Cash Cow

"Cash cow" is a jargon term (that's slang you can use around your grandma without having to duck and cover) that has a couple different meanings. It can mean something you bought that now produces more than what you paid for it (profit)...you know, like you're milking it for cash. It can also simply be a business that produces a steady supply of profit (this context doesn't take purchase price into account).

The term originally came from a grid called the Boston Box (or BCG Matrix) in the 1970s. The cash cow represents a company that has a large market share and is sustaining itself on its own profit.

Let's look at rural areas near major roads. You know the ones...They all have a post office, a bar, a church (usually near each other, oddly), and a gas station so people can fill up to go to work in the city. Say the gas station in this little town is owned by a little old lady who wants to go to Florida, and she sells it off cheap. Everything is there, customers already established, all set. If the gas station makes enough to make the loan payments on the purchase, and has profits on top of it...it's a cash cow.