15. What would you do if you just inherited a pizzeria from your uncle?

If I had no interest in or competency in the pizza making business, the best thing I could do is sell the business to an interested and experienced pizza restaurateur who might keep my uncle's traditions and therefore retain my uncle's clientele, in a lease and licensing arrangement or private equity investment deal, where I would have a small equity investment and receive a percentage of profits as the business continued. I would not sell the building or the land which the pizzeria occupied. I would retain the real property and the building.

If I had an interest and talent for making pizzas or if the inheritance stipulated that I was required to continue the business as an active participant, I would conduct market research and review the financial growth of the company. I would gather data on competitors in the area (to develop alliances so if an opportunity opened up to merge and create another branch location, I could do so readily), on menu items available among competitors (to copy what worked), and on pricing and costs from various suppliers (to keep prices on par for the market and to reduce costs without harming the product). The idea behind this option or approach is that I would conduct research to maximize profitability for the business I had inherited, while retaining the goodwill of my uncle's clientele.