| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:W4 Eat Chiswick and Food Festival | |
| Posted by: | Paul Pryce | |
| Date/Time: | 10/06/15 12:15:00 |
| It is a bit of stretch to call Pho a family business - they have at least 15 branches throughout the country. I suppose in a sense News International are a family business but neither would count as a small independent trader. The actual ownership of Pho is opaque on their web site but usually these sort of businesses are backed by venture capital or hedge funds. The founders are named as Wells - the family that run Ngon are called Huynh which to me gives a good guide to the authenticity of the product. I haven't talked to the owners of Ngon about their opinion of Pho being allowed to set up a stall on their doorstep but the argument that they might have been mollified by the extra footfall is a very tenuous one. Other retailers in the vicinity weren't best pleased about the extra competition and footfall may actually overall have been down because the car park was out of action. Just to be clear, I think the market is potentially a great idea and if someone could come up with a structure that could guarantee to existing small independent traders that it would bring them extra business rather than extra competition it would get universal support. |