Profit Is Not a Dirty Word
For the first few years of running our hospitality businesses, I’ll admit—profit wasn’t something we thought about very often. It wasn’t that we didn’t care about money. It’s just that we had more urgent problems.
Like a lot of small business owners, we opened our first location—For Crêpe Sake—with a dream and a lot of heart. Our focus was on creating a place people wanted to visit. A place that served delicious food, made people feel welcome, and gave our team a meaningful and enjoyable place to work. Then came the pandemic, and the goal narrowed even further: just keep the doors open.
There were shutdowns. There were grants. There were moments when we weren’t sure if people would ever come back downtown. We weren’t thinking about margins—we were thinking about masks, mandates, and morale. Our entire energy was going toward survival and delivering the best experience we could under the circumstances.
Looking back, that period taught us a lot about grit, resilience, and hospitality. But it didn’t teach us much about building a financially healthy business.
In fact, to be completely honest, we weren’t even regularly reviewing our books. We’d take a glance a couple times a year, typically around tax season, and try to make sense of how things were going. But we didn’t really know. We had no rhythm, no discipline, and very little insight into our financial performance on a day-to-day or month-to-month basis.
We knew how to create a good experience. But we didn’t know if we were making money doing it. And that’s a problem.
Because over time, the vision for our business started to evolve. What began as one crêperie grew into two. Then came The Local Epicurean in East Lansing. The 601 Group started to take shape—not just as a couple of businesses, but as something bigger. Something that could endure. Something that could scale.
And as that bigger picture came into focus, we had to ask ourselves a hard but necessary question: Are we building a real business, or are we just building a really expensive hobby?
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past year reading, studying, and learning from others who have built great businesses in the hospitality world. One of the thinkers I’ve been most inspired by is Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses in Ann Arbor. Ari’s philosophy on business is deeply human—values-driven, transparent, and rooted in community.
And yet, he is absolutely clear on the importance of profit.
One quote of his in particular stuck with me:
“Profit is not the purpose of business. It’s the applause we get for doing good work.”
That line reframed things for us.
Profit is not something to be ashamed of. It’s not a sign of greed. Greed is cutting corners. Greed is taking more than you give. Profit, on the other hand, is what allows us to do more of the good work we care about.
Profit allows us to invest in our people—through better wages, more benefits, and growth opportunities.
Profit allows us to invest in our spaces—upgrading equipment, refreshing the ambiance, and keeping things beautiful and functional.
Profit allows us to weather tough seasons—whether that’s inflation, a surprise repair, or the next unforeseen crisis.
Profit allows us to innovate, expand, and bring our experiences to new communities.
Profit is what turns good intentions into sustainable impact.
So we started to make changes.
We began closing our books monthly, on time, with a rhythm and a structure we could stick to. We brought on real-time bookkeeping so we could see our numbers in a current, living state—not just as a backward-looking snapshot. And most importantly, we began sharing that financial information with our management team.
This wasn’t just a financial decision—it was a cultural one.
Because when our leaders understand the numbers, they understand the business more deeply. They see how their actions affect the whole. And they begin to think and act like owners. That’s the direction we want to head—toward open-book management, where transparency becomes the norm and everyone has a stake in the outcome.
We’re not fully there yet. But we’re getting closer.
Even in the early stages, this shift has paid off. We’ve uncovered areas where we were off track—like labor costs and food costs—and have begun to correct course. Instead of guessing, we now know where to focus. Instead of hoping, we can plan. And honestly, it’s made the work more fun. It’s given us a shared language, a shared focus, and a shared sense of responsibility.
Our long-term vision is bold:
“To be the nation’s premier hospitality group for immersive food experiences—setting the standard for how people connect, learn, and celebrate through exceptional culinary moments.”
That’s not a hobby. That’s a business. And a business can’t survive—let alone thrive—without being financially healthy. So yes, we want to be profitable. Yes, we want to deliver consistent, outsized returns. Not because we want to take more—but because we want to build something that lasts.
Profit is not the goal. But it is the fuel. It’s what makes everything else possible.
Thanks for being part of the journey.
— Mike and Gina