Ego, Is That You?

The Second Location Trap (and the Questions That Bring You Back to Reality)

Lately, I’ve been noticing a trend that feels both exciting and mildly triggering. Brick-and-mortar business owners, bakeries especially, are opening second locations.

As a donut shop owner who used to have multiple locations and now has one, I’ll admit it: my first reaction was FOMO.

Are these shops having way more success than I am? What am I doing wrong? Should I find an investor and go get my second location too?

Then I had to pause and be honest with myself. That voice wasn’t strategy. It was ego.

The part nobody says out loud

The truth is, I am not even close to max capacity in my current location. Until the demand is there, until we are genuinely busting at the seams, there is no logical reason to sink money and complexity into a second store just to soothe an uncomfortable feeling.

A second location can absolutely be a smart move. But it can also become an expensive distraction that looks like growth from the outside and feels like chaos on the inside.

The “two locations” problem

Here is my honest take: I would rather jump from one location to five than go from one to two.

Not because I am chasing scale, but because two locations is rarely enough to justify real infrastructure.

Two locations usually does not mean you can hire a regional manager or build an operations layer. More often, it means the already stretched owner-operator adds another store to their plate, along with more staff, more payroll, more inventory, more equipment, more scheduling, and more emergencies.

It is not a clean scale. It is a messy stretch.

At five locations, the equation shifts. That is when leadership layers make financial sense. That is when you build a team around the business instead of stacking more responsibility onto yourself.

I am not recommending that leap either. I am simply saying that if I am going to take on complexity, I want the structure to justify it.

A conversation that stuck with me

A few months ago, I was talking with a business owner friend who mentioned she was behind on some of her obligations. In the same conversation, we both admired another business that seemed to be thriving with two locations. From the outside, it looked like momentum. Like proof. Like they had made it.

I left the conversation thinking, good for them. She left thinking something else, and not long after, she announced she was opening a second location too.

I truly hope it goes well for her. But I worry, because when you are already struggling to keep up in one location, opening another one isn’t bold, it’s risky.

Whatever problems you have will multiply

Whatever problems exist in your first location will be amplified in your second.

If inventory is messy, you are now managing that mess twice. If staff training is inconsistent, you are multiplying the variability. If margins are thin, you are doubling the pressure. If the business depends heavily on you, you become the bottleneck in two places instead of one.

Even if the second store performs well, the first can drain it. Or the second can drain the first. Without structure, you are shifting resources back and forth and hoping it balances out, without being able to measure each store on their own.

Before you open your second location, check in

Not with Instagram. Not with what “successful” business owners are supposed to do.

With yourself.

Ask whether this decision is rooted in strategy or ego. Ask whether you truly have demand that justifies expansion. Ask whether you are profitable, whether your systems are replicable, and whether your current store runs without you gripping the steering wheel every day.

Also ask whether this aligns with your season of life.

Growth has to match your actual life

I am a mom to young kids. I am in a stage where work matters deeply, and so does time at home. Yes, I could make more money if I gave more time. But that is not the season I am in right now.

Growth that ignores your life is not growth. It is pressure wearing a prettier label.

Do your homework before you take the plunge

If you are considering a second location, I am not here to talk you out of it. I am here to make sure you are doing it for the right reasons, at the right time, with the right foundation.

Before you add more complexity, tighten what you already have. Strengthen your systems. Increase demand. Protect your margins. Train your team in a way that can actually be replicated. Remove yourself from daily bottlenecks so the business can stand on its own.

Then, if you are genuinely maxed out, profitable, and aligned with the life you want, expand.

Not because your ego got itchy. But because the business is ready. And so are you.