Entrepreneur's Table

 Photo by Ruth Bourke on Unsplash Centralize the Promise, Decentralize the Expression What Big Boy can teach us about products, people, branding, and growth A recent video about the rise and decline of Big Boy presents the company’s history through four things it did exceptionally well—and one structural decision that eventually weakened everything it had built. It is an entertaining piece of restaurant history, but it is also a useful business case study. The lesson is not simply that centralization is good and decentralization is bad. The more important question is this: As a business grows, what must remain under central control, and what should be adapted locally? 1. Build a product people can recognize and remember Big Boy began with a distinctive product: the double-decker hamburger. Its importance was not merely that it was bigger. It looked substantial, felt special, and delivered a memorable experience without destroying the restaurant’s profit margin. That is an...