Of Succession Stories and Scenarios: The Challenges and Options Facing First-Generation Family-Owned Restaurants

Abstract

First-generation business owners are concerned with sustaining the business, not how they got started or built their brand. First-generation business owners are considering passing the torch to second- generation to sustain business leadership and brand legacy. This study helps restaurant owners develop a succession plan. The research study determined the perceived challenges in succession planning for first generation family run restaurant owners and correspondingly created an appropriate succession plan. The research focused on first generation restaurant owners’ succession planning challenges. Qualitative research was used to arrive at the conclusion of the study. Interpretivism was the philosophical lens through which this was viewed. Participants in this study were first-generation owners of family run restaurants in Cavite Province that had existed for more than seven years. Data were gathered using interview guide. Themes and their meanings were discovered through thematic analysis. Lack of Know-How among Would-Be Successors in Restaurant Management, Lack of Passion in Restaurant Management among Would-Be Successors and Lack of Second Generation Business Successor are the three Challenges to Business Succession faced by business owners. Four business founders’ attributes to success have emerged as building blocks in creating appropriate succession plan for Family-Owned Restaurants: (a) Resilience and Tenacity, (b) Resourcefulness, (c) Customer-Centric, and (d) Founders’ Interventions. In succession planning, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. An effective succession plan can accommodate the needs of a particular business owner. In this sense, first-generation business owners’ unwavering commitment to succession planning is important.