Here’s a tale of two cafés. Both are within walking distance of the startup blog office. After a while I noticed a few things changing in my favourite of the two. The decore, the Barista and eventually the clientele all changed.
Coffee is personal. The caffeine, hot steamed milk and the chocolate sprinkles are only part of the experience.
So I moved to the café up the road. I’d even walk past the other café to get my ‘new’ caffeine haunt. It was pretty obvious that the first café had lost its cache and customers along the way. I still trades, but not nearly as well.
Then I discovered the owner actually sold about the time everything started to change. The new owners put their spin on things, tried to improve it…. fully leverage the ‘goodwill’ they purchased. Seems the opposite has occurred.
And so it is with restaurants and cafés alike.
The owner is the goodwill.
People buy coffee from her. Her greeting, her skill, the ambiance she created. It can’t be passed on. It can’t be bought from a sole trader.Exceptions such as coca cola, big macs and starbucks grande lattes are already replicated thousands of times…
When buying a business from a sole trader – Goodwill? – No such thing.
