ABSTRACT Centuries‐old bakeries and café icons are rare exceptions in the food‐service world, yet they prove that brand longevity is achievable for multigenerational food‐service family businesses. To uncover how such firms endure, we conducted an exploratory, multi‐case study built on qualitative, semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews with long‐established Indian eateries. The findings suggest that the interplay between product, people and process generates perceived quality associations, which constitute the most important factor for the longevity of family business brands. Successful food‐service family businesses create pull demand by prioritizing location primacy and charging normal prices, whilst spending minimally on advertising and undertaking little or no formal promotion. Far from being static, successful food‐service family brands weave consistent product innovation into their heritage. By documenting this balance of preservation and renewal, the study extends brand‐heritage theory. For founders navigating generational transitions, our findings deliver a clear message: protect your core triad of product, people and process; anchor it visibly in place and price; and innovate at the fringes. Do so and today's neighbourhood favourite can become tomorrow's centennial legend.
Abhishek et al. (Fri,) studied this question.