THE CORPORATE GOBBLE CREATES MYLANTA MOMENTS
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THE CORPORATE GOBBLE CREATES MYLANTA MOMENTS
We saw it coming in the late 90s. And here it is a decade later and we’ve seen it at its peak. The Corporate Gobble. Mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcies have done more than ‘takeover’ business as we know it, but also the heartbeat of what actually starts business.
Go to any town and you will find handfuls of Mom and Pop businesses all over the world. Usually a business starts with a dream, a skill, an art or craft that propels itself into a business. Some may start off with the passion and the love for doing something and doing it well, and make some money along the way. Others sometimes start a business by a way of survival to do something else, while waiting for other dreams to materialize, but end up doing the survival business and having it profit. Regardless of whatever starts a Mom and Pop business, nothing is more disheartening than when a Mom and Pop business is sold and ruined by the buyer.
We all cheer and congratulate the person who ends up selling their Mom and Pop business, retiring and enjoying their life. But it’s a very sad day when a big corporate conglomerate buys up a Mom and Pop business, diluting and polluting the heart of what made it successful in the first place.
I experienced this recently when going into a long-time Mom and Pop restaurant. This restaurant was launched on good recipes, a passion for making good food, using quality ingredients, providing the best customer service and putting so much love and integrity into everything that went onto a plate and served cheerfully to a long line of loyal customers.
This business grew into a franchise and ran successfully for many years, growing and growing – but still maintaining the high standards on which this dream was built.
The owner and namesake for the business passed away. The business was inherited by the children of the owner who kept this business running for many, many years. It remained successful. It remained profitable and it remained golden in the eyes of hungry patrons for years and generations to come.
Imagine if you will, walking into this place you’ve known all your life and having the worst meal of your life? Imagine to your surprise that the restaurant lacked the original charm and allure of what made it successful along with the long lines of customers. And imagine how horrified you would be, after sitting down, ordering your ‘feel good meal’ and feel like vomiting after tasting the first few bites?
Life is short….. too short to sit there and try to stomach such a disgraceful meal after years and years of many good meals. I come to find out that the children sold the place and some corporate conglomerate had ‘taken over’ this once charming, delightful and delicious meal haven. And not only were the employees ‘ashamed’ of being there because they watched this change happen, but they didn’t say anything because of feeling fear of losing their jobs in this very scary economy, now that they had new bosses.
They saw that the morale was down. They saw that sales were down. And they watched the ‘cutting corners’ and the disappearing of fresh ingredients which made the original recipes famous and delicious, turn into chemical substitutions (because they were cheaper) and make the food unpalatable.
They even watched the cooks ruin food, because there was no motivation to cook anything well. Then they also watched 90% of all the food on the menu come from a commissary, reheated to be served to customers. And they watched all this in the name for the corporate conglomerate who took over the place do this, to make an extra buck, only to make their wallets fatter.
The end result being, they’re not really making extra bucks. The place is not thriving. The employees are not happy. The customers are disappearing. The food is horrible. And what is worse, is that the reputation, credibility and integrity of a Mom and Pop business which started with passion and a dream is DYING because of it.
I bet the original owner is turning over in their grave. I know as a customer, I am saddened to see that no one has the respect to maintain the heart, soul and food or service integrity for which this dream was originally built upon. If nothing else, I had hoped, that they would try to maintain it to keep a loyal customer base coming back… never mind my wish to preserve the dignity of the name for which the establishment exists.
What’s even sadder to me is that when this place actually does close, it will close and the name will have been tarnished by the people who destroyed it.
And while the owner’s dream will not have been for nothing, and there will be many of us who remember the many great times we had and the many delicious meals we savored and the endless occasions celebrated and memories made… it is still disgraceful to think that no one today has any moral fiber to respect the fact that some things need to be preserved in honor.
The corporate gobble. Sure everyone wants a piece of the cash pie. Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it, too. But truthfully, too many cooks in this kitchen have spoiled more than the broth, they’ve created a stew, that the rest of us are stewing about and won’t be able to remedy with Mylanta.
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