Ballard News Tribune:

While most people see only bland depictions of mountains or umbrellas when perusing the seemingly endless varieties of bottled waters on grocery store racks, Ballard resident Marie Nicholas saw something else: Opportunity.

With Nicholas’ Model on a Bottle, instead of a mountain, thirsty customers get musclebound and shirtless “Pro Fitness Model Hitch.” Instead of an umbrella, “Model Jayla Murray” in a black bikini stares out from the bottle.

The new business, owned and operated by Nicholas, has replaced company logos with labels full of scantily-clad models, musicians, athletes and potential celebrities – all unheard-of, but hungry for publicity.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Chow:

John Nese is the proprietor of Galcos Soda Pop Stop in LA. His father ran it as a grocery store, and when the time came for John to take charge, he decided to convert it into the ultimate soda-lovers destination. About 500 pops line the shelves, sourced lovingly by John from around the world. John has made it his mission to keep small soda-makers afloat and help them find their consumers. Galcos also acts as a distributor for restaurants and bars along the West Coast, spreading the gospel of soda made with cane sugar (no high-fructose corn syrup if John can avoid it).

If you don’t live in Los Angeles, you can order any of Galco’s soda’s online at SodaPopStop.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

A staple of backyard barbecues and summer time snacks, watermelon is also a promising new source of renewable energy.

According to a new study, leftover watermelons from farms’ harvests could be converted into up to 9.4 million liters (2.5 million gallons) of clean, renewable ethanol fuel every year destined for your car, truck, or airplane’s gas tank.

Agriculturally, watermelon is a peculiar fruit — each year farmers across the country leave between 20 and 40 percent of their crop to rot on the ground. These are the ugly ducklings of the lot; though perfectly fine on the inside, the misshapen or blemished melons simply won’t sell at the grocery store.

Across the United States, it’s estimated that 360,000 tons of watermelons spoil in fields every year.

Photo by sofijab.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Squeezed between Moe’s Coffee Shop and the Shop N Go minimart on hardscrabble Frankford Avenue, in the heart of working-class Northeast Philadelphia, lies the Philly Pretzel Factory. With its algae-green sign bolted to the building’s khaki stucco exterior, it looks more like a takeout joint than the headquarters of a $40 million empire. The truth is, it’s both.

At eight o’clock on a brisk Friday morning, neighborhood folks — in all shades and shapes, from two burly guys in courier uniforms to a bottle blonde impatiently jingling her keys — stand eight deep inside the Factory. The crowd is starting to spill out of the building, while customers near the counter watch like kids peering into the oven window, urging on a batch of Christmas cookies.

Once the pride of a few family bakeries in gritty South Philadelphia, soft pretzels have always been big business in the city. But over the past decade, with four pretzel companies supporting more than 160 freestanding retail stores that tempt the taste buds and test the waistlines of locals addicted to the doughy treats, the Philly area market has become saturated, and the Big Four are hoping to turn their soft pretzels from a regional obsession into a national one.

Each of the Big Four dismisses the others’ product and plans for growth, but they all believe that giant vendors like J&J Snack Foods (JJSF) — maker of the ubiquitous SuperPretzel — and Auntie Anne’s have bamboozled the pretzel-eating public into accepting inferior pretzels.

“Philadelphians know the difference between a good pretzel and a horrible pretzel,” says Vince Marinelli, a former electrician who heads A Taste of Philly, which operates 18 stand-alone pretzel stores, mainly in the Philly burbs. “Outside this area they don’t know the difference. So there’s some work to be done educating people.”

Continue Reading: “Pretzel Wars”

Photo by sun-sentinel.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Are you a personal chef, or an entrepreneur developing recipes? Do you want to bottle/develop a recipe?

If you want to start a food business in the state of Florida (or in most other states), you’ll need a commercial kitchen. State and local laws require that all food prepared for sale to the public must be prepared or produced at a commercially licensed kitchen. Unfortunately, the cost of setting up a licensed commercial kitchen is a huge obstacle to many food entrepreneurs. This is an expense that most folks are not prepared for or do not have the knowledge of designing a kitchen which will pass inspection.

Your Pro Kitchen offers a professionally-equipped, commercially licensed multi-station kitchen facility for professional cooking and baking. In addition, they are flexible enough to support many different uses, such as cooking classes, private events, and the production or bottling of your products.

Your Pro Kitchen also offers a traditional business center with desk space, internet access, a fax machine, copy machines, a telephones.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

photo credit: Valerie Everett

Slate:

A hot dog vendor was kicked from the curb outside New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art last week for failure to pay his monthly rent—of $53,558. Pasang Sherpa was under contract to pay the Parks Department $362,201 a year for a stand on the south side of the Met’s entrance and $280,500 for another on the north side. That’s a lot of hot dogs. With rent astronomically high, how much do New York City hot dog vendors actually make?

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

When you walk into Joe Casale’s design studio, one of the first things you notice is a bulletin board filled with sketches.

“When I get an idea for a new product, I do a concept sketch and post it on my bulletin board,” he says, “so I can think about it and let it stew.”

A consummate problem solver, Casale recalls one holiday several years ago when his parents, siblings and their families gathered at his home.

“We all love to cook,” he says, “and we were in the kitchen preparing a big meal. As I watched my brother chop vegetables, I thought there should be a way to get skins and peelings out of the way of the vegetables. The idea stuck with me.”

A few days later, still thinking about the problem, he drew up a cutting board concept that featured hideaway measuring trays, and posted it on the bulletin board. Intrigued by the possibilities, he did some preliminary market research at kitchen stores.

In late 2005, Casale learned about a casting call for a new TV show, “Everyday Edisons.” The Charlotte-produced PBS series chronicles the development of new products and the stories of their mom-and-pop inventors. He had missed the local tryouts. But one was coming up in Nashville, Tenn.

Casale’s cutting board made the final cut, and it was one of 14 inventions featured on the first season of “Everyday Edisons.”

“It was the easiest concept I’ve ever licensed,” he laughs. “I didn’t have to present it to anyone else, and I didn’t have to do any redesigns. They did everything: patent work, engineering, prototypes, market research, packaging.

I felt comfortable working with them because they were affiliated with PBS, and they required many documents that had to be submitted in order to be able to present your idea.”

Photo by KokuBoard.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Calling it “murder on your taste buds” and “lethal,” jail inmates in Florida are making and selling jailhouse fire hot sauce to the public as a way to add some spice to their food and add a little revenue to the inmate canteen.

“It packs more heat than the heat,” is one line used in a commercial for Jailhouse Fire hot sauces made by Hillsborough County inmates at the Falkenberg Road Jail as part of the horticulture training program.

The three flavors are Original, Smoke and No Escape, which is billed as the hottest. Five-ounce bottles sell for $7. They were being sold for a part of a day last week outside the jail’s main entrance, and they aren’t sold in stores.

Along with going into the inmate canteen, revenue also goes to culinary and horticulture programs for inmates.

The inmates had been growing hot peppers for about a year as part of a horticulture program when one of them suggested making them into a commercial sauce.

They spent two years perfecting the recipe, a hybrid of Caribbean-style hot sauce and a mustard sauce that includes habaneros, scotch bonnets and jalapenos. Inmates get to use some of their own sauce on their meals, which can be a bit bland in jail.

Photo by Jailhouse Fire.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

As the mother of 3 autistic son’s, Bridget Lane wanted to do more. Taking her charitable nonprofit company the extra mile, she also helps out individuals with special needs by giving them job training and employment.

Tell us a little about Helping Hands Bakery.

We are a 501c3 charitable nonprofit that makes the best gluten-free cookies that you’ve ever tried! We have lots of fans!

What inspired you to launch your bakery?

My three little boys all have high functioning autism (my oldest is almost 7 and my identical twin boys are 5 years old). I wanted to do something positive in the community and create jobs for adults with special needs (especially those on the autism spectrum). I wanted to make sure my boys would have a job when they grew up. I wanted to make sure they would be as self-reliant as possible. We also give back to the community by providing persons with special needs job training. In our programs, we support parents of special needs children by donating money to families in need of respite. We also give a portion of our net profits to other charities in Boulder and Denver that also support children with special needs.

You mentioned that your business is a nonprofit. What comes with 501c3 charitable nonprofit status?

We belong to the community and are required to have 1/3 of our revenue come from donations in order to maintain our 501c3 (tax-exempt) status. We are tax-exempt which means that we are able to purchase the ingredients for our gluten-free cookies tax-free.

How can someone help?

We always need donations to show the IRS that we are a valued charity. The money donated can be earmarked for: cookie ingredients, vocation training, respite, or medical/tuition fund (money allocated to children who require additional therapies not covered by their insurance). All donations are tax-deductible and greatly needed especially in today’s economic climate. We also always need volunteers to help with baking, working as a buddy alongside someone with a special need, etc. If you love to bake, or just love hanging out with great people, we’d love to meet you!

What separates your cookies from the competition?

Our gluten-free cookies are so good people cannot believe that they are actually gluten and wheat free. Our gluten-free cookies are also lower in sugar (only 2g of sugar, which is less than 1/2 tsp of sugar per cookie).

Have you thought about expanding into other gluten-free foods?

We do make some wonderful gluten-free muffins and cupcakes in addition to our gourmet marshmallows dipped in chocolate.

What are some of the lessons you have learned while planning, launching, and running the Helping Hands Bakery?

That everyone, no matter where they come from, has gifts to give… you just need to give them a chance to bloom.

What goals do you hope to achieve, short and long term?

We are hoping to grow from 8 Whole Foods Markets into 31 stores by the end of year. Whole Foods has already asked us to go region wide (Rocky Mountain Region) and we are gearing up for it right now. I would love to form nonprofit franchises of the Helping Hands Bakery. In this model, people with special needs would have jobs and have an opportunity for self-reliance throughout our nation. I think it could definitely work. All the gluten-free cookies baked would then be sold at local coffee shops, grocery stores, and Whole Foods.

What tips or tricks have helped you to balance your time between your business and time for your family?

Understanding that the cookies can wait, but my kiddos need me when they need me…their needs have to come first. It helps that I have a sister who moved from Illinois a couple of months ago to help with the Helping Hands Bakery. She has been the key that lets me spend more quality time with my three sons and my wonderful husband, Branin. The idea of baking cookies to raise awareness, acceptance, and assistance for children and adults with special needs (especially autism) has turned into a synergistic respite. I can get a break from the caregiving stressors, and bake “cookies with a conscience”

Any advice that you’d like to offer anyone that hopes to create a nonprofit business as you have?

It’s a lot of hard work, but easier that you think. I’d love to write a very short book on “How to start a nonprofit, make a difference in the community, and be a stay at home mom”. Stay strong and do not let anyone give you “no” for an answer! If you have a dream of forming your own nonprofit: go for it! It’s empowered me beyond my sweetest dreams.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Kimberly Hess has been an inventor her whole life. She’s also been a gardener, a florist and a seamstress.

Now she’s found a pursuit that allows her to practice all those skills at once.

Hess has invented The Tomato Bag, a hanging, cone-shaped container made of recycled tarp remnants.

“It keeps remnants out of the landfill, it allows me to be creative and it could help to keep the employees here busy,” says the rural Halstad, Minn., woman, who works as an independent industrial seamstress at TRS Industries in Fargo.

Hess is also working on prototypes for a smaller herb bag, a compartmentalized petunia bag and a bag that would showcase dried-flower arrangements – another self-taught specialty of hers. Hess also envisions a deluxe tomato bag, which would come complete with its own water container.

Photo by INFORUM.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.