Where is the Meat?

“What the hell is Vin talking about with the meat?”

Long time ago I worked at a store. Right next to it was a pizza shop owned by a boisterous Greek guy. He had a LOT of personality and made really good food. He owned two shops and sold the one next to my store to two IBM guys.

They came in, bought a new pizza oven with a conveyor belt and a whole new computer ordering system. Between the two of them they had less personality than a dead tree but that was not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that they immediately started managing the business from the cost side. Right away I noticed that I couldn’t find the meat in my sandwich.

They CUT most of it out. They had a full blown system to drive efficiency and a cost savings approach to making a sandwich. Out of business in 6 months.

Doesn’t matter how much your sandwich costs to make if no one is buying them.

Think value before you think cost and this advice is never more applicable than it is for a CFO.