The cafe chain is a privately held company. I'm not sure it's public information that they earn some of their income from owning & leasing nearby properties to

The cafe chain is a privately held company. I'm not sure it's public information that they earn some of their income from owning & leasing nearby properties to completely unrelated retailers. I just happened to talk to someone who told me about it. But my general point was less about this specific chain, and the idea that your profits may come from a part of the business that you're not known for. You then use that money to subsidize the other parts of the business. A bit like how Sony Corporation's profits come from life insurance & medical insurance, while their electronics division makes a loss. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/28/business/global/sonys-bread-and-butter-its-not-electronics.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/28/business/global/sonys-bre...