Boston-based Au Bon Pain bought by Panera...will it survive?

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by GeePee

It's just depressing to know that the generation after us will be owned under the umbrella of a few large conglomerates. No matter how unique they make your experience feel its just lipstick on a pig. Gap is Banana Republic is Old Navy, they each have somewhat of a unique demographic, but in the end they are just selling you the same chinese sweat shop garments. It happened to auto mechanics being beaten into submission by dealerships. I'm sure I can sit and think of a dozen or so more instances.
Sad that we are accepting this reality.

The problem with many restaurants is many towns/cities put a cap on liquor licenses, so any big company that comes in and pays that to the town and gets it will get the building site. When you start seeing liquor licenses go for $125,000+ that excludes most mom and pop shops. So what we get is the chain restaurants that can afford the liquor license and even take the loss on that for a year just to get the location.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by GeePee

Yes. Understood. But the point here is more about how Each generation sees it get harder and harder to open any type of business. Before, if you had a good product, where willing to bust your butt, and knew some basic accounting you could offer your neighbors what you had and in turn feed your family. It gets harder and harder as people just lay down and accept that. It’s easy. People were praising amazon for opening a bookstore in Dedham last year. Seems they forgot about how amazon was responsible for for the demise of every other bookstore

There's truth to this too. I wish liquor licenses weren't so outrageous or difficult to come by. We're puritanical with our alcohol laws and when you factor in the cost of a storefront in MA (especially Boston), it's almost impossible to survive without one. Barriers to entry are too much. I'd like to see that change to make it easier for anyone to start a restaurant. I guess my point is that restaurant groups aren't bad. In fact, I think they're probably one of the best chances people have of getting into the field and growing given the barriers to entry. Talented chefs can take control of a kitchen and establish themselves with a restaurant group before going off on their own. You see it with a lot of Boston's better restaurants (one that jumps out is the Neptune Oyster folks opening Select Oyster bar after their success). But I wish it was easier to start.

The good news is that people are creative and find new ways into the field. Food trucks make it possible for the everyman to get their foot in the door because of lower overhead and easier permitting. To date, family and individually owned trucks like BonMe, Mei Mei, Roxy's, Chicken and Rice Guys, and a number of others have gone from single truck to brick and mortar restaurants with multiple locations. Also, the craft brew and distillery pathway gets people in the door as well. The regulations and licensing are different, so a lot of people are starting with microbreweries and adding food into the mix. Nightshift, Winter Hill Brewing, Moby Dick, Cape Ann, etc. all do it this way. It would be much nicer if it was easier in general, but it's not as if there's no way to do it.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by lrfox

The good news is that people are creative and find new ways into the field. Food trucks make it possible for the everyman to get their foot in the door because of lower overhead and easier permitting.

This has become less and less true as well.It's certainly not truly an everyman activity. I looked into this a couple years ago.

[missionhill]

What about cheaper locations? — a strip mall in Saugus or Burlington; or one of the lesser squares in Medford, Hyde Park, etc. If people like the food they’ll go. Or do aspiring chefs feel they have to be one of the established locations with foot traffic.

[John Rose]

Kind of an interesting history between Au Bon Pain and Panera Bread, since Au Bon Pain bought them in the 80s and now Panera is buying Au Bon Pain in return now. I prefer Au Bon Pain, but Panera is what's available locally where I live now.