Background: Breville is the ASX-listed appliance maker founded in 1932, famous for inventing the sandwich toaster in the 1970s. Today it is best known for premium kitchen gear, especially high-end home espresso machines (ep - it even sells a $600 toaster that uses sensors to measure toast crispiness).

What happened: Now, Breville posted a record 10.1% lift in revenue to $1.1 billion for the first half, thanks to double-digit growth in home coffee machines. Net profit came in at $98 million, roughly flat on last year. The reason for no profit jump? The US tariffs on China-made products, which hit Breville's margins.

What else: Rather than pushing harder into global expansion, Breville has paused its aggressive growth plans to focus on managing tariffs and reshaping its supply chain. For now, protecting profitability is the priority.

What's the key learning?

💡The best growth strategy is often knowing what not to do. Sometimes protecting margins and strengthening the core business matters more than chasing new markets.

💡Breville has paused expansion into newer regions to focus on shifting manufacturing away from China after being hit with more than $40 million in US tariffs.

💡By December, 80% of its US gross profit was being manufactured outside China. So clearly, Breville is choosing to de-risk its supply chain first, then return to expansion from a stronger base.