did you need to hear most from this episode?
📨 DM us on Instagram or LinkedIn here!
🎧 Want to listen to Sarah and mine’s past episode with Katie Mleziva? Find it here!
🎧 Looking for Sarah’s episode on speaking against unfair practices in our industry? It’s here!
💰 Looking for the CFO Profit Assessment that Sarah mentioned in the episode?
💰 To work with Sarah directly and have it done for you: CFO Profit Assessment Service
💰 To complete the work on your own: The Profit Assessment Course
SPONSORED BY: OUR MASTERCLASS
As Sarah and Alli discussed, you need to find out where your product’s right channels are. This is just one of the many things we discuss in our Masterclass, which includes tons of actionable tips for growing your CPG food business, plus hear more about joining us in Retail Ready®. Click here to sign up for a time to watch our free Masterclass!
MEET SARAH DELEVAN:
Sarah Delevan is a CFO consultant, podcast host, and good food advocate. She’s a graduate of Rollins College MBA program. After volunteering at, and managing, Farmers’ Markets in Los Angeles, she co-founded a local food business in 2012. That business closed in 2014, not due to a lack of customers willing to buy, but because they simply couldn’t make the finances work. After the closure of the business, Sarah became keenly aware of the frequent closure of other good food businesses.
Sarah went on to work as a buyer for a local catering company committed to sourcing and serving food grown and raised regionally and sustainably. After joining this team she quickly realized they were facing the same financial struggles despite hitting all the standard industry targets. That’s when Sarah asked the question, “If we set aside industry standards and set our own targets, can we get a different result?” It’s through that work that her financial philosophy began to take shape.
Sarah founded Sarah Delevan Consulting in 2017 and has since served as a CFO consultant and coach to over 75 brands, helping founders gain control of their finances, improve their profitability, and grow financially sustainable businesses.
Sarah is an outspoken leader in the Good Food Revolution. As the host of The Good Food CFO Podcast she challenges the “industry standards” championed by traditional business media, and breaks down the financial concepts that directly impact the bottom line of Good Food businesses across the country.
In 2022, The Good Food CFO became more than a podcast, now supporting good food founders in understanding how their margin impacts their cash flow, how to align their growth with their personal level of debt and risk tolerance, and what it means to build a business on your own terms. Sarah is on a mission to change the way food business is done.
Find Sarah Delevan Consulting on their site, Sarah Delevan Website, find the Good Food CFO on their website here, and check them out on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube!