WSJ: Recession Spells End for Many Family Businesses

NEW YORK, NY (Oct. 7)—It may not be news to those in the restaurant and foodservice distribution industries, where family-owned companies form the majority, but the Wall Street Journal today brings to light the harsh toll the recession is taking on family firms and key reasons many can’t hang on any longer.

Author Dana Mattioli profiles multi-generation companies like Roussos Restaurant in Daphne, Alabama, which recently was forced to close. She reports that many of the millions of small, family-owned businesses that have closed over the past two years were steeped in tradition, not flexible to change, lacked formal plans to respond to financial crises and had little access to credit. Click here to read the full article.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Despite their complaints, customers keep flocking to Chipotle

The Bottom Line: The chain continued to be a juggernaut last quarter, with strong sales and traffic growth, despite frequent social media complaints about shrinkflation or other challenges.

Operations

Hitting resistance elsewhere, ghost kitchens and virtual concepts find a happy home in family dining

Reality Check: Old-guard chains are finding the alternative operations to be persistently effective side hustles.

Financing

The Tijuana Flats bankruptcy highlights the dangers of menu miscues

The Bottom Line: The fast-casual chain’s problems following new menu debuts in 2021 and 2022 show that adding new items isn’t always the right idea.

Trending

More from our partners