The café owner who fired her best customer

Nadia Hussein had the kind of account most independent cafés dream about: a daily standing order from an office block round the corner, invoiced monthly, thirty percent of revenue.

It was also the reason she was in the kitchen at five in the morning.

"They changed the order at nine at night, constantly. They paid at sixty days when the terms said thirty. And because they were big, I let them."

“Concentration is a risk, not a win.”

Nadia calculated the true cost: the extra staff hour, the waste when orders were cut last minute, the overdraft interest she paid because their invoices ran late. The account was contributing revenue and eating profit.

She gave three months notice and replaced it deliberately with smaller accounts, none more than eight percent of revenue.

"Concentration is a risk, not a win. If one customer can end your year, you do not have a business, you have a job with extra paperwork."

Her rule now: no single account above ten percent of turnover, and no client on more than thirty day terms, no exceptions for size.