2009 – Page 36 of 98

Loafing around on bake-cation

By Newsroom

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August 12, 2009

Zingerman’s gets a little more love, this time from Chicago.Excerpt:ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The bright kitchen at Zingerman’s Bakehouse had the fragrant smell of a panaderia, thanks in part to the Mexican egg bread I’d made earlier that morning.By now, my thoughts had migrated from Mexico to Italy as I slathered layers of mascarpone cream on a rum-soaked ladyfinger cake. As soon as I dusted the top of my tiramisu with cocoa powder, it was time to move on to Spain and roll out the dough for some spinach-filled empanadas.I spent a good eight hours in an apron that day, whisking, kneading dough and whipping egg whites into soft peaks. I’d be back to do it again tomorrow.It might sound like work, but this was a vacation. A bake-cation, actually.For the past three summers, Ann Arbor’s beloved Zingerman’s has offered bake-cations for people wanting to learn more about the art and science behind pastry and breadmaking.Read the rest of the story here.

A book with bite: Local author debuts with “The Book That Eats People”

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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August 12, 2009

A book that eats people could only come from a town full of foodies, like Ann Arbor.Excerpt:You might want to be careful handling local author John Perry’s first children’s book. And if you’re not sure why, you probably need look no further than the glowering eyes on its bright red cover, peeking up over yellow cautionary tape that proclaims “The Book That Eats People” (Tricycle Press).“As a dad, I can’t imagine walking into a bookstore and seeing that title and not picking it up just to see what it was,” said Perry, a resident of Ann Arbor for the last 15 years, who admits that his 4- and 7-year-old daughters had pretty much exhausted his appreciation of “fairy stories, stories with morals and stories that went to the beach.”This book has none of that; the closest it comes to moralizing is when the marauding literary monster, during a stint of hard time for snacking on three neighborhood kids, also polishes off a cellmate “who deserved it.” It spends much of his time in predictable places — school, library, nightstand — with rather tragic results in each (the library’s really going to miss that night security guard) before the well-intentioned folks at the zoo decide it’s an incorrigible beast and… well, I won’t tell you what happens next. But make sure you wash any trace of peanut butter or cookies from your hands before you pick it up.Read the rest of the story here.

Executive Profile: Jim Smith III, president of Washtenaw Dairy

By Newsroom

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Healthy Communities

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August 12, 2009

Washtenaw Dairy has stood the test of time, and people like Kim Smith are the reason why.Excerpt:What makes Washtenaw Dairy such a fixture in Ann Arbor is its strong sense of community."We treat everyone like family," explains Jim Smith, who started working at the dairy at age nine when his father became a co-owner with Doug Robb. "The store is not fancy, just a little dive, but people come in and feel like they are a part of the place and that’s what we want." Celebrating its 75th year in business, Washtenaw Dairy has witnessed many ice cream trends over the years. "Years ago everyone was saying frozen yogurt would take over. Well, that lasted a couple of years then they all went out of business," Smith said. Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor venture capitalists raise $73 million for 2nd fund

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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August 12, 2009

Ann Arbor’s Arboretum Ventures continues to establish itself as Michigan’s premier venture capital firm.Excerpt:Last fall's financial markets meltdown hasn't stopped Arboretum Ventures from emerging as one of Michigan's leading venture capital firms this year.In February, Arboretum finished raising its second investment fund, attracting $73 million from nine major institutional investors. That's the largest in the state, excluding a few government-created funds.And just four months earlier, the Ann Arbor-based firm scored the equivalent of a home run in venture investing when Johnson & Johnson acquired one of its companies, HealthMedia Inc. The sale gave Arboretum a nearly tenfold return on its money."Our goal is to be one of the top five venture funds in the country for health care," said Jan Garfinkle, who started Arboretum in 2002 after she couldn't get a job in the state's once tiny venture industry.Read the rest of the story here and when Concentrate first reported on it back in February here.

Killing the Ann Arbor News to save it

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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August 12, 2009

The death of the Ann Arbor News continues to make its way up the media grapevine, this time making the pages of Time magazine.Excerpt:When Larry Kestenbaum, clerk of Washtenaw County, Michigan, was in Lansing for a meeting recently, he saw something unfamiliar on the faces of the other clerks: pity. Colleagues from hard-pressed towns like Flint, Jackson and Kalamazoo were offering sympathy because, despite everything, they still had a local newspaper, while Ann Arbor, his county seat, did not.At first blush, Ann Arbor is an unlikely place to earn the dubious distinction of being the first good-size municipality in the U.S. to give up on its only daily newspaper. A2, as the town is known, is more or less the beauty queen of Michigan: pretty, confident and seemingly immune to the problems of her peers. It still has a downtown with sidewalk cafés and quirky local stores. Its biggest employers are two universities and two hospitals, and it has weathered the recession better than most of the rest of the state. Nearly half its residents have graduate degrees. How could the paper die in a place like this?The answer is that it didn't die. It was killed by its owners in a high-stakes gamble to try to create a new and more profitable enterprise. (In the past nine years, the paper lost more than half its classified-ad pages.) The Ann Arbor News ceased to exist on July 23. On July 24, AnnArbor.com was launched. The new website has a paper version — also called, oddly, AnnArbor.com — that comes out on Thursdays and Sundays. The News's owner, Advance Publications, is betting it can rebrand the 175-year-old News as a Web publication, turn a profit and still satisfy its readers' craving for local news. A lot of U.S. newspapers, and their readers, have a stake in whether the experiment in Ann Arbor succeeds.Read the rest of the story here and how Jack Lessenberry skewers Ann Arbor.com in the Metro Times here.

Buying Ypsilanti: Stewart Beal closes on his 30th house

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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August 12, 2009

Stewart Beal is becoming a bigger and bigger force to be reckoned with when it comes to housing in Ypsilanti.Excerpt:Stewart Beal hit a milestone this month when he bought his 30th house in Ypsilanti.The Ann Arbor-based investor closed on 711 Washtenaw in the morning of Aug. 6.Before lunchtime that day, crews were on site, cutting back landscaping and crowbarring water-damaged drywall.With two of the three units already rented for Sept. 1 occupancy, Beal has to stick to a tight schedule. He’ll be repairing walls, installing hardwood floors, renovating kitchens and baths, and adding in-unit laundry.“I’m doing everything but granite counters,” he said. “Our goal is to take the worst property on the block and make it the best on the block so we can achieve maximum returns by renting for more than anyone else is.”Read the rest of the story here.

Downtown Ypsi: Old school, New Scene

By Julianne Mattera

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Community Development

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August 12, 2009

Why should Ann Arbor's downtown get all the attention? Cool things are afoot in neighboring Ypsilanti as artists, millennials and young families move in. Could this be the beginnings of a downtown renaissance?

CIMple gets in on smart grid tech through the back way

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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August 12, 2009

Smart grid is one of those buzz phrases that has become closely tied to sustainability. So much so that companies are tripping over each other to help tackle the energy saving technology head on. CIMple is trying to do the same but do so by sneaking in the back way. The Ann Arbor-based start-up, founded just this summer, is working on IT systems that will help manage the backend of smart grid technology. That means while big utilities are making headlines by implementing it, CIMple plans to be creating the magic behind the curtain that makes the system work."A lot of large utilities are doing pilot programs with smart grid technology," says Marty Byle, business development manager for CIMple. "But what they haven’t done is invest in the back-end system."He adds that the $787 billion federal stimulus package is poised to start "shoveling money" toward the smart grid cause. That means there is a lot of room to grow for a small three-person firm like CIMple."We're looking at a huge market over the next decade," Byle says.The plan is to start as a consulting company for this process. Long-range plans include creating a software product to help manage the back end of the smart grid. Right now CIMple, which is working out of Ann Arbor’s Tech Brewery, is looking to form partnerships with large utilities and utility co-operativess.Source: Marty Byle, business development manager for CIMpleWriter: Jon Zemke

Metrix Information Systems develops innovative software for software

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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August 12, 2009

Most companies see software as a place where there is lots of money to be made. Metrix Information Systems see it as a place where lots of money can be saved.The 2-year-old start-up has created software that statistically analyzes how often a company uses each piece of its software. That way the customer can make an informed decision on which programs it is best utilizing and use funds more judiciously. That's big bucks to Fortune 500 firms, which normally spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the software that drives their companies. Metrix Information System's software boasts that it can save its customers 20-30 percent on its software expenses."All we have to do is find a way to market it," says Dutt Bulisi, president and CEO Metrix Information Systems.Right now the two-person firm based out of Ann Arbor is working to raise capital to do just that. Source: Dutt Bulisi, Metrix Information SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke

RPM Ventures receives $4M from Renaissance VC Fund

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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August 12, 2009

The Renaissance Venture Capital Fund has struck again, investing $4 million into RPM Ventures.Renaissance is a venture capital fund that invests in VC funds. It was formed last year and has offices in the downtowns of Ann Arbor and Detroit. RPM Ventures is also based in Ann Arbor and focuses on investing in start-ups working on innovative technologies in manufacturing."They have a really good strategy and national reputation," says Chris Rizik, CEO of Renaissance Venture Capital Fund. This is the third investment Renaissance Venture Capital Fund has made since it was founded late last year. Two of the three investments have been in Ann Arbor-based VC firms and all three firms have been in Michigan-based firms. "We only invest in funds that are active in Michigan," Rizik says. "They have to have a strategy on how they’re going to invest in Michigan."RPM Ventures was founded in 2000 by partners Marc Weiser and Tony Grover. It focuses much of its work in Michigan and in neighboring Midwestern states.Source: Chris Rizik, CEO of Renaissance Venture Capital FundWriter: Jon Zemke