Cost and margin recovery for
PE-backed food and beverage manufacturers

Standard costs rebuilt to reflect actual yield, labor, and overhead.
Margin at the SKU, customer, and plant level. Gross margin that survives diligence.

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Phronesis

ΦΡΟΝΗΣΙΣ

pronounced fro·NEE·sis

An ancient Greek word. Practical wisdom: the ability to discern the right action in particular circumstances. Not just knowing what is true, but knowing what to do.

Aristotle ranked it first among the virtues of practical life. Sophia was wisdom in the abstract. Phronesis was wisdom in the field: the judgment of the builder and the statesman, earned only through years of decisions that carried consequences.

The founder chose the name deliberately. Finance knowledge is abundant and frameworks are free. What is scarce is the judgment to apply them inside a specific plant, a specific quarter, a specific business. That is earned in operating seats, not observed from a distance.

The finance function is not a back-office cost center. It is the organization's central nervous system. When it is healthy, leadership sees clearly. When it is not, every operating decision carries hidden cost.

THE PATTERN

If you run finance at a food or beverage
manufacturer, you know the pattern

Private equity-backed, founder-led, or family-owned. Standard costs have not been refreshed in years. Margin by SKU is a guess. The close runs ten days when it should run five. The ERP captures data but produces no insight.

That is the work we do.

COST & MARGIN RECOVERY

One practice. Six ways to buy it.

Most engagements start with the diagnostic.

Cost & Margin Diagnostic

A three-week assessment. Standard cost validation, gross and contribution margin by SKU and customer, and a quantified recovery opportunity with a ranked action list.

Cost Model Rebuild

Standard costing rebuilt across multi-plant operations. Plantwide labor and overhead rates recalibrated to actual yield and utilization. Variance architecture that supports root cause analysis. Margin built as decision screeners rather than reports. Cost-to-serve and quoting for co-manufacturing and private label, where changeover economics, sanitation and setup time, and yield loss sit uncosted and unpriced.

Add-On Cost Harmonization

One costing standard across acquired plants after a bolt-on. Unified BOM structures, comparable margin views, and a single close.

Exit-Ready EBITDA

Gross margin substantiated before buy-side diligence tests it. EBITDA normalization, ASC 805 purchase accounting, opening balance sheets, post-close integration.

ERP Costing Remediation

Costing module design, opening balance validation, and inventory subledger reconciliation during or after an ERP implementation.

Interim CFO, VP Finance & Controllership

Close, consolidations, GAAP and IFRS reporting, audit readiness, FP&A buildout, board and lender reporting, covenant compliance. Through transitions, turnarounds, and leadership gaps.

RECENT ENGAGEMENT

Four plants. One standard.

A four-plant, PE-backed food manufacturer with heavy contract manufacturing volume. Plantwide standard labor and overhead rates had drifted from actual yield and utilization. We rebuilt standard cost across all four plants. The commercial team now prices off the gross and contribution margin screeners that came out of it. Brought in by the company's CFO.

THE FIRM

  • CPA
  • Big 4 — KPMG, serving PE clients
  • Fortune Global 500 — Unilever
  • $500M division, $4B dairy group
  • VP Finance — 30 countries
  • Corporate Controller — $8B
  • 15+ Years Operating Seats
  • Multi-Plant Standard Costing
  • M&A and ASC 805 Execution
  • Clients typically $100M–$1B revenue
Sam Malik, CPA

Sam Malik, CPA

Managing Director

Why Phronesis Exists

Skilled cost accountants have become hard to find, and food manufacturing is the hardest place to apply the discipline: high SKU counts, shared lines, seasonal yield, and contract manufacturing volume that hides its own cost. National firms staff this work with a manager and two associates who have never stood in a plant. We staff it with one operator who has.

Sam Malik built that operating base over 15+ years across food, beverage, and CPG: a Big 4 foundation at KPMG serving private equity funds and family offices, then Unilever, then nine years at Lactalis American Group leading finance for a $500M division inside the $4B U.S. arm of the world's largest privately held dairy group, where he built the division's first strategic finance and analytics function. VP Finance, International at InComm Payments across 30 countries and three cross-border acquisitions. Corporate Controller at Mansfield Energy, an $8B family-owned business, leading a team of 15 across 15+ legal entities.

Based in Chicago. Operating nationally.

Let's Talk

If you are a sponsor or operating partner with a food or beverage asset
where margin by SKU is still an estimate, one call usually settles
whether it is a six-week problem or a six-month one.

smalik@phronesiscfo.com (312) 625-7652 linkedin.com/in/sammalikcpa
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