Margins are tight, shelves are crowded, and being “busy” isn’t the same thing as being profitable. In this episode of This Is Not Your Hobby, Julie kicks off a two‑part series on profitability by tackling the first — and often most uncomfortable — lever: cutting expenses.

This isn’t about panic cuts or slashing things that actually drive revenue. It’s about identifying the expensive habits that have quietly become “normal” in taprooms and distribution businesses — and stopping them on purpose.

Julie breaks down where beverage brands tend to overspend, how those decisions show up differently in taprooms vs. wholesale, and what not to cut if you want your business to survive (and grow) into 2026. The episode wraps with a practical 90‑day framework, The Q1 Stop Doing Expensive Shit System, to help you clean up your cost structure before pushing harder on sales growth.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why profitability only has two levers — and why cost-cutting usually needs to come first
• The most common taproom cost traps, including labor scheduled on vibes, untracked comps, menu bloat, and events that don’t pay
• The most common distribution cost traps, including SKU overload, packaging creep, rush freight, unmeasured trade spend, and sampling without a plan
• When long‑term vendor contracts can lower costs — and when they turn into a financial ankle monitor
• Why cutting quality, maintenance, sales support, brand clarity, or education often backfires
• How to apply the Q1 Stop Doing Expensive Shit System to clean up expenses without breaking the business

Submit your bottlenecks here.

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