Henry Ford could not make a car to sell for $300 a copy by hammering them out one at a time. Creating side companies to feed the mother operation with parts and components for the tin lizzie sprung up to feed the efficient assembly line of horseless carriages. But in some businesses, smaller is better. The Coffee Pot in Bangor Maine is a case in point. Run for decades by a very industrious German man adorned in his white apron and greeting customers in a one on one fashion, this is one business that maybe growth would spoil the special flavor of the small eatery. Submarine sandiwches, when they first came out in the this country have been wrapped in special paper, make with the best ingredients and homemade bread for years with only so many a day put in the cooler to draw from. When they are gone, the place closes. The lines on the sidewalk are the best advertising for his business that tell you this fellow has a following. The light green building with the red neon sign and red neon border in the window has not changed a thing, has not expanded or franchised or added on. He just makes a big splash as a one man army attacking local hunger with a sandwich generations have come to love. What's so special about the sandwich itself at the Coffee Pot?
Dana's Grill , the original one was another local eatery in Bangor that used to operate out of an old trailer located off the beaten path but with a strong reputation for a lobster roll to die for made with fresh Maine lobster...or rather "lobstahhhhhh". There was even a mobile unit called Son of Dana's that roamed the downtown to bring the deep water delicacy to the masses too busy to make the hike to the mother operation. Have you seen churches that were packed and then decided to build new large buildings with the idea the growth would continue and then see them flounder? Perhaps from the mountains of debt they step out in faith to build with but that find something is lost when the small friendly atmosphere is lost and just adding another service time could have kept them in the same facility 
that was paid for and had lower operating overhead? Small sometimes is better...and weathering economic ups and downs are much easier for the well run, tight knit small business.
Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers - Selling Small Town Maine Real Estate And Provide Community Information
OK now I'm hungry!
I agree - economies of scale don't often work with good customer service.
:)
There's a guy that skipped breakfast...sometimes something is lost in the move to be bigger. Real estate offices with a manageable niche and sane pace that explode and expand often have liability issues from inexperienced and unsupervised new agents and the small operation becomes a real estate day care of handling what's wrong now along with the added expense. Bigger is not always better!