'It's all love': Small businesses turn to family in tough times

Josh Yeates has run a couple of businesses with his dad and uncle on board, but it hasn't always been instant profits.

"It just goes to show how family all stick together - we were all there for each other, even if we were losing money," the 23-year-old says.

The restaurant owner now runs $1.5 million eatery The Bored Monkey in Narrabeen on Sydney's northern beaches.

Yeates, his father and uncle are gearing up for a busy Christmas and New Year's Eve at the humming cafe, but at the end of last year they were shutting a different business in central Sydney that didn't work.

"I think it’s a lot more challenging than people expect. They think it's just paying the staff, but there are so many other overheads. Your staff can break a leg, like someone here did last week," he says. Yeates isn't the only one trying to build a successful brand with his family on deck. According to The Economy of Shopping Small Report, released by American Express on Wednesday, more than 60 per cent of small businesses founders across Australia have at least one family member working for them. Read more

Emma Koehn - Brisbane Times - 30 October 2018