It’s surprising how many of the businesses remain successful on reputation after the heart of their operation is removed. It’s also surprising how many times these buyouts fail. Risk big, win big I guess. It’s hard to decline the boatloads of money you might be offered for your brewery, coffee house, restaurant, food manufacturer, veterinarian clinic or whatever, but it seems the desire to own and run a business as a source of pride, achievement and dollars often becomes just the latter. It often starts with expansion into new locations or markets, often using venture capital, to get noticed then the buyout from either private equity or large corporate competitors happens. I’m sure this is the dream for many small business owners for others it is just hard to turn down an unreasonably sweet offer, no matter the source.
Obviously, this is a generalization, but I’m a little cranky about the business models from both the buyer and seller sides, although I fully understand the market realities and we consumers might be ultimately to blame. The original businesses’ ethical practices and quality of products or services live on only by reputation as they give way to a somewhat myopic focus on increasing margins and revenue.
I’ve encountered so many businesses personally and professionally that have changed so much through their growth or their private equity purchase, but I admit I still use many of their services or products. I still go to my now private equity owned vet, even though the service has a totally different vibe. I have used the same accountant team(for lack of a better word) even though the original firm was bought by a larger firm which then turned into a national firm. I buy grocery products from regional manufacturers that are now wholly owned by either private equity or one of the big food conglomerates. Often the product suffers, but switching is hard when many of its competing products have already been bought up and enshitified. It’s hard to vote with your dollars when the choices converge. I just try to buy local when I can, but if you live in a hot market many things don’t stay local for long.
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