PUT PROFIT LAST and other things 'I'm not supposed to say'

Every time I say this out loud in a business setting, I can feel the temperature change.

'In business,  put profit last.'

Sometimes the room roars with laughter.
Other times it goes very quiet, very cynical, very quickly.
On more than one occasion, I’ve been politely informed that 'I don’t understand the figures'.

I do.
Very well, actually.

What I don’t understand is why we’ve convinced ourselves that starting with profit guarantees commercial success - when so often it delivers the opposite.

Let me explain what I really mean.

Putting profit last does not mean ignoring it.
It doesn’t mean being blasé with numbers, and it certainly doesn’t mean cooking from the heart and hoping the spreadsheet will sort itself out later.

It means understanding where profit actually comes from.

In my experience, profit is not created by percentages alone. It’s created by value - perceived value, emotional value, operational value, and guest value. And value doesn’t come from a spreadsheet. It comes from ideas that are worth paying for.

When I’m developing a dish, a menu, or a concept, I start with the idea itself. I explore it properly. I question it. I talk it through. I ask what problem it solves, what it stands for, and who it’s really for. I push it until it either excites me or falls flat.

Only then do I cost it. Properly. Honestly. Without sentiment.

If it doesn’t stack up financially, it doesn’t happen. Simple as that.

But here’s the part that often gets missed: that process rarely goes to waste. More often than not, something from that journey finds a home elsewhere - a technique, a flavour, a way of using produce differently, or an operational tweak that unlocks value somewhere unexpected.

That’s how commercial creativity actually works.

'How do we achieve 75% margin on this dish?'

What flattens everything - and I mean everything - is starting with a target margin and working backwards.

That question, for me, crushes creativity before it’s even had a chance to breathe. It produces menus that are technically sound but emotionally empty. Food that ticks boxes but gives no one a reason to return. Teams who execute correctly but without pride or belief.

You end up optimising yourself into mediocrity.

The irony is that the people most suspicious of this way of thinking are often the same ones struggling with engagement, identity, and momentum. The numbers might look fine on paper, but the business feels flat - and the guests feel it too.

Profit matters, of course it does. But profit is not the starting point, It’s the outcome.

When the idea has value, when the offer has identity, and when the guest is genuinely considered, the numbers usually take care of themselves - with far less friction than forcing margin targets ever will.

So yes, I put profit last.

Not because I don’t respect it -
but because I understand how it’s earned.