How 40 Dreams Catering Made an Offer on a Million-Dollar Building With Confidence

Owner and founder Adrienne Fudge got clarity on her finances, saved money, and eventually– made a huge business decision with ease.

At a Glance

40 Dreams Catering

New Jersey-based 40 Dreams Catering isn’t like most catering companies–– they distinguish themselves by delivering nutritious, diabetic-friendly and balanced meals to seniors and disabled adults. Not only are the meals healthy, they’re delicious, thoughtfully prepared and well-seasoned. Their team of chefs won the American Culinary Federation's Junior team title at the New Jersey regional competitions for three years in a row!

The Problem

Shortly after owner and head chef, Adrienne Fudge founded her first catering business in 2008, she realized it was important to her to serve people in need– something the original business model didn’t allow for. She pivoted to align with her values, transitioning to partner with managed care organizations. This move would allow her to provide clients with free meals, something she never thought would be possible in a traditional catering business.

The clients’ meals are covered through their insurance provider, which means Adrienne is paid through the managed care organizations. Before payment can be finalized, the client’s insurance companies must wait for all medical billing and coding pieces to trickle through their systems and be verified. This process takes time––up to three weeks––and there can be issues with the client’s claim in the meantime.

“Sometimes the insurance companies pay in a timely manner, but sometimes they don't. At that point, the client has already eaten the food, and I've already incurred the expense. There's no way for me to recoup that money. So the bookkeeping really has to be up to date and on point,” says Adrienne.

The consistent delays and unpredictability of billing meant that the financial piece of Adrienne’s business quickly became a struggle– but it wasn’t for lack of revenue. It was a lack of clarity.

For 4 years and 10 months, Adrienne struggled to manage her bookkeeping. Eventually, the burden was enough to start looking for a better solution.

The Goal

Adrienne knew it was crucial for her books to be clean and up-to-date, but it was difficult given the intricacies of medical billing and coding. She was having issues with cash flow, and it felt impossible to get a clear picture of where her business stood financially.

“I tried so many different things. I talked to many people, I worked with various accountants, and no one was able to pull it all together and make it easy for me to look at my business from a financial perspective at any given time,” she said.

Sometimes, she’d feel incredible stress because the numbers were low– alarmingly low. Then all of the sudden, they’d shoot back up when a payment was finally processed. The constant anxiety and confusion was taking a toll. "How can you grow if you don't know where you are?" Adrienne said. She searched for a solution that would bring clarity. 

The Solution

Decimal and its team of advisors got straight to work, and in less than a week, Adrienne was able to see where 40 Dreams Catering stood financially for the first time in 5 years.

Using the dashboard, she took note of how much she was spending in certain areas she’d never fully noticed. For example, she noticed that her cost per unit on packaging was higher than she had thought, and she was able to find a new packaging option that lowered her cost considerably.

“Now, I know exactly where I am financially. That helps me from a business perspective, but it also means I don’t have to worry. I have so many other things to worry about regarding the business, like growth, management and scaling up–– it helps knowing that the team of people working on my bookkeeping are keeping track of things,” Adrienne said.

The transparency and clarity provided by Decimal allowed 40 Dreams Catering to blossom, enabling her to make big business decisions.

“I was always afraid of the decisions I was making. I didn't know if they were right,” reflected Adrienne. “Now, I'm confident because I can see exactly how much money I have. I can make decisions much more easily than I could in the past.”

Finally having confidence in her books enabled her to make an offer on a $1 million building without thinking twice—she already knew it would be a good investment because all the numbers were laid out in front of her. “The building will allow us to feed more seniors and enter into different markets.” Adrienne is still waiting for the loan to be finalized, but she shared that using Decimal was key to gathering the necessary data and submitting her application swiftly.

40 Dreams Catering benefited financially from utilizing Decimal, but the confidence that Adrienne feels now is priceless. “You can't put a price tag on peace of mind.”

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