Food Processor and Retailer

THE CLIENT

A forty-year-old food processor with branded retail locations throughout Southern California.

THE SITUATION

The Company faced increasingly higher labor and manufacturing costs along with declining or flat sales among its multitude of retail locations to result in the first operating loss experienced in nearly 40 years. The weak financial and operational reporting precluded proper measurement of operating costs and gross margins. As a result, the Company was placed in workout within its bank’s special assets group.

THE SOLUTION

Based on its bank’s recommendation, the Board of Directors engaged Avant Advisory Group to facilitate improvement in the Company’s manufacturing operations, internal controls, accounting and financial reporting to reverse the Company’s deteriorating financial condition.

THE RESULTS

Avant’s interdisciplinary approach of combining financial and operational disciplines to analyze and then implement improvements throughout the Company’s manufacturing and distribution operations resulted in major enhancements in production yield, reduced waste, strengthened margins, increased cash flows, and resulting return to profitability. Within months, the Company was released from the bank’s special assets group and refinanced by another major bank.