The Family Business Advantage

We all know family businesses have their quirks, but especially in tough times, they can bring reasonably priced labor and fresh ideas.

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:    

• Lou Mosca likes to see big media acknowledge the challenges faced by small businesses.

• Gene Marks says “AI agents” will allow smaller businesses to make big advances in their use of generative AI in 2025.

• The promise of lighter regulation has driven a spectacular surge in the value of bitcoin. But some doubt lighter regulation will actually help bitcoin.

• Here are six categories where tariffs are most expected to drive inflation.

FAMILY BUSINESS

At a time when many restaurants are struggling to find a business model that works, family-owned restaurants have an advantage: “It’s a Thursday night at Chapeau on [San Francisco’s] Clement Street, and the scene is so familial and wholesome, it almost seems like you’re a guest at someone’s house. Owner and executive chef Philippe Gardelle is standing at the door welcoming regular customers with hugs. ‘Do you want your usual table?’ he asks in a thick French accent. His wife, Ellen Gardelle, delivers sugar-rimmed martini glasses to a table. ‘Earl Grey martini, my creation — I used all the alcohols,’ she says with a conspiratorial smile. Philippe’s brother, Christian Gardelle, waits on families enjoying bowls of chubby mussels swimming in white wine and butter. And Philippe and Ellen’s 30-year-old son, Andrew Gardelle, who serves as chef de cuisine, struts out of the kitchen holding an elaborate pâté en croûte.”

• “It’s so classically European, you almost want to roll your eyes. ‘A lot of the time, I’ll say it drives me crazy,’ Andrew concedes of working with his mother, father, and uncle. ‘But it’s also good.’”

• “In fact, it might be the secret to Chapeau’s success. With chefs ranting about the impossibility of running a restaurant in this city, decades-old neighborhood staples like Chapeau seem to be doing the impossible: tapping into an infusion of energy by handing over the reins to a second generation.”

• “At Chapeau and other San Francisco restaurants, sons and daughters are stepping up to work with their parents and update the family business for a new generation of diners.” READ MORE