📈 $3.3M Revenue Growth. 💰 $313K More Cash. Here’s What Happened After They Hired a CFO
- Diana Miret
- Jul 5
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 6
In early 2021, this food manufacturing business was operating with slim margins and uncertain cash flow. Despite growing demand, their profit potential was being lost in inefficiencies, unclear financials, and lack of strategic oversight. COVID shut-downs had wiped out their reserves.
They had no choice but to borrow money to stay afloat.
When this food manufacturing company first reached out, they weren’t in crisis—but they were stuck.
Margins were tight. Cash was low. Growth felt risky.
They thought they needed more sales. But what they really needed… was financial clarity.
Gross margin was stuck at just 23.88% - No strategic financial planning - Cash flow stress due to inefficient operations - Revenue capped under $1M/year - Owners lacked confidence in financial data.
But the problem wasn't just the COVID shut-down. They had a problem before COVID that was eating at their margins like crazy: an outdated costs spreadsheet that was slowly killing the business.
The chef-owner had created an elaborate and sophisticated worksheet to price products. It was a beauty.
Except for one thing: the cost of fresh ingredients were not updated regularly so margins were dwindling due to inflation. They had no clue. He kept pricing products with old cost numbers - out-dated pricing of raw ingredients!
We started by realigning pricing based on true COGS analysis - (we used software to help).
We shifted focus to high-margin product lines - we narrowed the list of products being offered to the top 20 (that was a fight with the chef-owner).
We created cash flow projections and KPI dashboards.
We implemented bi-weekly strategic reviews and accountability.
If you're a business owner making over $1M in revenue, and you're asking:
“Where’s my profit?”
“Why don’t I have more cash in the bank?”
“Can I afford to grow?”
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