IELTS Speaking for Success - ⌚️ Describe a person you know who runs a family business (Part 2) + Transcript

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

2026 New Year Sale: https://successwithielts.com/sale You should say: who this person is, how you knew him/her, what family business he/she does, and explain why he/she runs the family business. Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/rory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for our archive to get access to the transcript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello dear listener and welcome into IOL speaking parts two. We've got an interesting topic thing today. Describe a person you know who runs a family business. You should say who this person is, how any knew him or her, what family business he or she does, and explain why he or she runs the family business. Rory gives us your story. Rory's story.

Well, I know a few people like this, but someone who stands out in particular is called, it's a man called Stephen, who runs a well-known family bakery in Dundee called Goodfellow and Stephen. It's quite a famous local business, actually, and I got to know him a few years ago through a friend who worked there part-time just while they were studying. I've spoken to him several times since then when I've popped into the shop, and he's always been really friendly and down to earth. The bakery itself has been around for, oh God, it must be more than 100 years, and it's still run by the same family.

Stephen took over the business from his father, who managed it for decades before retiring. They're best known for their traditional Scottish baked goods, like butteries, brides, shortbread. But they also do fantastic modern cakes and pastries as well. So if Scottish cuisine isn't your thing, then there are other things to choose from. What's really impressive about Stephen is how he's managed to keep the family traditions alive while adapting to more modern tastes, I suppose.

He's introduced new recipes. The shop interior has been revamped, and there's also stuff on social media all the time, so that helps attract younger customers as well. Despite all these changes, he's been very careful to maintain the same quality and community he feel that people associate with the bakery, and that's quite good. He once mentioned that he runs the family business because he feels it's part of his identity, and it connects him to Dundee and, well, his family's history, I suppose. For him, it's not just about selling bread, it's about carrying on this kind of legacy that's worked,

well, for generations before him, and they've worked hard to build that. I really admire his dedication and the pride that he takes. in his work. It's clear the bakery isn't just a business to him. It's this sort of symbol of tradition and community and family continuity as well. And what about other people? Do they like the place? When I've mentioned it, they say they like it, but it's not a common topic of conversation. As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free and it's available for one month. After one month, it goes into our super secret archive. To sign up for the archive, click the link in the description below.

See you soon. So, dear listener, the topic is about person you know who runs a family business. So what's a family business? A business that is owned by a family in particular. It's not disparate individuals. Usually, like, a single family owns it, a restaurant, a cafe. He addresses, right? But usually it's usually kind of like a shop, a restaurant, a cafe.

So you can choose your favorite cafe, even if it's not family owned, you can say that yes, it is owned by family, like father and his son, or mother and her daughter, I don't know, and all the whole family. So you can just imagine stuff, talk about your favorite cafe and say that, yeah, it's owned by a family. You can start off with, I know a few family businesses. But the one which stands out in particular is love coffee, I don't know, or a bakery or one shop where I go to to buy vegetables. A person who runs a family business runs means controls, manages. So we run a business, meaning like we manage a business. We control, we have this business. And like I know some people, but someone who stands out in particular is Stephen or Bob or Margaret

who runs, who manages a bakery. Roy talked about a famous bakery in his city. So it's quite a famous local business. So it's a family-owned local business. So a local bakery. You can talk about a local restaurant. cafe shop. I got to know him a few years ago. So I knew about him. I met him. I found out about him a few years ago. I got to know him. This Stephen who owns this business. I've spoken to him several

times. So here we're using present perfect or I've met him several times. I've spoken to him. when I popped into the shop. A very nice phrase of the verb, pop inter. So I popped into the shop when I... And this Stephen, who owns this business is friendly, he's down to earth. Rory, what does down to earth mean? Oh, level-headed or mature, sensible.

And we can use present-perfect to introduce, you talk about a cafe, you can say like, this cafe, this bakery, this coffee shop has been around for more than 20 years or like it has existed for a long time. And usually, you know, like family businesses are, they have existed for a long time normally. Normally. Yeah. Well, I mean, one or two generations. And it's still run by the same family. So this restaurant has been run by the same family for many years. Stephen took over the business from his father. So when we're talking about the family business, somebody takes over the business.

So first his father ran the shop or the restaurant and then his son took over the business. And his father retired. He became a patrony. He retired and his son continued his business. He took over the business. You can say that this shop is best known for something or this cafe is best known for traditional Scottish goods. And then you are specific like what exactly? Rory named like butteries, britties, what, Roy, we don't understand these words.

Batteries, brides, short bread, what? Short bread is just a kind of biscuit with lots of sugar on it. I'm simplifying here. a bridey is a kind of pie however even if you don't know what these are you could talk about some specific local delicacies or local cuisine to describe what your

local business or your family-owned business makes so it doesn't have to be the things I talk about it could be anything and as long as you either say the words or describe them then it's okay yeah if you're talking about a cafe you can name specific products that they sell. Like, oh, they're best famous for, or they're best known for their traditional brownies or cheesecakes.

And just pastries in general. So they're best known for their delicious pastries. Oh, yum, yum. And the pastry is anything which is made from flour, water, fat. I thought you were going to say, it's anything. that's made from paste. From pasty. Usually cakes, you know, like bread, cakes.

And you can say that they are best known for a lovely selection of cakes and pastries. At Desjardin Insurance, we know that when you own a cleaning company, things need to be tidy and organized at every step. That's why our agents go the extra mile to understand your business and provide tailored solutions for all its unique needs.

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Is that a cleft? sentence, what's really impressive is? It is super grammar for benign. We use this structure to draw attention or emphasize something. What's really impressive is, or what's very interesting, is. It's funny because it sounds like it's a question, but it's not. It's a sentence. And you can also say that they usually introduce new recipes,

so how to cook certain things. They change the shop in theory. so their design is modern. They use social media to attract younger customers. All kind of a business, right? So, marketing, design, products, family traditions. So you can say like they set up a social media presence. So they post, they record reels.

And they are very careful to maintain the same quality. However, if your business doesn't have any, any of these things, you could say it's not been revamped, but it's still nice, or they don't have a social media presence, but they don't need one. And what do you mean by revamped? Revamped. Oh, God, like renovated or made better or improved, made more interesting. Revamp. Delisely change or arrange something again in order to improve it. So it's like, it's a good verb. And usually we revamp the management system.

revamp offices. Yeah, it's usually to do with improving the image. Image, yeah. The company revamped their image. And a family business is usually about quality, family traditions, and also community. So they maintain their community. So the same people usually go to this place. So everybody knows each other.

They go there regularly. And if you know the owner, Now, you can say that he runs this business because he feels it's part of his identity. He feels he's connected to the city. He's connected to his family's history. And his family or her family has been doing it for ages. So he's part of this history. So it's not just about selling brand or selling coffee.

It's being part of this family's history. it's about caring on a legacy. Oh, that's a good one for talking about the family business. It's not just business. It's legacy. And legacy is C2 word by 9. Legacy is something that is a part of your history that remains from an earlier time. And early time in this context, it's generation from generations before. So from your relatives before. like my family has left a legacy.

It's about carrying on a legacy, or continuing this history. You can finish off with saying that I really admire his dedication. Dedication, meaning that his willingness to give a lot of time and energy to something, so he is dedicated to his business. He has always shown great dedication to his business.

And you can say, like, I admire his dedication and enthusiasm. We show great dedication to our business. And you can say, I admire the pride he takes in his work. He's proud of his work. Well, if you own the business, you're likely to be proud of it. So it's not just a business. It's a symbol of tradition, community and family continuity. So continuity, continuity, meaning this.

legacy. He continues his family's legacy. Continuity is another C-to-word, the listener, band nine. Continuity, like staying the same, the fact of something continuing for a long period of time. Without being changed. So we're talking about family traditions. And you say, legacy. So carry on legacy. and also this business is about tradition, community of people and continuity. It's not just a business, it's not just selling something, but it's about continuity. So, for example, like they value tradition and continuity.

So in this cafe, they maintain traditions and they continue doing what they've been doing forever. Sweet. DeLisner, how are you doing? Now you can make a choice, you can steal a Rory story, or you can talk about a cafe, a bakery, a shop, but use the words, okay? Or just imagine the whole thing. Regardless of what you talk about, it does not have to be a bakery. It could be any business and there will be words here you can use. For example, runs a family business.

I pop in to the business or I nip into the business. We can describe the owners as friendly and down to earth, positive adjutant. for any person. And then we can also say that it's been around for and in a period of time. And of course you can use what's really impressive or what's very interesting is to draw attention. So it doesn't have to be about a bakery. Could be about any family business. There you go. Thank you very much for saying. And we'll get back to you in our next time is on. Okay? Bye. On game day, pain can hit hard and fast, like the headache you get when your favorite team and your fantasy team both lose.

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people like this, but someone who stands out in particular is called, it's a man called Stephen, who runs a well-known family bakery in Dundee called Goodfellow and Stephen. It's quite a famous local business, actually, and I got to know him a few years ago through a friend. who worked there part-time just while they were studying. I've spoken to him several times since then when I've popped into the shop and he's always been really friendly and down to earth. The bakery itself has been around for, oh God, it must be more than 100 years, and it's still run by the same family.

Stephen took over the business from his father, who managed it for decades before retiring. They're best known for their traditional Scottish baked goods like buttery's, brides, shortbread. But they also do fantastic modern cakes and pastries as well. So if Scottish cuisine isn't your thing, then there are other things to choose from. What's really impressive about Stephen is how he's managed to keep the family traditions alive while adapting to more modern tastes, I suppose.

He's introduced new recipes. The shop interior has been revamped, and there's also stuff on social media all the time. So that helps attract younger customers as well. Despite all these changes, he's been very careful to maintain the same quality and community feel that people associate with the bakery. And that's quite good. He once mentioned that he runs the family business because he feels it's part of his identity. And it connects him to Dundee and, well, his family's history, I suppose. For him, it's not just about selling bread.

It's about carrying on this kind of legacy that's worked, well, for generations before him, and they've worked hard to build that. I really admire his dedication and the pride that he takes in his work. It's clear the bakery isn't just a business to him. It's this sort of symbol of tradition and community and family continuity as well. And what about other people? Do they like the place? When I've mentioned it, they say they like it, but it's not a common topic of conversation.

I don't know