Should I follow my own path or continue my father’s 32yr old legacy?
Hello people, I’m 21 years old and I’ve been working with my father (62) in our family business, a pita restaurant, for the past two years. About a year ago, he asked me if I would be interested in taking over the business in the future. At the time, I kept telling him that I wasn’t sure yet. But now, that I see all the customers that he built and how they treat my gather and how they treat me, it becomes a hard choice.
Now he is seriously considering selling it, because he’s getting old and can’t handle all of it anymore.
My father has been running this restaurant since 1994. Over the last 32 years, he has built an incredibly loyal customer base. Some of the people who came to the restaurant as children in the 90s are now bringing their own children. The business has become part of the community and has customers from all over the city. Seeing that clientelle potentially come to an end is difficult for me.
The problem is that I never really saw myself working in the restaurant industry long-term. That’s why I am following a cursus to become an electrician. I’m still following that path.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about a possible solution: continuing to work in my father’s restaurant during the week while working as a Industrial Maintenance Technician on weekends doing 2x12h shifts. But at the same time, I keep telling myself that I need to make a serious choice. Either I fully commit to building a career in electricity, or I commit to taking over the family business.
What makes this decision so difficult is the feeling that if the restaurant is sold, I might regret it later on in life.
I honestly don’t know what the right decision is. Part of me wants to follow the career path that interests me more, while another part of me feels responsible for preserving something my father has spent decades building. Right now, I feel torn between those two paths and I’m struggling to figure out what I should do.