When does a family run business become a chain?

[Moovart]

..... thinking about the discussion about Chango.  Their "About us" blurb on the website says started by one Argentina guy.  So if one person has a successful business and goes on to open a number of shops when do they go from a supported successful "family" business to a less liked "chain"?  

[Sue]

5 hours ago, Moovart said:

..... thinking about the discussion about Chango.  Their "About us" blurb on the website says started by one Argentina guy.  So if one person has a successful business and goes on to open a number of shops when do they go from a supported successful "family" business to a less liked "chain"?  

Fair enough point, but does that not in a way make it even worse if they open a shop almost directly  opposite another "family" business selling exactly the same type of products?

Chango have nine other shops, according to their website, in places like Mayfair, Highgate and Richmond.

I suppose East Dulwich should be honoured to be included 🙄

Presumably all chains, however large now, originally started off on a very small scale with just one or a few people.

Like M&S and Sainsbury's , if memory serves.

Edited July 27 by Sue

[Sephiroth]

In restaurant terms I would say a chain manifests when the motivation is no longer “we are a couple/small group who have an idea and love food” who open a restaurant, them another and then a few more BUT THEN PIVOT to “we need capital to rollout out new restaurants so we have leveraged the help of the following investors” 

that is the moment it stops being about the chef/food on the plate and becomes about the spreadsheet 

so it is POSSIBLE  for a restaurant to have 50 branches and not be a chain - but I can’t think of any 

I don’t know chango - by based on the number of outlets they appear to have just crossed/or are about to cross that line 

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

You become a chain when you get 4 outlets. Not 3, not 5, exactly 4.

Edited July 28 by Dogkennelhillbilly

[Angelina]

really, it's the fact that a chain is muscling in when there is already one in a small area - if it was just a chain coming to a new area, it's a little different

 

[Rockets]

Interesting question as I always think of Franco Manca as a local restaurant after eating in the original in Brixton Market decades ago but you then see they have places all over the UK so are very much a chain - although I hasten to add I was eating in the original as a teenager when it was just Franco's!!!

[Sue]

15 hours ago, Rockets said:

Interesting question as I always think of Franco Manca as a local restaurant after eating in the original in Brixton Market decades ago but you then see they have places all over the UK so are very much a chain - although I hasten to add I was eating in the original as a teenager when it was just Franco's!!!

I think the East Dulwich one was one of the first ones after Brixton?

It was very exciting when it first opened here, but yes they are all over the place now.

[Sephiroth]

I would say Franco Manca had a few branches long before the East Dulwich one - that one took ages to open because of all the interior work they had to do to the old Black Cherry/Draft House layout

When I walk past Bill's in Lewes now it still looks like the original Bill's - but I would never go in there as it is in no way "local" now - just the same overpriced, under flavoured stodge they have rolled out across the  country 

(that being said, the East Dulwich one has been there 10 years now - blimey. Time, eh?)

Looking at random FM locations on streeview, 2015 seems to be the year they exploded everywhere (ED included)

Edited July 29 by Sephiroth

[Sue]

23 minutes ago, Sephiroth said:

I would say Franco Manca had a few branches long before the East Dulwich one - that one took ages to open because of all the interior work they had to do to the old Black Cherry/Draft House layout

Crikey, I had forgotten about that!

[Earl Aelfheah]

Agree with Sephiroth - It's when investors take over and it becomes almost exclusively about maximising margins and having a offer that is easily reproduceable at scale. In other words, when the accountants are in charge rather than the creatives.