How 12 Business Owners Plan to Save Money in 2026

The end of the year is a special time for U.S. businesses, as offices around the country fill with holiday parties, performance reviews, and open-enrollment sessions—and then, soon after, empty out again as employees burn through the last of their PTO.

But perhaps most important of all during these final weeks is the opportunity for executives to set priorities, outline goals, and chart course corrections for 2026. That’s especially true as we finish up a year that’s forced many entrepreneurs—especially those navigating the uncertain tariff terrain—to think long and hard about their finances.

With businesses looking ahead to a new year that will bring with it further opportunities and challenges—from the launch of new federal tax policies to the growing talk of an AI bubble—Inc. spoke with small-business owners about what they’re doing now, or planning to do soon, to reduce costs in 2026. Here are some of the smartest, boldest, and most unique ideas they shared.

Efficiencies and consolidation

For many companies looking to save money in 2026, consolidation and synergy are the name of the game.

Kasia Bednarz, founder and chief executive of the seed oil-free fast food brand Fare (No. 176 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list), is consolidating vendors and tightening up on purchases across departments. In 2026, the company will be rolling out a single, unified inventory and ordering system. “This reduces waste and ensures consistency across stores,” Bednarz says.

Carlos Ventura, CEO of meal delivery service Feast & Fettle, a three-time Inc. 5000 honoree and No. 1,654 on this year’s list, plans to unify his company’s tech stack with a new, in-house enterprise platform that will pull “predictive ordering, menu planning, forecasting, and capacity planning into one system,” he says. “The financial upside comes from cutting waste across the system.”

Rethinking packaging

Packaging is the first impression that many consumer brands make on buyers—and also a significant expense. Laurel Orley, co-founder of the sprouted nut snack startup Daily Crunch (No. 992 on the latest Inc. 5000), says the biggest cost-cutting initiative her company plans to make next year is switching their packaging to plated bags.

“Plated packaging uses physical printing plates, making it ideal for large production runs where the higher upfront cost is offset by lower per-unit pricing,” Orley explains. “Digital packaging requires no plates, allowing for faster turnaround but much higher cost. … This packaging shift not only reduces material costs but also improves pack-out efficiency and lowers shipping expenses.”

These and other “operational upgrades,” such as reconsidering their enterprise partners, will be crucial as Daily Crunch looks to scale in the new year, she adds.

New retail models

Retailer relationships can also be a big financial factor. Isabella Hughes, co-founder of the candy company Better Sour—and an honoree on this year’s Inc. Female Founders list—says her business is looking to hone its retail strategy next year. In 2025, Better Sour was regularly merchandising some of its key accounts to ensure back stock—a common but costly practice in the world of CPG, she says, with hard-to-measure upside.

“Because ongoing merchandising hasn’t shown a clear ROI, we’re reducing those efforts and shifting resources to high-impact, measurable programs,” she says. These include shippers, a type of temporary retail display, and new account launches.

The AI advantage

Many companies Inc. spoke with touted AI as their key to cost-cutting in 2026. The insurance company Honeycomb, for instance, created a task force dedicated to reducing repetitive, manual tasks by 50 percent next year by using large language model (LLM) software.

“Freeing teams from this overhead lets them focus on higher-value decisions and elevates our overall operational excellence,” says Honeycomb co-founder and CEO Itai Ben-Zaken. “Even AI-native companies like ours still lose close to 30 percent of the workday to low-value tasks, reading emails, searching for information, or manually following internal playbooks.”

Similarly, Peter Barsoom, co-founder of the cannabis company 1906, says he’s been using the AI chatbot Claude to draft contracts and compliance documents before sending them on to actual human attorneys—a big timesaver when it comes to navigating the knotty web of state-level drug regulations, he explains. 1906 also uses the software for media campaigns.

Other business leaders are more focused on the growing field of GEO, or generative engine optimization, which aims to get AI chatbots to incorporate corporate marketing materials into their output.

“We made a big shift in our last web redesign,” says Dave Christison, marketing VP at the repeat Inc. 5000 honoree (and newly minted unicorn) Awardco. “We rebuilt the structure, navigation, headers, and all the supporting copy so that LLMs can easily understand and surface our content. Your website is your storefront, and with AI driving so much discovery today, getting this right matters more than ever.”

Awardco, a software company focused on employee recognition and engagement, says that they’ve already increased their LLM visibility by 169 percent over six months following the redesign, according to a tool that tracks how often the firm is mentioned in relevant AI output.

Equipment rentals

As anyone living in an apartment rather than a house will tell you, it sometimes makes more sense to rent something rather than buy it outright.

BJ Waters, supply chain COO at the health care company HCA TriStar Division, says that their firm has used rentals of “high-cost, low-use medical equipment” to increase flexibility and free up capital for other purposes—while still ensuring access to the tools that clinicians need.

“With advanced data and analytics,” Waters adds, “we now can also deploy both owned and rented medical equipment where they’re needed most.”

Corporate culture

Though not as directly tied to P&L, workplace culture can offer another way of honing a business’s competitive edge. For some entrepreneurs, it’ll be central to their 2026 money-saving efforts. Dor Golan, CEO of the fintech startup Grain, says he plans to double down on “radical transparency” next year—a goal aimed at improving not just company culture but also operations, such that employees can make decisions faster, prioritize tasks better, and collaborate across departments more effectively.

“We’re building shared dashboards across teams, opening up real conversations about priorities and efficiency, and giving every employee clear visibility into the signals that drive the business,” Golan tells Inc. “Most companies reserve that context for a small circle; we’re making it accessible to everyone … It’s a cost-saving mechanism that comes from alignment rather than austerity.”

Meanwhile, Jessica Sturzenegger of the baby and kids health food brand Amara Organic Foods—another 2025 Female Founders honoree and No. 44 on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list—says she’s shifted from monthly to weekly meetings with her key suppliers, allowing for more real-time communication.

“This shift has reduced volatility and helped us secure a more predictable supply where we avoid spot buying when demand spikes,” Sturzenegger says of the 4x increase in meetings. “It’s a strategy any company can replicate: Treat suppliers like strategic partners, communicate frequently, and invest in the relationship.”

Location, location, location

Sometimes, where you’re doing something can be just as important as what you’re doing. Joe Spector—founder of the pet care company Dutch (and, before that, the telehealth company Hims)—says saving money has meant moving most of his new hires to Vancouver, British Columbia.

“They have great talent at almost 50 percent less cost due to lower cost of living and far cheaper health care costs,” the serial founder explains.

On the other hand, Justin Kim—co-founder and COO of the Plug Drink, which sells beverages and pills meant to improve liver health—says his biggest cost-cutting move will be to shift beverage production to the U.S. in Q1 of next year, delivering an estimated 40 percent-plus gross margin boost and making the company EBITDA profitable “by removing freight, tariffs, and giving us full control over our proprietary formula and IP.”

Those savings will in turn trigger a flywheel by allowing the Plug Drink (No. 1,682 on the Inc. 5000 list) to expand its marketing budget, he added, further amplifying growth. The company says its drinks have previously been manufactured in South Korea and that pill production will continue happening there.

The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.