No one but the employees knew about Ben Ali’s death.

The managers of Ben’s Chili Bowl had told their employees this morning that Ben Ali died in his bed last night, but they didn’t want their customers in the restaurant to know yet. So there was nary a clue at the landmark U Street eatery. No signs. No weeping employees. Only a Web notice for those who had somehow checked it before arriving.

The only thing at Ben’s that might have tipped off an attentive diner was the music. It was soul music, the mournful variety. “Never Can Say Goodbye,” by the Jackson 5 was playing softly in the background, the band’s lead singer just a memory now, too.

“The mood is very somber,” said Sonya Ali, wife of Kamal Ali, one of the two surviving brothers who now run Ben’s. “The music is even somber.”

Sonya Ali said the entire family was gathering at Ben and Virginia Ali’s home in North Portal, including Sage, an artist and musician who lives in California.  Sage’s wife, Sonya Ali noted, is a publicist and will help the family plan a public announcement and figure out how to honor the man who founded what has become, courtesy of Bill Cosby and President Barack Obama, D.C.’s most famous restaurant.

Read More “Despite Founder’s Death, It Was Business As Usual at Ben’s” »

As Y&H was discussing last week, the Ali family has no plans to open a Ben’s Chili Bowl on the ground floor of the Grays on Pennsylvania, a planned condo development in the Southeast, despite a sign that implies otherwise. That’s the family’s prerogative, of course, but it makes you wonder: What is the future of Ben’s? The Ali’s must be looking to expand somewhere, right?

Expansion and franchising, after all, are what fast-casual restaurants do. Some locals, like Z-Burger in the District and Elevation Burger in Falls Church, have practically planned on franchising from the moment they drafted their business plans. Others, like Amsterdam Falafelshop, have taken a more cautious approach to spreading their brand. Five Guys, of course, has turned franchising into an art form — or at least into a license to print money.

Isn’t it time for the Ali’s to cash in, too?

Read More “If Not Expansion Plans, What Is Ben’s Next Move? Think Shipping.” »