Mike Cunningham has run dining spots ranging from a bar and grill to yogurt stands and is now growing a popular chain of upscale
restaurants—primarily under the Stone Creek Dining Co. name—in Indiana and Ohio.
Marketing
pro Lorraine Ball suggests a test for when it's time to ditch the corporate gig, plus tips for networking
and
public speaking.
Art Bouvier fled his corporate IT gig to open a small Cajun place without
a business plan or prior restaurant experience. After a number of blunders, Papa Roux looks like it will pan out.
Companion Diagnostics wants to detect early warning signs of chronic diseases.
IBJ's new video feature on restaurateurs tries curbside
service at Speedway's Mug-n-Bun, unchanged in concept since the 1960s but now sporting subtle tweaks.
Launched in Houston three years ago, Lemonade Day aims to educate children from pre-kindergarten through high school how to
start, own and operate their own small businesses.
Tasked with boosting Indiana’s economy following the Great Recession, the 2010 General Assembly tinkered at the edges
by passing a handful of incentives meant to spur small-business growth.
The prices hogs are fetching this year will help farmers begin to climb out of the crater of 2008 and 2009. Average pork prices
may approach record levels this year, Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt predicted, up to $53.63 per hundred
pounds. The record is $55.44 per hundred pounds, set in 1982.
The Mass Ave. restaurant is set to become Mesh, which will feature a more casual atmosphere and menu, as well as a new operator who will
lease the space
from the building’s owners.
In IBJ's new video feature on front-burner business issues that vex restaurants, Regina Mehallick
of downtown's R bistro mulls the financial and personal demands of running a chef-owned eatery with a menu that changes
every week.
Verdure Sciences, a botanical-extract distributor, has invested more than $1 million in marketing and research,
and hopes to see its product in more
foods and drinks, perhaps even mouthwash.
Deseri Garcia’s Vida Aventura consulting firm uses challenge courses, other unusual techniques to improve teamwork, morale.
Russel Settle, 92, was renowned for telling customers at the landmark Red Key Tavern to mind their manners in the northside
pub featured in a Dan Wakefield novel.
A wave of up-and-coming angel investors in the Indianapolis area are quietly accumulating the expertise and thick wallets
necessary to back startups that are at once risky and rich with potential for lucrative returns.
Federal loan programs that help fund company expansions are seeing more activity from program administrators in Indianapolis.
A mix of business and personal woes have pushed Steven Carter Ross, the longtime owner and manager of the Vogue nightclub,
into personal bankruptcy. Now a judge must decide whether Ross can keep the popular Broad Ripple music venue, or if he must
sell it to satisfy his creditors and his estranged wife.
Most local venture funds are standing pat because the economy is weak and they’re no longer
in fund-raising mode. Having invested most of their funds, the firms have shifted to the nurturing, or “harvesting”
stage, to try to improve investment returns.
Scholars Inn’s growth engine is its wholesale bakery, which distributes granola and other
fresh products across state lines thanks
to deals with
partners like Kroger.
U.S. House legislators want to get to the bottom of banks' roles in the economic recovery, both via loans to small businesses
and shouldering losses on commercial real estate lending.
Scott Wise has five Scotty's Brewhouse locations and
is set to debut the Scotty's Lakehouse concept Monday. Within 10 years, he'd like to have
restaurants in the Southeast and on the West Coast.
