Math professor by day, burrito maker... by day. Mark's Carts has not only attracted interesting on-the-go cuisine to downtown, it's inspired unconventional owners as well. Concentrate's Tanya Muzumdar chats with Dr. Paul Kessenich, owner of Darcy's Cart, about juggling his academic responsibilities with the demands of food cart culture.
The organizers behind the TechArb are gearing up to start the next session of the University of Michigan student tech incubator this summer. This will be TechArb's eighth session, and its second at its new space on West Liberty near the Michigan Theater. Each session last six months and start-ups can stay a maximum of two sessions. Organizers are currently picking which start-ups will make the cut and expect to welcome 22-25 teams in May. "We really emphasize community building," says Moses Lee, assistant director of student ventures for the Center for Entrepreneurship at U-M. "The summer is a great time for the students to work together and to get to know each other." Abut half of those start-ups will be tech-oriented with another larger percentage dealing in tech-like sectors such as healthcare. TechArb's leaders are trying to diversify their focus, welcoming in a variety of business venture ideas. One of the more out-of-the-box examples is a food cart-oriented start-up. TechArb is also working to step up its mentoring opportunities with alumni of the student incubator who will provide advice and guidance to aspiring entrepreneurs. It is also working to facilitate the entrepreneurial dreams of students looking to explore a business idea with its TechArb Ideas program. This joins a new program for entrepreneurs who have already taken steps to create a product prototype or work to get a business off the ground called TechArb Ventures. Source: Moses Lee, assistant director of student ventures for the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
In time for grilling weather, Red Rock Downtown Barbecue, a new barbecue and beer restaurant, is on the verge of opening in the former TC's Speakeasy at 207 W. Michigan Avenue in downtown Ypsilanti. "We found TC's foreclosed, so we decided to come in and help make a turnaround in the city," Owner Shawn Cool says. The restaurant is not officially open, but has held private word-of-mouth events and previews over limited hours for the last couple of weekends, says Cool. A firm opening date has not yet been set, but he's aiming for around the second week of April, after about 25 new staff members have been trained. The interior of Red Rock has been completely redone. "The only thing left is the structure ... We literally took everything out of it that was TC's and stripped it down to the bare brick, hardwood floors," Cool says. "We put archways in the walls to connect the two sides, wrapped the bar around so it's a big horseshoe-shaped bar with a copper top, then remanufactured the existing mahogany bar rail." The all-tile bathrooms and utilities are also completely new, he adds. The restaurant will feature 20 beers on tap, 12 of which are Michigan-made, and the focus will be on local menu ingredients to the maximum extent possible, according to Cool. Source: Shawn Cool, owner, Red Rock Downtown Barbecue Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
Well, sort of. SPARK's latest iteration of its Boot Camp kicked off, helping to mentor, critique, and refine the business plans of local entrepreneurs. We've written plenty on this program before but now there's a video! Excerpt: "In Ann Arbor this week, dozens of entrepreneurs took part in what you could call a “Shark Tank” Boot Camp. They met with business coaches to refine their pitches at the Ann Arbor SPARK Entrepreneur Boot Camp." Read more here.
As Nikka Costa sings, "Everybody's got their something." Poetry slammers, story tellers, and, yes, even entrepreneurs. Thus the EntreSlam, a new tale-telling competition for Ann Arbor's business minded. We talk to the creators of this MOTH Story Hour for start-uppers.
Since last November, Nichols and Stafford has been making downtown Dexter feel more like home. The home décor shop at 8106 Main St. opened by co-owners Cathy Swan and Laura Telesco carries a variety of home accoutrements such as lamps, mirrors, accent tables, throws, pillows, clocks, and a collection of vintage tin. Telesco says the shop was intended as a complement to The Home Store, a furniture purveyor located two doors down and also owned by Swan. Telesco and Swan are the sole employees, but Telesco says the store has expanded the number of reps whose products they carry from four to 20. "We're generating business for people who are repping these companies, bringing foot traffic hopefully into Dexter, and complementing the other stores," she says, adding, "People are coming here to have lunch, to walk around, go in some stores. Now that our riverfront is being developed this summer, we're going to have an amphitheater down there, a canoe livery. I just think Dexter is turning into more of a little destination town to come and visit." Source: Laura Telesco, co-owner, Nichols and Stafford Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
Downtown Saline, now a full-fledged Michigan Main Street community, has a new storefront catering to the best-dressed crowd. Perry's Tuxedos Plus, a tuxedo sales and rental shop, opened in January at 109 W. Michigan Ave. "With the closing of the Calico Cat and the storefront becoming open, things just kind of panned out really nicely for it," owner and sole employee Dave Perry says of his new shop, modeled after the original Perry's Tuxedos Plus store in Adrian which is owned by his father. Perry will add seasonal help as demand dictates later this spring, during the wedding and prom season. While the formal wear primarily consists of tuxedos, Perry can also supply suits. Other items available in the the 500-square-foot retail space include invitations, engravable gifts, and varsity jackets. Source: Dave Perry, owner, Perry's Tuxedos Plus Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
Innovation is spreading to the kitchen, with incentives both financial and social. Washtenaw County officials and other area organizations are assessing the potential for a commercial kitchen incubator to open in the county. The project, which is in the early planning and needs assessment phase, has a triumvirate of goals: to provide jobs training for chronically unemployed people in the foods and agri-business sector; to improve the low income population's access to healthy, locally-grown foods; and to support food business development. "The local food industry is a growing industry, and a lot of people are making their own products in their basements and kitchens and so forth," says Tony VanDerworp, project manager for Washtenaw County's Office of Community and Economic Development. "We could not only help train some of our residents in various jobs in the food sector but also help grow companies through this project." Potential tenants are being surveyed to assess the regional demand for such a facility. That demand would dictate the size of any potential facility, from an existing 600 square-foot church kitchen to a 15,000 square-foot building. "We envision enough kitchen space to accommodate several tenants," VanDerworp says. A specific location is still to be determined, but could possibly be on the eastern side of the county in order to provide easier access to lower-income residents lacking transportation, he says. A nominal rent will be charged to tenants, who will also get business support services. "Their goal might be to sell at the farmers market, their goal might be to start a business, their goal might be to start a product line or a catering company," VanDerworp notes. The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has set up a task force with representatives from the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University, Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor SPARK and others. Various funding sources, which could be a mix of philanthropy and grants, including federal workforce development monies for worker training, are under consideration. After the tenant survey is reviewed, larger institutions and food prep companies will be surveyed as to their demand for trained workers. "This is all the due diligence kind of things you would do, with an added twist that we're going to delve very deeply into how we can train and place people. That's our main goal," says VanDerworp. A go or no-go decision will be made by early summer, he adds. Source: Tony VanDerworp, project manager for Washtenaw County's Office of Community and Economic Development Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
Roger Ehrenberg, managing partner of IA Ventures, returned to his alma mater to present at the Ann Arbor New Tech Meetup. He offers up his observations and impressions of Ann Arbor's entrepreneurial ecosystem - its virtues and short-comings. Excerpt: "One thing I noticed at Michigan is how developed and entrepreneurial its Office of Technology Transfer is relative to many of its peers. My sense is that because of Ann Arbor’s physical location (a land-locked jewel of innovation), it has had to be incredibly scrappy and experimental in order to achieve its goals. There simply aren’t the deep network effects that exist in San Francisco/Silicon Valley, New York/Silicon Alley or Boston/Cambridge. And while it is still early in the game, they have done a great job cultivating relationships across the University and working closely with the departments to get technology successfully spun-out from the School (kudos to Wes Huffstutter for greasing the wheels of cross-institutional progress). But the fact that “tech transfer” at Michigan doesn’t conjure up thoughts of the usual hard-to-work-with, inflexible bureaucracy is a tribute to what they’ve accomplished in the past decade. Other schools have much to learn from Michigan’s progress." Read the rest here.
Mike Burns is a born entrepreneur, and at 58, he could easily run rings around guys half his age. Or fly rings around them, as the case may be (he pilots WW2 era P-51 Mustangs). More importantly, Burns is an entrepreneur who believes in doing business in Michigan. It's why he sources nearly all the components to his iPad accessory, the Handeholder, locally. And it's not just a recession thing. It's part of his overall business philosophy.
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