Typically you might expect that an economic downturn is bad for all businesses as generally consumers have less money to spend and usually demand might fall. Lego defied this at the height of the last recession by returning a 69% rise in profits in 2009, a time when other toy businesses were struggling badly. Part of what allowed Lego to thrive at this time was the nature of the product, because it is long lasting and children can use it in a multitude of ways, parents were attracted to it at a time when they needed toys that would have a longer life span for their children. In a recession the threat of substitute products – which tend to be more expensive – and the power of buyers is lessened and this meant that lego have been able to take advantage of the changing economic climate. The same is true of Domino’s pizza, who also found the recession to be a time of great growth and increased profits. As customers had less disposable income, rather than spending weekends out doing leisure activities like going to bars and restaurants, many consumers stayed at home, watching TV and this was a huge boost to the home delivery restaurant business. Take away restaurants are normally able to take advantage of an economic downturn as they are counter cyclical businesses, meaning that they do well at times when the rest of the economy is not doing well. Both of these examples seem to suggest that for established businesses the economic downturn was an opportunity and not a threat.
However it was not only established businesses that thrived in the recession. 4 Rivers smokehouse was a BBQ restaurant started in 2009 which now employs over 500 people at multiple locations. The owners recognised that the economic conditions provided an opportunity to start a unique business providing they were able to differentiate through exceptional service that would convince customers