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<\/p>\nWANT YOUR BUSINESS TO LAST 1,000 YEARS??? Some did!<\/p>\n
The average American business closes shop after about 21 years. Some businesses, though, last longer\u2014a lot longer. Take Kongo Gumi, a Japanese construction company founded in 578 A.D., or Santa Maria Novella, an Italian pharmacy that\u2019s been perfuming the elite since Michelangelo was decorating ceilings. Here are some longevity lessons from businesses with more than ample experience.<\/p>\n
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Kongo Gumi Co. Est \u00a0578\u00a0AD<\/strong> Until it became a subsidiary of \u00a0Takamatsu Construction Group<\/a> in 2006, Kongo Gumi was the world\u2019s oldest continuously operating company. Even as a subsidiary, it still does things the really, really old-fashioned way. Its specialty is the restoration of Buddhist temples and other historic buildings. Workers could train for as long as 10 years, during which time they were sometimes set against one another, competing to see which craftsperson demonstrated the most skill working with the timber and clay traditionally used to build temples. \u201cI think that\u2019s where things have slipped through the cracks in a lot of other traditions or professions, because people either weren\u2019t interested or there was actually a devaluing of some of that workmanship,\u201d says Danielle Willkens<\/a>, an architecture professor at Georgia Institute of Technology. By keeping these techniques alive, Kongo Gumi has made itself indispensable to the preservation of Japanese architecture.<\/p>\n St. Peter Stiftskulinarium<\/strong><\/a>, est. c. 803<\/strong> Noted by a courtier of Charlemagne\u2019s as having one of Europe\u2019s best wine collections, St. Peter Stiftskulinarium has been delighting diners in Salzburg, Austria, for more than 1,200 years. If it\u2019s not the world\u2019s oldest restaurant, it\u2019s one of them. The wine cellar, built to store the treasures of the monks in the attached monastery, was the genesis of the restaurant, says Nora Wunderwald, a publicity representative for St. Peter. After all, she says, patrons, who over the centuries have included \u00a0Mozart, Faust and \u00a0Karl Lagerfeld (who was feted at the restaurant by Chanel), needed some food to pair with their wine. The restaurant\u2019s current operators, Veronika Kirchmair and Claus Haslauer, have made it a point to diversify the menu beyond schnitzel and strudel. This month\u2019s offerings include confit fillet of char, artichoke Wellington and an innovation Charlemagne and his compatriots would surely have marveled at: brunch.<\/p>\n The Olde Bell<\/strong><\/a>, est. 1135<\/strong> Once upon a time, perhaps during the reign of King Stephen (he spent most of his reign warring with his cousin Matilda, the Holy Roman Empress), you might pull into the Olde Bell hotel, about 35 miles outside London, expecting to get a pint of ale and a hunk of bread to dip in your stew before you fell asleep on a mattress stuffed with horsehair and, in the morning, continued on your way across medieval England. Since then, the Olde Bell has expanded to include more guest quarters and a nuclear fallout shelter-turned-wine cellar, but the idea that every weary and thirsty traveler deserves a place to rest and a pint of ale remains the same, says sales manager Debi Hayes\u2014\u201cexcept we\u2019ve got comfier mattresses now!\u201d History, of course, begets more history, with \u00a0Winston Churchill, \u00a0Boris Karloff, \u00a0Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Elizabeth Taylor all having spent time in the hotel\u2019s cozy rooms and cozier bar, where sections of the original walls are covered with glass to keep them stable.<\/p>\n Santa Maria Novella<\/strong><\/a>, est. 1612 (pharmacy from 1542)<\/strong> For Gian Luca Perris, chief executive officer and \u201cnose\u201d of Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, the brand\u2019s most enduring fragrance is inextricably linked to its most famous patron, Catherine de\u2019 Medici. Acqua della Regina, with top notes of petitgrain and a base of musk, is still one of Santa Maria Novella\u2019s bestselling products, a chance for today\u2019s shoppers to capture a little bit of long-ago glamor and romance. In Perris\u2019 telling, in 1533 the princess, as part of her wedding entourage, brought a perfume maker who was rumored to have been raised by Santa Maria Novella\u2019s friars. The friars, who called the monastery of the Church of Santa Maria Novella home, had long dabbled in fragrant waters, often thought to keep the plague away. Catherine, possibly the 16th century\u2019s most famous \u201cit\u201d girl, was both a patron and something of a muse to the pharmacy; for her marriage scent, her perfumier was ready to create his greatest perfume yet. \u201cFor their upcoming marriage,\u201d Perris says, \u201che created a bridal gift for Catherine\u2019s future husband: a perfume that enchanted the courts of France by embodying Florence\u2019s elegance and grace.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooks Brothers<\/strong><\/a>, est. 1818\u00a0<\/strong> Founded as a small clothing manufacturer and shop in Lower Manhattan, Brooks Brothers has been supplying prep school students and Wall Street bankers with starched shirts and blue blazers for 200 years, pioneering the ready-to-wear suit and blanketing downtown office cores with retail locations stocked with in-case-of-emergency ties and pocket squares. When \u00a0Ken Ohashi took over the company in late 2020, it was a strange moment for a brand that depends on people needing to dress up. For Ohashi, the key to outlasting Covid quarantines was to figure out what his die-hard customers might want more of. The answer, he says, was casual wear<\/a>. Items such as oversize striped rugby shirts and corduroy pants embroidered with jaunty hunting dogs now account for 40% of the company\u2019s business, up from 20% before the pandemic. Ohasi stresses, however, that Brooks Brothers sportswear is done the Brooks Brothers way. \u201cOur core customer loves our sweatpants,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause you can get them monogrammed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe Lesson: Find a niche and don\u2019t let go<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThe Lesson: Don\u2019t be afraid to mix it up<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-322.png\")
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\nThe Lesson: Furniture can change, but service shouldn\u2019t<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-323.png\")
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\nThe Lesson: Signature products are signature products for a reason<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-324.png\")
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\nThe Lesson: Focus on your core customer<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-325.png\")
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