Red Key’s rules will live on after owner’s death
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.
Small Business
Articles
Indianapolis set for next wave of angel investors
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.
Small-biz lending on the rise
Federal loan programs that help fund company expansions are seeing more activity from program administrators in Indianapolis.
Vogue owner’s bankruptcy may force sale of venue
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.
Entrepreneurs lose clout as VC funds get stingier
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.
Bakehouse drives growth for Scholars Inn
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.
Lawmakers probe banks’ lending to small businesses
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.
Tech-savvy Scotty’s owner eyes national expansion
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.
Obama’s stimulus aims to boost access to small-biz loans
No incentive can make a bad deal bankable. But President Obama’s stimulus measures are spurring some promising small businesses
to begin borrowing again, despite the recession.
PTS sues Roche Diagnostic to end blood-monitor royalties
Polymer Technology Systems Inc., a small Indianapolis-based maker of handheld blood monitors, has gone to court to fight
a competitor more than 100 times its size: Roche Diagnostics Corp.
Demand for smart-phone applications spawns opportunities
Smart-phone fever is heating up the climate for innovation in the local tech community, as firms new and old try to cash
in on the demand for applications that can be used on the iPhone, BlackBerry and other gadgets from the likes of Palm and
Google.
Video firm Bennett Innovations reaches 25 years
The seven-person production house led by Bruce White counts IUPUI and Rolls-Royce North America among its clients.
Mobile lab maker Biologics to create 50 jobs in Brownsburg
A startup that makes mobile laboratory and manufacturing facilities will locate its headquarters, design and manufacturing
operations in Brownsburg, creating at least 50 jobs by 2013.
City of Greenwood might fund launch of insulin maker
Greenwood-based Zimmerman Biotechnologies LLC hopes to become the first company in the United States to make generic insulin,
a long-awaited development in diabetes treatment. The Greenwood Common Council on Feb. 1 will consider an $8.4 million deal
that would finance construction of an insulin factory, as well as help Zimmerman with FDA-approval and equipment expenses.
Employee buys Drexel Interiors from struggling parent firm
The east-side Indianapolis kitchen and bathroom remodeling shop is attempting to succeed as a solo operation following longtime
employee Allen Weisenburger’s decision to buy the operation rather than let it close.
Rising credit card fees eroding retailers’ profits
Businesses say the money they must pay to provide customers the convenience to use plastic adds up. For example, Ricker Oil
Co. paid a whopping $3.9 million in 2009, according President Jay Ricker.
Legislation to protect car dealers re-emerges at Statehouse
Dozens of Chrysler and General Motors dealers in Indiana were terminated last year. Now, a dealer trade group wants to
block automakers from preying on termination fears to wrest concessions from surviving dealers.
Adversity prepared health exec for new role at helm of SynCare
Stephanie DeKemper believes everything in her adult life has prepared her to run SynCare LLC. She’s so
sure that she’s buying the company.
High-end audio firm Indy Audio Labs powers up with new hires
An upstart audio products company with offices at Purdue Research Park at AmeriPlex has brought in big guns to launch sales.
Program offers women entrepreneurs their own experts
AthenaPowerLink selects Carmel firm Mitsch Design as the first woman-owned business it will assist locally.