In this age of global corporations, it can be easy to forget that family-owned businesses have been the connective tissue of society for generations (one of my grandfathers was the owner of a bakery).
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There’s no shortcut to a top job at Gilbane Inc., even if that’s your grandfather’s portrait hanging in a prominent spot at the company’s Providence headquarters.
Among 25-year-olds, there are few who can say they have spent 13 years working in their chosen professions and probably fewer who co-own a business. But Chris Keefe, co-owner and general manager of The Mainstay Restaurant in Newport, proudly lays claim to both titles.
At age 60, William J. Roland is still not sure when he will retire from Roland & Whytock Co. Inc., the Providence manufacturing operation his family has owned and run for the past 100 years.
The stock market has tanked. Retirement funds are even worse. Things look bad, but there is a bright side for family firms. Resiliency, optimism and a penchant for long-term strategies have been identified as characteristics of family firms for decades. These are attributes that can assist family firms in the current situation – and the stability of family firms in the short run will have an effect on the worldwide economic picture over the long haul.
Yes, it sounds too trite to be true, but the owner and operator of Concord Home Health Services in Cranston insists that the patients for whom his staff provides home care are treated – truly, honestly, actually – like members of the family.
In spite of the recession, Cranston-based Advantage Glass Co. Inc. owner Michael Del Sesto experienced his best year ever in 2008, thanks in part to solid planning before the downturn, expansion of his market reach and improved efficiency.
Autocrat Inc., a fourth-generation, family-owned business that has been making coffee and coffee extracts since 1895, is riding the crest of today’s coffee-chic tidal wave, under the direction of Chairman and President Richard M. Field Jr.
Before taking that heady trip to the gift registry, many couples are making a more humble trip to their lawyer’s office at the behest of their wealthy parents, to establish a prenuptial agreement. With divorce rates at historic highs, smart parents aren’t taking any chances – especially when it involves the family business.
Earlier this month, on Cinco de Mayo, there was an all-day party at El Rancho Grande. It was a celebration not only of the importance of this day to Mexicans, a day of independence, but also of the restaurant’s first year in business. “The place was absolutely jammed. The line for a table went right out the door,” said Joaquin Meza, the proud 27-year-old owner.
Family-owned businesses such as Tony’s Colonial long have been the heart of Federal Hill, and they are still going strong even amid the neighborhood’s influx of trendy new restaurants and businesses.
One of the biggest mistakes family-owned businesses make, experts say, is not putting agreements on paper and not seeking legal help to protect their assets. Because while family is family, disputes can arise when you mix family relationships with business.
For years, immigrants with little understanding of U.S. law, custom or languate have been staking their fortunes on restaurants, groceries, liquor stores, laundries, salons and other small, service-oriented businesses. For some, it’s the means of ensuring their children will have more choices than they. But increasingly, says Tomas Avila, a business adviser at the R.I. Small Business Development Center at Johnson & Wales University, these immigrants are building businesses to pass on to future generations.
Small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) are reaping the rewards of the Internet more than ever. In a recent survey, SMB owners overwhelmingly said their Web sites are improving sales, communication, marketing and cost efficiency.
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