These Nepo Babies Ruined Their Parents' Cincinnati Businesses, According to Redditors

“Mike Brown” -u/I_am_from_Kentucky & u/Hershey78

“Anybody mention Mike Brown?” -u/KaleidoscopeLow8084

“Agreed. Small aside: it seems like his daughters are trying to reverse the ship a bit. (Not a MB fan in anyway, but trying to be objective).
But 100% spot on regarding Mike Brown.” -u/BedaHouse

“You could also say Katie inherited and improved it.” -u/Keregi
“Eh, the jury is still out on Katie. It definitely helps that the team lucked into getting Joe Burrow at the same time as a regime change. We'll see how this success lasts.” -u/THECapedCaper

“A bit? I mean, Mike Brown sucks as an owner overall but there's no way his daughter and granddaughter (who's awesome, btw) take over without him realizing his own archaic 20th century pre-free agency shortcomings, even if it took him 3 decades and most of my liver to get there. So while there's not a huge ceiling to the hyperbolic criticism that can be leveled at Mike as an owner, let's not engage in reverse hyperbole here either against his brood, for much like Mike is an apple that fell far from the Paul Brown Football Family IQ Tree, Kate and Elizabeth seem to be a closer fall so far.
I mean shit, we went to the Superbowl two seasons ago and narrowly lost, narrowly lost in the AFCN champ game last year and like clockwork, the early season .500 football team is waking up again. I waited 30 years for ONE playoff win, I am an embarrassment of football riches now, my cup overfloweth.” -u/warthog0869

Jeff Wyler

“Jeff Wyler, his family and his businesses can go fuck all the way off. I will ride public transportation in Cincinnati before I step on to one of their lots ever again.” -u/oldshitdoesntcare

“Def Jeff Wyler.. they suuuuuuuuuuuuuck” -u/Jackn_my_peepee

Phil Castellini and the Reds

“Where ya gonna go?” -u/Murky_Crow

“Even when they get good players I'm not convinced they'll make the most of them.” -u/0ttr

“Look what the Castellinis did to the Reds.
This used to be a Baseball town. Now some die hard fans I know say they do not care about baseball anymore. Worse, their kids strongly dislike watching baseball. I haven't gone to a game in years even though our family used to have season tickets. At work no one talks about baseball anymore.
come to think of it, are games every on TV anymore? No one I know even watches them on TV.
Anyway, thanks to the Castellinis, the Reds will become the 4th or 5th most popular team here. Behind Xavier Basketball, FC Cincy, Bengals, maybe UC teams.” -[deleted]

“Swallen’s” -u/Cincinnative13 & u/Ramzulo

“Swallen's. Went downhill after the old man let the kids get outside [investors] and consultants involved. RIP.” -u/Villimaro

“My Dad hated it there after his kids took over.” -u/Ruysmom7

“You knew things had changed, not for the better, when they made the decision to open the stores on Sunday. Slow, steady, ride downhill from there.” -u/xverdb

“LaRosa’s” -u/pkd420 & u/Auntzeus2u

“Larosa's. It used to be good when we were kids.” -u/Jonny_Disco
“former LaRosa’s manager, left around 2019... this is 100%. While the quality does wildly vary by location, As they keep expanding, the ingredients (and staff) are where they cut corners.
All the things that aren't pizza crust or sauce have gotten cheaper (the wings are almost inedible now unless extremely well done)... such a shame as it was a great local place to eat at and recommend to out of towners up until the mid-late 2010s” -u/iwishiwasaustrailian

“I worked at Boudinot when the take over happened. It was almost immediate decline in quality of ingredients as soon as Buddy was no longer in control.” -u/Contentpolicesuck

“Montgomery Inn” -u/insanecrossfire

“Definitely decline with Montgomery Inn. We most likely won’t go back again. Very sad. Lots of great memories there. Nostalgia can’t fuel us anymore.” -u/ParticularEmploy1137

“We used to go back in the early 90s for everyone's birthdays. So four times a year we were usually at Montgomery Inn for dinner and then a couple more times with the family we were really close with. Their food is nostalgic to me, especially the BBQ sauce. Some people don't like it for being too sweet, but I still buy it to put on fries at home and to dip kettle chips into. Either my tastes have changed (they have, but some foods that have always been okay are still okay to me) or their quality has dropped. The last time I was there the ribs had the bitter creosote taste you get from smoking meat with too much smoke which was weird because I thought they weren't smoked.
I haven't been since a birthday for my dad about 3 or 4 years ago and really don't have any plans to go back. If I'm going for BBQ in going to Pig Candy, Lucius Q, Just Q'in or even staying close to home and waiting for one of my favorite BBQ food trucks to be nearby.” -u/SafewordisJohnCandy

Empower Media Marketing

“Empower media marketing. It was one of the city’s biggest marketing agencies, built up over 30 years. Mom gave it to her idiot son who sold it earlier this year to an out-of-town Ken and Barbie couple who hate Cincinnati in general and OTR (where they’re headquartered) in particular.
The results have been disastrous. The turnover is so bad that they sent a cease and desist to P&G, threatening them for “poaching” former employees. I’m sure P&G is very scared. And there’s little chance they stay in Cincinnati.” -u/potroastfanatic

“Glad this made the list. Reality tv trash took it over and fumbled the bag instantly. Couldn’t have happened to a less capable duo.” -u/SweetManbrosia

”The Comisars and Maisonette” -u/MissHellaCool

“They murdered all of the family’s restaurants! Bulldozed Chester’s that was historicity gorgeous. So sad. Now it’s just a stupid car lot.” -u/ginger-blue
“First thing that came to my mind. What a shame.” -u/Cincytraveler

“Cincinnati Milacron” -u/HiHoCracker

“This right here. My grandfather, father and both my brothers worked for Milacron. I saw the decline in real time through their eyes.” -u/NYSetDesigner

“Is that really much of a surprise, though? It was never a huge player in the industry past the '80s. They also didn't do a great job of keeping up with the state of things. I don't know if that was the kids' fault or just a confluence of the market overall shrinking with heavy industry leaving the country.” -u/jacobobb

Green Acres Kayak

“Greenacres Kayak family worked with Rumpke decades ago, including selling them land. I don't know all the specifics unfortunately. Now their business faces significant loss of customer base as Rumpke is locating a landfill directly next to the portion of the river they use. 5 generations have owned Greenacres. This generation will see their business cut in half during their lifetime.
Poor foresight to the consequences of welcoming Rumpke into their community” -u/B_gumm

“I live near there, my son has worked there lugging canoes before. I never knew of this connection between the two places re: the land acquisition by Rumpke, but unfortunately for the current owners of Green Acres, someone along the way polluted their brand, literally and figuratively.
All I knew was the the dump site was alleged to have been for "dry" construction waste (my understanding was rusting machinery, etc but who knows what that actually entails) and that Rumpke, like any business (a necessary one, I might add) would know that they'd need to start expanding waste site locations going back years and years as Mt Rumpke predictably filled up. Now its being used for regular garbage, and the "Stop The Stink" signs were up all over in HVL, Bright, Logan, St Leon and all the outlying areas over it, but there's not going to be any stopping it. To hell with the smell, what's the potential grievous harm to the river right below the site over time as it rains and rains?” -u/warthog0869

“We gave up on Green Acres after the third giant fight that required ambulances. Sad to [hear] about the future pollution.” -u/Contentpolicesuck

Holtman’s Donuts

“Holtman’s. When it was just the goshen location owned by the previous generation it was the best donuts I’d ever had, so well priced, and the nicest ladies working the counter. Since the new generation took over and expanded I’ve been disappointed by their donuts many times” -u/PickleMePinkie

“I loved the OTR location and I’m still sad it’s gone!” -u/mama_tired

“Izzy’s” -u/Working-Chemistry473

“Nobody's said Izzy's... I'm old enough to remember when the old man ran the one store downtown. Once he died and they expanded, it went downhill. Potato cakes are still good, but sandwich is super small and they wanna charge an arm and a leg.” -u/BullshitPickle

Grote Bakery

“Grote Bakery, I think? I remember the former bakery in Westwood turning into the campaign office for someone in the Grote family, and eventually I heard all the bakeries were gone. I grew up around the corner from the Westwood store. Good donuts and great cookies.” -u/PrettyCoolBear

“Yes. The owner, Len left it to his sons and it didn’t end well…obviously.” -u/Human-Scheme-3632

Mr. T’s Pizza

“It’s probably not well known but Mr. T’s Pizza like 20 years ago, his son took over and it closed within months.” -u/Dog_the_unbarked

“Holy shit. I grew up around the corner from there and low key forgot they ever existed.” -u/mobleshairmagnet