Dreaming Local
Why is it so important to support small family businesses and other local establishments?
It is small family operated businesses in America that are the basis of the American Economy. Small businesses pay a large proportion of our taxes, create new employment opportunities and are always the beginning to all corporate success stories.
Finding a local with some experience in operating a small family business was an easy task for me. I simply had to walk down the street for a daily dose of my father’s medicine.
My father, Hugh Ganter, AKA Papa Hughie, established Papa Hughie’s Seafood World in Lighthouse Point, Florida in 1976. Since then he’s owned and operated a thriving local family owned business which takes pride in supporting other local joints and community charities.
Papa claims, “You must support local businesses in your community, because the strength of your community lies in its diversification from schools, recreational facilities, small family owned businesses, charities, and the locals who take pride in where they live.”
In most cases when visiting a family owned business, you receive more personalized service, you become exposed to the people directly behind the product or service and most importantly you keep almost every dollar spent in your community. Studies have proven that for every $100 spent in a local business, $68 remained in that community where only $48 of each $100 spent at a chain.
Local businesses often have the urgency to work together and patronize other local establishments. Chains, however, often get lost in the numbers and high sales, they usually buy from other corporations, and in most cases have compromised the personal touch offered at your local establishments.
I had to ask Papa what was his favorite part about running a small family business for the last 42 years? He compassionately replied, “I have been giving the opportunity to encompass my entire family in our business, which has kept my family close knitted. I have been able to help promote growth and provide experience for our young individuals. We constantly encourage education and personal growth. My greatest reward is to witness these youngsters leave us to further their education and careers.”
Papa has always welcomed students of all ages to join his family team. In the restaurant industry, it is very common to hire green youngsters lacking experience. Most of them come to papa for their first job. Local restaurants and most small family owned businesses are the perfect stomping ground for American teens to get a taste of today’s work ethics, acquire organizational skills and the experience they will need to prepare for their future careers.
My father and I have been blessed to have such a great community full of locals who support each other. “Most of all we are truly proud not only to be a part of our community, but that the community has become part of us.”
It is the hard working families, the dreamers, which give a community its flavor. These diverse family operations make each town in America unique. When you support a local business you are investing in your community and making it a better place to live.
From one local to another, “EAT DRINK AND BE LOCAL”