Your cidery’s biggest financial risk isn’t a lack of sales, it’s losing sight of the broader financial picture while reacting to the highs and lows that come with being a seasonal business. A packed fall weekend can create a sense of momentum. A slow winter week can trigger concern. Neither tells the full story.
That’s why John Behrens, president and founder of Michigan’s Farmhaus Cider Company, advocates for a simple but disciplined financial practice: maintaining a weekly dashboard focused on cash management.
Before launching Farmhaus, Behrens worked as a CPA, and he believes one of the most valuable exercises a cidery can adopt is a regular review that goes beyond traditional monthly financial statements.
“Something that I’ve found value in in our businesses, and have done in other settings when I worked for others, [is] coming up with your own weekly dashboard,” Behrens said at the 2026 CiderCon.
The approach is rooted in a basic principle: understanding what cash is truly available to the business at any given time.
Rather than focusing solely on a bank account balance, Behrens recommends building a more complete picture by incorporating receivables and payables into a weekly snapshot.
“What is our bank account balance? What are any outstanding invoices? Do we have any accounts receivable?” Behrens said. “Add that to that, that money should be coming in very soon, then deduct anything that we have as a payable balance.”
That means accounting for equipment purchases that have not yet been paid, fruit deliveries already being used in production, or any other obligations that will soon require cash outlays.
The resulting figure becomes a practical measure of financial health. More importantly, Behrens compares that number consistently against prior periods.
“I like to compare it to the week before and that same period a year before and kind of figure out, are we keeping our head above water?” he said.
For cideries navigating seasonal demand swings, that historical context can be especially valuable. Weekly sales figures often create emotional reactions that may not accurately reflect long-term performance.
Because of seasonality, Behrens said, it’s often difficult to judge how a business is performing based on recent activity alone. A beautiful autumn Saturday may fill a taproom, while a winter weekday may bring only a handful of customers.
“It’s important to look at trends over time in all these metrics,” he said.
The dashboard serves as a tool for smoothing out those emotional peaks and valleys. By tracking the same core measures every week and comparing them against historical benchmarks, operators can better understand whether short-term fluctuations are simply part of the annual cycle or signs of a larger issue.
Behrens believes many cideries fall into the trap of evaluating their business based on the most recent sales period.
“You’re only as good as your most recent week or month of sales,” he said. “Sometimes that’s really big and sometimes it’s really small, and chances are you’re going to experience both over the course of a year.”
A weekly dashboard helps counteract that tendency by providing a more stable financial reference point. It also creates accountability around one of the most important resources any cidery has: cash.
While detailed monthly financial reporting remains essential, Behrens sees the weekly review as a practical supplement that can be implemented without significant effort, particularly for small- and mid-sized operations.
“It’s fairly quick and easy, especially for a small- to mid-sized operation, for something to kind of keep tabs on,” he said.
The discipline becomes even more important during periods of investment. Large equipment purchases, expansion projects or inventory buildups can temporarily distort perceptions of progress. Looking at weekly cash-position trends helps operators understand the real financial impact of those decisions rather than relying on gut feelings.
Ultimately, the exercise is less about creating another report and more about maintaining awareness. By regularly measuring cash on hand, expected incoming funds and upcoming obligations, cidery leaders gain a clearer understanding of where the business stands and where potential risks may be developing.
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As Behrens noted, the reason is straightforward.
“Once you run out of money, that’s sort of a tough spot to be in.”
If you are managing seasonal sales cycles, production investments and ongoing operating expenses, a simple weekly dashboard may not solve every challenge. But it can provide something every business needs: an early warning system that keeps financial reality in focus before small problems become larger ones.
