Choosing Your Size

To scale or not to scale? What are the implications of that decision? We’re in a world where we often think the more scale the better.

Own a bakery? How many locations do you have?

Starting a retail business? Are you also selling online?

Starting something new? Are you funded?

You’re growing? How fast? Will you exit? How much did you make?

Many businesses are mere financial products.  Some people are interested in using their business solely to make money. The type of business they’re in doesn’t matter as much as the financial opportunity. Other people choose work they enjoy doing in a business they care about.

They like the way they spend their days while earning a living. As their business starts to grow, their role changes and their days begin to change. That’s when they need to make a decision about scale.

The baker involved in making the food is now busier with management tasks. If this is what they want to do, that’s great. But many local independent businesses didn’t get into business for that reason.

When you walk into a chain, it’s unlikely that the owner of the store works there. The owners hire management who hire middle layers of management and front-line employees that you as the customer directly deal with.

When I walk into Verde Juice Bar, I see Rob and Giorgo. They’re the owners. They have excellent customer service and know their business inside and out. If you sit inside, you’ll notice their uncanny ability to remember customers who they develop relationships with. They enjoy it. They’re amazing at it.

If Verde attracts a round of venture capital investment to grow to hundreds of locations Canada, the day-to-day of Rob and Giorgo would change dramatically. They would wear different hats.

Rather than developing relationships with customers, they’d be watching commodity prices of blueberries.

Rather than being at local markets and events like the Winnipeg Folk Festival, they’d be presenting earnings and growth plans to investors.

Rather than working on new interesting recipes, they’d be A/B testing with test audiences in their corporate kitchen.

There’s a value for both the owners and the community in keeping a business at a sustainable size. Shopkeeps can focus on quality, which in turn offers us the best experiences. It boils down to the objectives of the owners – do they want to scale up to make as much money as possible, or do they want to enjoy the work they do now and run a more sustainable operation?

One of the reasons I shop local is to support the people that aren’t just in business for the money. People that don’t want to scale up their operations beyond our market. These are the shops that often have the highest quality products and the ones that contribute most to what makes Winnipeg diverse and unique. A rich tapestry of local shops is one strength of our city and is something we can all enjoy. So, whenever you can, try to shop at those unique, local, independent shops.

Thumbnail photo by Kristhine Guerrero