19/09/2026
Growth Isn’t Always More Sales
One of the biggest misconceptions in hospitality is that growing the business always means growing sales.
It doesn’t. I’ve seen plenty of cafés and restaurants increase turnover without adding much — if anything — to the bottom line. This can often be the case when cafes decide to open in the evening. It's a risky move that sometimes works but often doesn't.
More sales can mean more staff. More wastage. Longer opening hours. More pressure on the owner. More complexity.
And sometimes, surprisingly little extra profit.
When I’m appraising a hospitality business, I’m far more interested in what happens to each extra dollar of sales than I am in turnover alone.
A café doing $30,000 a week with tight wage costs, good margins and strong systems can be a much better business than one doing $40,000 a week but struggling to turn those extra sales into profit.
Sometimes the smartest growth strategy isn't expansion.
It might be:
Tightening the menu
Dropping an unprofitable part of the operating hours
Improving food and wage costs
Increasing average spend
Renegotiating supplier costs
Removing unnecessary owner involvement
The result might be exactly the same sales — but significantly more profit.
And when it comes time to sell, profit is what drives value. Turnover is interesting. Profit pays the bills.
Discipline often beats expansion.
