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The $100,000 Club Log #1: What the Numbers Are Telling Us
One of the goals of the $100,000 Club is to become better students of our own business.
Rather than relying on gut feelings or reacting to whatever happened this week, I want to document what we're seeing, what we believe, and what we're trying. My hope is that years from now we'll be able to look back and understand not just what happened, but how our thinking evolved.
The Numbers
I recently dug into several years of historical data because I wanted to answer a simple question:
Is our business actually changing, or does it just feel that way?
The delivery data tells a very clear story.
Average Deliveries Per Week
- 2022: 43.6
- 2023: 36.6
- 2024: 33.5
- 2025: 29.9
- 2026 YTD: 24.1
The trend is remarkably consistent.
Every year we've been doing fewer deliveries.
The Surprising Part
What's interesting is that revenue remained relatively stable through 2023, 2024, and 2025.
That tells me we became much better at making money from each order.
We offset the decline in deliveries through:
- Higher average tickets
- Price increases
- Better sales per labor hour
- More large orders and events
- Improved operational efficiency
In other words, we improved the business.
But there is a limit to how much efficiency and pricing can compensate for fewer deliveries.
Eventually, volume matters.
That appears to be where we are in 2026.
The Missing Same-Week Orders
Another metric caught my attention.
I track how many same-week orders we add after Monday's schedule is already built. These are lunches, meetings, and events that come together during the week for delivery that same week.
Average Same-Week Orders Added
- 2023: 16.5
- 2024: 18.3
- 2026: 11.4
At our best, we routinely added enough same-week business to generate roughly $15,000 in additional weekly revenue.
Today, we're adding far fewer.
What's interesting is that we actually have more business booked further in advance than we used to. That's a good thing. It gives us better visibility and makes planning easier.
The difference is that the follow-through business during the week isn't materializing like it once did.
My hypothesis is that this reflects how offices have changed.
There are fewer people in the office each day.
Fewer people means fewer spontaneous meetings.
Fewer spontaneous meetings means fewer last-minute catering orders.
The planned meetings are still happening.
The impromptu ones largely aren't.
What This Means
For years we've talked about the importance of:
- 40 deliveries per week
- $10,000+ breakfast sales per month
- $50,000+ in Closed Won opportunities each month
Looking back, the data supports those targets.
The years when we consistently reached 40 deliveries per week were also the years when the business was at its healthiest.
Rather than obsessing over $100,000 months, I think the better question is:
How do we add 10 deliveries per week?
Getting from 24 deliveries per week to 34 or 35 deliveries would put us back near 2024 levels.
That is a tangible goal.
Why Recurring Accounts Matter
If same-week demand has permanently declined, then waiting for the phone to ring isn't a strategy.
Recurring accounts become much more valuable.
A recurring account doesn't create one order.
It creates dozens of future deliveries without having to win the business all over again.
One recurring relationship can change the trajectory of the business.
We've already seen that with Tina Ferguson. One recurring relationship has generated more than $12,000 in sales.
Ten recurring relationships could meaningfully change our delivery volume.
What We Believe Right Now
These are our current assumptions:
- Office occupancy is lower than it was before the pandemic.
- Same-week catering demand has declined because there are fewer spontaneous office meetings.
- Our operational execution remains strong.
- The biggest opportunity is increasing the number of orders entering the funnel.
- Recurring accounts, referrals, and large groups are the best ways to rebuild delivery volume.
Time will tell whether these assumptions are correct.
That's exactly why I wanted to write this down.
Looking Ahead
Our goal remains unchanged:
10 new recurring accounts by December 31.
We may not be able to control how often people come into the office.
We may not be able to control the economy.
But we can control how many organizations think of Apple Spice whenever they plan a meeting.
That's what we'll be measuring.
And that's the work in front of us.
“Know what’s enough. Build what matters.”
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