Case Studies
High Sales, No Cash
The Problem No One Could Name
When the owner first called us, they weren’t sure what to ask for. The café was busy—orders all day, delivery tickets spiking on weekends, and the average ratings were healthy. Yet the bank balance wouldn’t cooperate. “Sales are up,” the café owner said, “but I don’t see profit and I definitely don’t see cash.”
When the owner first called us, they weren’t sure what to ask for. The café was busy—orders all day, delivery tickets spiking on weekends, and the average ratings were healthy. Yet the bank balance wouldn’t cooperate. “Sales are up,” the café owner said, “but I don’t see profit and I definitely don’t see cash.”
Weeks 1 - 2
Seeing the Business Clearly
We began with a rapid internal audit. Rather than chase every line item, we started where the impact concentrates: the top sellers. Over the last 90 days, 10 menu items generated the bulk of revenue. We rebuilt their recipes with current supplier prices, verified portions, and reconciled those costs with what the point-of-sale was actually selling.
That’s where the story turned. Three of the top ten fast moving items on the menu were breaching the café’s food-cost thresholds. The volume made them look like winners; the margins told another story. Every extra order pushed the contribution down. At the same time, vendor price increases hadn’t yet triggered menu price updates, and a few popular combos layered discounts onto already thin items. In accounting, bills were slow to attach, bank feeds lagged, and aggregator settlements piled up unreconciled, which resulted in more fog on the dashboard.
Weeks 3 - 5
Fixing the Leaks Without Shocking Customers
We approached the menu like an engineer would approach a system: change one thing at a time and measure. For the three loss-making best-sellers, we normalised recipes and portions, tested equivalent ingredients from an alternate supplier, and introduced measured price changes of 3–7% where justified. On the floor, line checks moved from “when we remember” to a simple daily routine. Discounts were re-aimed, still compelling for customers but no longer stacked on the thinnest items.
Behind the scenes, the finance engine was rebuilt for speed and proof. Bills flowed into a shared queue with attachments, bank and wallet reconciliations ran same-day or next-day, and delivery settlements were reviewed weekly with an exceptions list. By the end of week five, the café’s food-cost variance narrowed by roughly 1.5–2.0 percentage points, and the owner started receiving a weekly snapshot that focused on what mattered: item-level contribution, discounts and voids, and a short, practical cash view.
Weeks 6 - 8
From Numbers to Decisions
With the leaks plugged, we shifted from firefighting to operating. The owner didn’t need a textbook on finance; they needed a routine. We set a 30-minute Virtual CFO huddle every week with a concise agenda: sales and contribution highlights, exceptions to resolve, and actions for the next seven days. A 14-day cash forecast brought calm to payables planning. The month-end close landed inside 7 business days, which meant the café was finally making decisions on fresh numbers, not distant memories.
A lightweight dashboard pulled the signal into one place: daily sales trend, gross margin percent, top items by contribution (not just revenue), and a watchlist for discounts and voids. The team could see, at a glance, whether yesterday helped or hurt.
What Changed - In Real Numbers
A lightweight dashboard pulled the signal into one place: daily sales trend, gross margin percent, top items by contribution (not just revenue), and a watchlist for discounts and voids. The team could see, at a glance, whether yesterday helped or hurt.
| Metric | Before | After (~Day 60) |
|---|---|---|
|
Loss-making top sellers |
3 of top 10 |
0 of top 10
|
|
Food-cost variance vs target |
4–8 pts over target |
≤ 2–3 pts over (and tightening) |
|
Price corrections |
00 |
3–7% on 3 items (measured) |
|
Invoice attachment rate |
< 40% |
≥ 95% |
|
Bank & wallet reconciliation |
10–20 days lag |
Same-day / next-day |
|
Month-end close |
25–40 days |
≤ 7 business days |
The headline is simple: volume no longer eroded profit. Those three best-sellers, once silent margin destroyers, began to behave. Cash became predictable enough to plan, not something to hope for.
Why This Worked
First, we refused to guess. Item-level contribution replaced “gut feel.” Second, we treated recipes, portions, supplier choices, and prices as one connected mechanism, adjusting them together instead of in isolation. Third, we made accounting a daily habit rather than a monthly rescue mission; every transaction had a document and a home. Finally, we gave the owner a cadence, a place where numbers become decisions, weekly, with insights.
What the Owner Learned
The café didn’t have a sales problem; it had a margin problem that sales volume disguised. Once the team could see contribution clearly, it was obvious where to act and how to keep acting every week. In the owner’s words: “Fixing three items and our accounting rhythm changed everything.”
The Nombur Model Used
This engagement combined remote bookkeeping with Virtual CFO support. Bookkeeping delivered clean data and a fast close; the CFO cadence turned that data into pricing actions, vendor conversations, and cash planning. It’s a simple pairing, but it’s powerful because it’s continuous.
If This Sounds Familiar
If your café is bustling yet profit and cash don’t show up, start where we did: your top ten items. If three of them are breaching targets, the math will outrun any marketing plan. We can run a 10-day diagnostic to benchmark contribution, reset portions and recipes, and map a clear pricing plan, and then stay with you to make sure the numbers move the way they should.
Fix My Cafes Numbers
Turn Your Busy Café into a Profitable One. High sales don’t always mean high profit.