SmallBusinessExecutiveInforming, Inspiring and Connecting Businesses
Black business leaders blast stubborn stereotypes despite success
By Ann Meyer If you want to change the status quo, don’t give up the fight. That was a recurring theme at the Black Management Association conference that drew hundreds of minority executives Saturday to Northwestern University’s James Allen Center in Evanston. Despite growing numbers of blacks and black-owned businesses in the United States, African [...]
New restaurant locations boost Loop’s occupancy rate
As restaurants and other retailers open new locations, the Loop’s vacancy rate is falling, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. The story cited a study by Chicago-based Stone Real Estate Corp. indicating the Loop’s vacancy rate fell to 13.6 percent last year, down from 14.1 percent in 2009. Attracted to the area’s denser foot traffic, fast-casual restaurants Hannah’s Bretzel, [...]
Cheesemaker heads downtown
With strong sales fueling its expansion plans, Bel Brands USA is moving its headquarters to Chicago from Elk Grove Village, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. The subsidiary of Paris-based Fromageries Bel saw sales of its Laughing Cow, Boursin, Kaukauna and other cheese products climb 25 percent last year to $300 million. As a result, it is [...]
More workers get to work on time
Employees are arriving to work on time in greater numbers than in years past, according to a new survey by Chicago-based CareerBuilder that polled about 2,500 U.S. employers and nearly 4,000 workers. Last year 15 percent of workers acknowledged arriving late to work once or more each week, down from 20 percent two years ago, [...]
SEC probes private stock sales
The growing market for buying and selling shares of private companies may slow as the Securities and Exchange Commission begins to crack down on the largely unregulated process, The Wall Street Journal reported. Since late last year, the agency has been looking into disclosure rules and potential conflicts of interest involving brokers who connect buyers [...]
ReadyPing presents winning message at CrowdPitch
By Hallie Busta – Chicago-based technology startup ReadyPing won the CrowdPitch business plan event held Tuesday at the Illinois Technology Association’s TechNexus by impressing a panel of judges and the audience with its text-messaging alternative to restaurant pagers. ReadyPing’s system lets restaurant owners send a text message to waiting patrons when their tables are ready, eliminating [...]
How to make appropriate pricing decisions
By George F. Brown Jr. Business executives face tough decisions when it comes to pricing. Increases in the costs of health care benefits, energy, raw materials, wages and other production factors cannot easily be overcome without price increases. But the question remains, How real are those price pressures? If they reflect fundamental market forces, price increases [...]
127,000 barrels of beer on Goose Island
Chicago-based Goose Island Beer Co. will move production of two of its popular brews to New Hampshire until it finds a way to expand capacity locally, the Sun-Times reported. The company produced 127,000 barrels of brew last year, up from 110,000 barrels in 2009, and has grown every year during the past decade, the story [...]
Private equity fund raises $3.25 billion
A Chicago private equity fund has raised more than $3.25 billion for its 10th buyout fund, exceeding its goal of $3 billion, the Chicago Tribune reported. GTCR said Fund X is its largest fund to date. The company invests in financial services, health care, information services and technology companies, the story said. The Teachers’ Retirement [...]
Patience pays off for firms that say `no’ to suitors
Groupon’s decision not to sell to Google last year might be a good omen. A New York Times article relates several recent examples of companies that have resisted takeover offers and watched their stock rally far beyond the buyout offer. Canadian-based Potash Corp., which considered a $130 share offer from BHP in November, saw its [...]
