Welcome to Upper Market

Each week, I spend more time on TradeMe and Biz Buy Sell than Tinder and Hinge.

I swipe left on practically everything and share with you anything that I find valuable.

What’s ahead in this Newsletter:

I was 20, stacking shelves at 2am (Countdown Highland Park), doing the maths under fluorescent lights.

$16.50 an hour. Graduate salary would be $24. A 45% increase off a $40,000 degree. Originally, that looked like progress.

Then I kept going with the maths. A 40-hour week is about 36% of your waking life. The pay would change, but I was still trading a substantial part of my life to hopefully make it to where I wanted to be.

That was the ceiling. And it wasn't a salary problem, it was entirely structural.

What I eventually came to understand is that most people are taught there are only two economic states. Working follow by Retired.

The Deal: Trade your time until the system decides you're no longer useful. Then survive on what's left.

That is not a strategy. That is a hope.

Over the last decade, I’ve realised that the real map, in actual fact, has four stops.

The Working State. Income exists only while you show up. Everything you want is rationed by what you can afford after trading 40 hours a week. This is a job.

The Operating State. Your effort now does two things at once — funds your present and constructs your future. This is where most entrepreneurial journeys begin. And honestly, where most of them stall. Think Self-Employment or a Business that still needs your input.

The Autonomous State. Income is no longer tied to your direct effort. Time freedom appears here for the first time. But your capital is still exposed. The system can still break. A business that can drive itself whether or not you get involved.

The Sovereign State. Your lifestyle is funded by assets that don't require your effort and don't depend on any single system staying intact. Less about your business and more about how you’ve allocated the money you’ve made from your business.

What I learned to be critical of, was what asset class was most likely to make it to the Sovereign State, while getting to the Autonomous State as soon as possible.

That’s where business acquisition came into the picture.

Assets, that were already operating, that were light touch and did not need constant attention.

My primary focus has been to live a full life. Not one that’s beholden to responsibilities building another person’s dream.

To me, that’s why these states are so important in understanding the states to move through and where you want to be.

Who would have thought there’d be an entire business dedicated to fake grass?

3,000+ projects delivered. Residential, commercial and education sectors. Importer advantage. Compliance-driven, non-discretionary spend.

Niche.

The systems are the standout. Custom quoting tools, a structured CRM and a proprietary Deal Intelligence Workspace Application means the sales operation has discipline behind it. Leads are tracked, followed up and converted. Not very common in trades businesses.

The team covers sales, operations, warehouse, technical design and finance. This business has the shape of something that can operate without you. That's the goal.

What I'd Want to Understand:

First is how much of the revenue is residential vs commercial and education. The compliance-driven segments tend to be stickier and more defensible. I'd want to know what that split looks like.

Second is how the leads are being generated. Strong systems are worth less if the top of the funnel is fragile or over-reliant on one channel.

Third is the hiring and training process. Tradespeople normally slot into disciplines that they can grow in. What attracts people to work for this business and how are they trained? This is a potential bottleneck if you wanted to scale.

Growth Angle: Schools, childcare and multi-sport surfaces are potentially underserved in the regions. If the systems are as strong as described and you have distribution to solve this problem, there's a clear case for pushing harder into these channels and a national brand is a plausible outcome.

The Drawbacks: This is a project-based business. That means revenue isn't fully recurring and installation requires coordinating people and equipment. Staff capability and retention matters more than most people realise in this type of operation.

Final Thought: A business with 3,000+ projects behind it, importer margins and a team in place doesn't come around often. The question is whether the systems and team hold without the owner as stated.

If you want more details on either of these businesses or would like an introduction to the sellers, just reply to this email.

I hope you’re not anti-meat.

Two established butcheries. Sold together. Five minutes apart.

Both inside large shopping complexes. Surrounded by complementary retail. Hello foot-traffic.

The larger site handles the majority of processing and packaging for both. Which makes a lot of sense and adds consistency across the operation without adding effort. That's a structural advantage most multi-site businesses take years to build. This one already has it.

Revenue for FY2025 came in at just under $3m. Rent sits at 3.5% of revenue. Wages at 6.5%.

Anyone who knows food knows those aren’t normal numbers.

Rent and labour are where the economics go to die. Here, they're under control. Which means the profit margin that follows is should be strong.

The current owner is present 3-4 days a week. A general manager runs the day to day. The team is in place. Systems are documented. I’m not entirely sure what the owner is doing.

Vibe Architecture? Perhaps.

What I'd Want to Understand

First is the GM situation. Everything here leans on that person. How long have they been there? What keeps them? What happens if they leave six months after settlement? This is the key person risk that needs to be interrogated before anything else. I’ve seen people have to work an equity deal in for the existing management team to keep them. Might not be a bad idea.

Second is where the $3m actually comes from. All current revenue is walk-in. That's both a strength and a flag. It's a strength because it's proven, consistent, and doesn't depend on a sales machine. It's a flag because it means the business has done nothing to build demand and it's been carried by location. It isn’t guaranteed you can start wholesaling, but you might need to ball up and do it.

Which brings me to the upside.

Wholesale supply to local food operators, online ordering, and local delivery using the included refrigerated truck are all listed as untapped. The question is whether that’s genuine, or if it hasn’t happened because they’ve tried and failed.

Third is the lease. Brand new terms are ready to be negotiated, which is presented as a positive. This would take place before you’re unconditional on the deal. You’re likely to get a gauge on how long you can have the site for, which is imperative to know. If you have to set up from scratch in a new building in 10 years time, that’s going to be expensive. Indoor chillers aren’t sold in 2 for 1 deals.

Fourth is stock. The asking price is $1.3m plus stock. We’ll need to understand how this is being structured in the purchase. Full upfront or paid down as it’s sold? (note this for the deal structure workshop)

The Growth Angle

The infrastructure is already there.

You have a processing and packaging operation capable of handling volume beyond what the two retail sites generate. That's the foundation for a wholesale business, not just a retail one.

If you can identify three to five local food operators (restaurants, cafes, meal prep services ) and supply them consistently, you're layering a recurring B2B revenue stream on top of a walk-in retail base.

That's a meaningfully different business.

The Drawbacks

Food retail is operationally demanding. Cold chain management, staff who handle product daily, consistent quality across two sites - the standards required here are non-negotiable and they need to be maintained.

Key person risk is not something to discount. The GM is the business in a lot of ways. Understanding that relationship and what it would take to replace it is not optional due diligence. Or hey, maybe I’m overthinking this one. Investigate.

And like all food businesses, you are at the mercy of input costs. Meat prices move and if that will hur the customers wallet, it will hurt yours.

Final Thought

The numbers here are hard to argue with. Strong revenue, controlled costs, genuine margin, and a business that doesn't need the owner in it every day.

The upside can be defined. But is it possible?

If you want more details on either of these businesses or would like an introduction to the sellers, just reply to this email.