You could do all the normal things to boost your bottom line, like adjusting pricing or cutting down on expenses. Or, you could sell hot dogs at a loss.

We’re all for the unpredictable here at CFO Brew, and for that reason (and that reason alone), we rounded up some unexpected items that companies are saying are single-handedly boosting bottom lines—or otherwise lifting sales and defining brands.

Not too crumb-y. Demand for Uncrustables—yes, the gooey folded sandwich in seemingly every lunchbox in America—is boosting the bottom line for the J.M. Smucker Co., according to CFO Tucker Marshall.

It’s easy to overlook a PB&J sandwich, but in an increasingly tough food and retail environment, Smucker customers are actually buying more Uncrustables right now, Marshall told the Wall Street Journal. After acquiring Uncrustables in 1998, the squishy sandwiches have consistently been a big seller for Smucker. In 2001, one year after Smucker started officially selling Uncrustables in stores, the PB&J sandwiches brought in $12 million in sales.

By fiscal year 2022, they generated $511 million in net sales, with the company producing an average of 3 million Uncrustables per day. That same year, Smucker’s then-vice president Tina Floyd said the company expects Uncrustables to become a $1 billion brand in the next five years.

Keep reading.—NP

Behold, the fundamental philosophical question of our age. Really—think about it. People are working from home, from the pool, and (occasionally) from the office. Workspaces as we’ve known them for the last 100 years are over with a capital O.

So, how can you make sure your hybrid work environment is…well…working?

Say hello to Cisco. They can help you supercharge your hybrid work solutions, whether you’re looking for strategies on employee engagement or searching for ways to reimagine your office and workplaces.

Above all, Cisco understands that hybrid work is NOT a one-size-fits-all game. That’s why they offer tons of customizable solutions that can be perfectly tailored to your biz—no matter how big or small.

Get more out of your hybrid office.

Decisions, decisions. They’re something CFOs have to make more of nowadays—and the majority of finance leaders don’t like it.

Two-thirds (67%) of CFOs reported feeling frozen by the amount of decisions they need to make on a regular basis, according to an Accenture survey.

It’s become a common problem for a simple reason: Businesses are more complicated than they used to be. “90% of C-suite executives said their companies are undergoing an accelerated digital transformation,” according to the report. And CFOs are shouldering a lot of the strain: 93% of CFOs surveyed said they’re now being trusted with more responsibility than in the past, according to the survey.

“[CFOs’] responsibility for financial discipline, coupled with modern analytics, gives them cross-enterprise visibility and allows them to connect the dots in ways their C-suite partners can’t,” the report’s authors wrote. “As a result, CFOs hold more decision making power than previous generations.”

In the current corporate climate, the report’s authors argued that CFOs are regularly encountering a “paradox of choice,” a well-known psychological dilemma that holds that the more options we have, the more likely we are to feel unsatisfied with our choice. “The volume of options, and their interconnected nature, often hinders more than it helps, slowing decisions down rather than accelerating them,” the report’s authors wrote of the evolving CFO role.

But for any finance leaders feeling overwhelmed, the survey also outlined some vital solutions.

Keep reading.—NP

Good people are hard to find. These days, it’s getting so tough to source quality employees that it’s become part of the investment outlook in the world of private equity, according to a new study.

BDO’s 2023 Private Capital Survey takes a look at the uncertainty investors are facing, and notes that labor shortages are a significant concern extending from PE firms all the way to their portfolio companies. The survey respondents included 405 US private equity fund managers and operating partners, as well as 200 US Portfolio company CFOs and 50 US board members.

“Almost half (47%) of portfolio company CFOs report that they are understaffed in critical roles, while 43% say they are understaffed across their organization,” BDO found. And companies interacting with those PE firms should know that the feeling is mutual: “Fund managers view staffing levels similarly: nearly half (49%) of fund managers and operating partners describe current staffing levels for critical roles as understaffed and 48% describe staffing levels across the organization as understaffed.”

It’s a problem that happens to focus especially on the financial side: “Private equity funds and their portfolio companies are struggling to find the advanced financial and leadership skillsets required to execute their value creation plans.”

This is a theme we’re familiar with from the CPA shortage: With a generational shift in experience and skill sets as boomers retire, companies need to figure out how to maintain strong and fresh talent pipelines that are long and deep enough to keep their operations going.

Continue reading.—SW

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: $29 billion. That’s how much investors have pumped into AI startups already this year. With all that money sloshing around, our jobs should be safe, right? (Insider)

Quote: “We’ve always prided ourselves on being the home of Taco Tuesday, but paying millions of dollars to lawyers to defend our mark just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do.”—Taco John’s CEO Jim Creel on the fast food chain’s decision to give up its “Taco Tuesday” trademark in the face of Taco Bell’s legal efforts to invalidate the trademark. Asking for a friend: Isn’t every day Taco Tuesday? (Reuters)

Read: The Big Four accounting firms are shedding consultants as businesses pare back on outside help. (the Wall Street Journal)

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