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Chef Shuai Wang was the runner-up on the 22nd season of Bravoâs Top Chef and is the force behind two standout restaurants in Charleston, South CarolinaâJackrabbit Filly and King BBQâwhere he brings together the flavors of his childhood in Beijing and the spirit of the South in some pretty unforgettable ways. He grew up just a short walk from Tiananmen Square, in a tiny home with no electricity or running water, where his grandmother often cooked over charcoal. Later, in Queens, New York, his mom taught herself to cookâher first dishes were a little salty, but they were always made with love. And somewhere along the way, Shuai learned that cooking wasnât just about foodâit was about taking care of people. After years working in New York kitchens, he made his way to Charleston and started building something that feels entirely his own. Today, weâre talking about how all those experiences come together on the plate, the family stories behind his cooking, and what itâs been like to share that journey on national TV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesâŠ
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Inhalt bereitgestellt von Columbus Business First. Alle Podcast-Inhalte, einschlieĂlich Episoden, Grafiken und Podcast-Beschreibungen, werden direkt von Columbus Business First oder seinem Podcast-Plattformpartner hochgeladen und bereitgestellt. Wenn Sie glauben, dass jemand Ihr urheberrechtlich geschĂŒtztes Werk ohne Ihre Erlaubnis nutzt, können Sie dem hier beschriebenen Verfahren folgen https://de.player.fm/legal.
The lifetime archives of the Columbus Business First podcasts, featuring older episode series such as Newsmakers, Crisis Management, The Wrap, and News & Brews.
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The lifetime archives of the Columbus Business First podcasts, featuring older episode series such as Newsmakers, Crisis Management, The Wrap, and News & Brews.
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ĂFor nearly five years, our Women of Influence podcast has featured conversations with some of the most influential female executives in Central Ohio. This year, Columbus Business First decided to take things a step further with the launch of our inaugural Women of Influence Awards. We fielded 126 nominations, ultimately honoring 27 outstanding women in six categories: nonprofit leaders, community champions, entrepreneurs, trailblazers, mentors, and a rising star, along with Businesswoman of the Year, OhioHealth's Karen Morrison. We encourage you to check out our July 14th print edition for short profiles of each honoree and an extended Q&A with Karen. During our July 12th awards event, I sat down for brief chats with three of our honorees: Merry Korn, CEO and Founder of Pearl Interactive Network; Kari Jones, President & CEO of the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio; and Emily Foote, Area Manager for Bechtel Corp. Listen on to hear what they had to say; and stay tuned for my onstage conversation with our keynote speaker, Bath and Body Works CEO Gina Boswell. Mentioned in this episode: Let Crate Media help uncover your company's story and amplify your messaging with a branded podcast. Get a free one-hour casting session at crate.media/cbfâŠ

1 Newsmakers #11: Robotics company's path from basement to $56 million VC investment - Women Of Influence 43:18
The client wanted the impossible: Give a robot all the skills of a human welder. Five years ago a custom automotive and marine supplier in Cleveland asked what was then an engineering consulting firm to help him with a labor shortage, and Path Robotics Inc. was born. "The tolerances are incredibly tight, that you have to keep with welding," co-founder and CEO Andy Lonsberry said. "And if the gaps (between pieces of sheet metal) change from 0 to 4 millimeters, you have to be able to make adjustments on the fly, seeing what's coming, move to a weave, go up onto a lift, weld in. "And these, again, are things that come very easily for a trained human welder. But for a robot, it's just impossible." Except now it's possible. Path Robotics has since moved to Columbus, and last year launched its first commercial robotics system based on the prototype built by two brothers and a fellow engineer in that factory basement, as Lonsberry told us as the latest guest in Columbus Business First's Newsmakers podcast. We talk about how the Path team solved its impossible problem, what it's like to work in cramped quarters with your brother, and why at first Lonsberry told Drive Capital, "Go away." The interview was recorded shortly after the company landed a $56 million venture capital round to expand sales and manufacturing of its AI-powered system. The round was led by VC firm Addition along with returning investors, Columbus-based Drive Capital LLC and California's Basis Set Ventures and Lemnos Lab. Lonsberry founded the company with his brother, Alex Lonsberry, and fellow engineer Matt Klein. The fourth founder is Ken Lonsberry, their father, on the business side â he didn't have to work in the basement. Today Path has more than 100 employees and could top 160 by year's end. Welding jargon like "weave" above makes sense in context, but a few terms in the interview might be unfamiliar: Tier One automotive are the very large suppliers to automakers, mass producing the same part. And in welding the "puddle" is the molten metal forming during the weld, which quickly hardens to join the parts.âŠ
Itâs almost hard to believe there was a time when good coffee just wasnât a thing. But it wasnât that long ago. Greg Ubert was working in computer software in the late 1980s, but what really captured his imagination was coffee â real, good coffee; the art and science of roasting. And, of course, the potential for business. âGood coffee just wasnât widely available,â he said. âIt wasnât around. It wasnât accessible.â When he started Crimson Cup Coffee and Tea in 1991, local-based Staufâs had been open just a few years, but industry giant Starbucks was still years away from stand-alone Columbus shops. Ubert started not with a plan to seed the city, state or country with shops, but rather to be a resource â a wholesaler of beans and other supplies and consultant to those who wanted to run shops of their own. Its customers are those who serve the end customers. Thatâs still the heart of the business today with hundreds of clients in 40 states plus a franchisee in Bangladesh, but Crimson Cup is gradually building up name recognition of its own with industry awards and a slow rollout of its own stores, including the newest unit at Easton Town Center. Ubert sat down with Columbus Business First for our Newsmakers podcast. He shared not just the history of the brand and how its evolved in the past 30 years, but also the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on the business â he shares his personal record for consecutive days wearing sweatpants to work â and his hopes for the future. âPeople enjoy having a great drink,â he said. âI donât think thatâs going to change.ââŠ

1 Newsmakers #9: North Country Charcuterie builds a broader, better balanced business - Women Of Influence 25:55
Count North Country Charcuterie among those businesses that are wiser and more efficient at this point in the pandemic. The Columbus-based maker and processor of salami, fresh sausage and other products has used new offerings to make a better-balanced business and refigured production space to better maximize its use. The moves create more consistent cash flow and buy them more time in their current facility before they need to consider an expansion. In this episode of Newsmakers, Columbus Business Firstâs podcast with Central Ohio leaders and entrepreneurs, co-owners and brothers Duncan Forbes and James Forbes (who started the business in 2014 with mother Jane Forbes), share their companyâs history, some of the ins-and-outs of meat product production and why adding products like fresh sausage is important for more reasons than just additional sales. How long can North Country Charcuterie stay in its current facility? What new products are they developing and dreaming up? And why does production have to occur within very specific hours? The Forbes brothers discuss that and more.âŠ

1 Newsmakers #8: Harley Blakeman's journey from homeless criminal to startup founder - Women Of Influence 50:02
Harley Blakeman's LinkedIn profile is one of a kind, but he's working to change that. The founder of Columbus tech company Honest Jobs LLC lists one prior job and the book he wrote, then drops this attention grabber: "Drug dealer, January 2009 - November 2010." "Started with $500 and grew the business to over $8,000/month in revenue," reads the description for the self-employed role. "Met and exceeded customer expectations. Successfully managed multiple suppliers. ... Closed down operations after being arrested and sentenced to prison." The hilarious, blunt satirization of resume-speak helps explain the inspiration for his startup. Blakeman turned his life around after his 14-month sentence in Georgia, moving to Columbus at the invitation of relatives who hooked him up with his first job. He described his journey from couch-surfing homeless teen to startup founder in the latest episode of Columbus Business First's Newsmakers podcast. Despite earning top grades at Ohio State University, Blakeman couldn't land an internship and had trouble finding a job because of his record. He did eventually land a supervisory role at a manufacturer, but he knew the struggle was worse for many more entering the job market after incarceration â no matter their skill level. "And I was just obsessing over it, I couldn't sleep at night, I was thinking about: This is what I should be doing with my time," he said. "This is my calling, I think, helping people overcome this problem." Blakeman answered that calling by starting Honest Jobs, and pivoting the business from job-hunt training services to a full tech platform that matches candidates with employers. But the best possible outcome, he said, is eventually to put himself out of business.âŠ

1 Crisis Management #47: Comune on weathering the storm and what it needs to see to reopen - Women Of Influence 35:14
Comune will reopen for business, but that was never a sure thing. Co-owner Joe Galati said he met with his accountant in November. The accountant asked him what Galati believed his chances of going bankrupt were. Galati said 20%. The accountant said 90% âThat hit the hardest,â Galati said. âThereâs a very good chance this is all going away. ⊠That lights a fire. Thatâs not going to happen. What are we going to do?â The situation is better today. Galati explains why he is more optimistic now than he was a few months ago in this episode of Crisis Management, Columbus Business Firstâs podcast about doing business amid the coronavirus pandemic. He took a more conservative approach to business in the past year than many peers in the industry. He always expected this to be a long event, not just a few weeks. Though the entire restaurant industry was challenged, Comune was among the establishments facing added difficulties. It was never built to have a thriving carryout business and the dine-in space was too small to reopen in any meaningful way. Itâs still closed today. But there were bright spots. The Parable Coffee pop-up has done well. There was some success with planned dinner events. A return to some of the restaurantâs earliest dishes like crispy rice and its walnut-mushroom Bolognese is helping drive sales now. âYou can only hunker down so much,â he said. âAt some point a business has to make its numbers.ââŠ

1 Crisis Management #46: Why North High Brewing stopped worrying and became a restaurant operator - Women Of Influence 22:16
Business in times of struggle often talk of getting back to their roots. Not North High Brewing. Like many breweries and other businesses, the last year was one of big changes in the face of challenges, but the North High of today doesnât resemble the one first dreamed up by co-founders Gavin Meyers and Tim Ward a decade ago. They didnât want to run any brewpub. Today they have four and could be in double digits by the end of the year. They didnât have aspirations beyond Columbus but soon will be in multiple states. They only barely wanted to brew their own beer â the initial hook for the business was as a brew-your-own operation. North Highâs own beers would be secondary to the experience of inviting customers in, showing them a book of recipes and letting them loose (with professional guidance) on the brewing system. That brew-your-own option diminished over time as the founders realized being a traditional brewery made more sense. It officially ended last year. âThat was the reason for being. That was the point of differentiation back when we thought the seventh brewery in Columbus was going to really crowd the industry,â Meyers said. There are dozens of craft brewers around Central Ohio today and hundreds in the state. North High is poised to rise in those ranks. Meyers chatted with Columbus Business First for an episode of Crisis Management, a podcast about businesses operating amid the coronavirus pandemic. He talked about the challenges of the past year â declining sales, laying off staff â but also the promise of the future. Thanks to its relationship with Columbus-based coworking space developers and operators CoHatch, North Highâs reach is moving beyond its original Short North taproom. Through that partnership, North High now has operations in Dublin, Springfield and Cincinnati, with additional units lined up in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Florida. Meyers explains how that relationship developed, how it works and how itâs allowing North High to expand at âa fraction of the costâ they would incur if striking out on their own.âŠ

1 Newsmakers #7: Reviving a startup to tackle a growing wire fraud problem - Women Of Influence 56:06
The startup he co-founded based on his original idea was running out of money, and he'd long since left day-to-day operations, but Chris Sauerzopf couldn't let go of the growing wire fraud problem it was trying to solve. SafeWire is back in business and growing, after investor and adviser Pete Kight â the CheckFree Corp. founder â took the assets of the former business as collateral for paying off its debts and brought back Sauerzopf as CEO. They incorporated SCSV Holdings LLC at the end of 2019 and registered SafeWire as its trade name in early 2020, targeting more than $220 million and growing annual real estate scams. "This problem scares the crap out of me," said Sauerzopf, who also owns a title company in Westerville. "Where this problem was first on my radar was in 2016, where someone had sent me an email who had just lost his entire life savings in a wire fraud loss. A title company had sent his proceeds to the wrong place." Sauerzopf had started the former SafeChain Financial with original CEO Tony Franco and Rob Zwink, who was CEO from Franco's departure until the startup shut down. SafeChain had won the Columbus pitch event for Steve Case's Rise of the Rest seed funding tour, and later raised $3 million. But in late 2019 expenses still outstripped growing revenue, and Kight said other investors did not want to put in more capital. Zwink insisted that Kight and Sauerzopf start talking, the two said in an interview for Columbus Business First's Newsmakers podcast. "(Sauerzopf) met my criteria for an entrepreneur that you want to back," Kight said via videoconference from his ranch in Colorado. "He knows this industry, I mean, to the point where you got to be careful if youâre going to go out for a beer with Chris, because youâre going to talk about real estate." The investment also is attractive because the entire mortgage process is "messy," Kight said. SafeWire is focused on the problem of wire fraud during the mortgage closing, but eventually can take on more aspects of a burdensome paper-piling process. The startup has more than 100 customers including title companies and real estate brokerages. Zwink is now a CTO with a Minneapolis tech company. Franco declined an interview request but said via email: âWire fraud is a complicated problem and opportunity. Iâm happy Chris and the team are pursuing the vision for a solution.â The interview tells the story of the revival, why Kight doesn't lose sleep over being the only investor willing to give the company another shot, and how SafeWire is similar to the early days of CheckFree, which launched digital banking.âŠ

1 Crisis Management #45: CoverMyMeds' Veronica Knuth on translating in-office perks to a remote-work world - Women Of Influence 25:00
What's a company known for providing free daily staff lunches do when everyone has been sent to work from home? At CoverMyMeds, the culinary staff wrote a cookbook, which was mailed to employees and business contacts over the holidays. But mostly they're busy planning how to move into a new Franklinton headquarters and at least at first shift to contactless grab and go meals instead of cafeteria style. "They have done some some amazing things for us around virtual cooking classes, and sharing weekly menus that the staff can make themselves, recipes," said Veronica Knuth, vice president of talent. "We're excited to see our culinary team again." Knuth, who joined the Columbus health IT company shortly after McKesson Corp. acquired it three years ago, is the latest guest on Columbus Business First's Crisis Management podcast on navigating the coronavirus pandemic. The first of two buildings in the new Franklinton headquarters will be ready on time in April â but it's far from clear when the Central Ohio staff can move in to a space designed for communing and collaborating. A lot will depend on vaccine supply. CoverMyMeds made more than 300 hires and 350 promotions throughout the year, all while on teleconference. It now has more than 1,500 employees between Columbus, Cleveland and remote workforce. While anticipation is running high for the new building, software maker has worked to maintain its award-winning culture in the virtual world, Knuth said. "Our employees in the business as a whole adapted with the same agility that they did every day, and they haven't missed a beat," she said. "We are continually checking in to see how they're doing, how can we best support them and whatever they might need, either personally or professionally." In the interview, Knuth mentions that CoverMyMeds uses the teleconference platform Bluejeans â so she's not referring to denim. "It has been so fun to have kids and spouses; to be able to be part of people's lives in a different way has been so incredible," she said. "I look for bright spots in this in this terrible pandemic." By the same token, when work is always in the home, she makes sure to counsel people on work-life balance â like making sure they take available paid time off. "It's easy just to say, 'OK, I've got my laptop here, I'm in my living room, I can watch TV and I can work,'" she said. "But you need that down time."âŠ

1 Crisis Management #44: BTTS' John Brooks on events during the pandemic and undeterred expansion plans - Women Of Influence 19:19
John Brooks knows how to throw a party. As managing partner of BTTS Holdings, he runs some of the city's biggest events venues that you've likely visited for work or leisure including The Estate at New Albany; Brookshire, in Delaware; and WatersEdge in Hillard. But the pandemic was a buzzkill â 120 of 130 weddings and other events were cancelled or rescheduled virtually overnight. In this episode of Crisis Management, Brooks talks about how events-oriented businesses were forced to adapt to the nearly disastrous impacts of Covid-19, and how the biggest events and celebrations will be different when people can come back together. "Some people were not comfortable having their event, which we certainly understood," Brooks said. But the venues survived the outbreak, and now Brooks is expanding â during the pandemic it opened a smaller venue in the Short North called the Fig Room. This year it'll open another new one, the Edison, in Italian Village. "A lot of empathy for our clients who maybe had planned a wedding for a year and then couldn't have it," Brooks said. "People still wanted to get married, right? Our focus really became ... what can you do? How can we do it safely, instead of what can't we do."âŠ

1 Crisis Management #43: Wilcox Communities on the surge in residential demand - Women Of Influence 15:38
Covid-19 has pushed us all to work from home. So naturally, people are thinking about where they live, too. The housing market is exploding in Central Ohio as people rush to move to larger spaces, be they homes or apartments. And that's meant a change of business for Jonathan and Jamie Wilcox, of apartment developer and manager Wilcox Communities. In this episode of Crisis Management, they discuss how Covid-19 has led their company to adapt where people live, and the kinds of homes they're building for the long haul.âŠ

1 Crisis Management #42: Capital University's Dave Kaufman on applying a business mind to higher education - Women Of Influence 26:14
Capital Universityâs interim president Dave Kaufman doesnât have a background in higher education, but the former Encova Insurance CEO is leading the university during one of the toughest periods for colleges and universities: the Covid-19 crisis. Kaufman, who talked with Columbus Business First for the latest edition of our Crisis Management podcast, said his nontraditional background has allowed him to take the best of the business world and translate it into leading the Central Ohio university during a challenging time. Kaufman retired from Encova at the end of 2019, and joined Capital as interim president in June of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. Capital announced last year that due to the pandemic, the school would suspend its search for a new president, unable to conduct the in-person interviews needed to do a full search. Kaufman is expected to lead the Bexley university for two years or less. âIt is no doubt with Covid and everything facing us, thereâs a plateful of challenges,â Kaufman said. âBut I am finding that a lot of what Iâve experienced corporately, Iâve been able to apply that here. I feel good about that, that Iâve been able to kind of help the team move a little more effectively than maybe they would have under someone without the experience I had.â Kaufman said that in both the business world and higher education, âit really comes down to the same thing, building that trust and getting clarity on shared goals to execute (a vision).â Kaufman said his leadership offers a new lens, âmaking we can take a different approach than has been considered in past.â âThatâs what theyâre kind of counting on me to do,â Kaufman said. One of his goals with Covid-19 is to âinnovate through it,â he said. For example, with the improvement in virtual learning, Kaufman said there could be a way where multiple universities could partner and offer a broader array of programs, leveraging each otherâs strengths and weaknesses, and sharing costs. âHow do our programs compliment others so you can have a broader portfolio of products and services to package?â Kaufman said. âThereâs opportunities to blend things that complement each other. (For instance) Iâm at Capital, but I have access to courses at two other universities still being a Capital student. Youâre not tied to the geographic location like you were maybe three or four years ago.ââŠ

1 Newsmakers #6: Matrix Meats addressing future food supply issues here in Dublin - Women Of Influence 27:40
Can meat move from pasture grazed to lab raised? Thatâs a problem Dublin-based Matrix Meats is helping companies around the world try to solve. The Dublin-based start-up received some seed-stage backing late last year and is growing, adding staff and looking for new opportunities. CEO Eric Jenkusky said the businessâ partners already include about 25% of the companies in the nascent cultivated meat segment around the world. That includes clients on five continents. So what is cultivated meat and how might it help address issues like world hunger and food security? Jenkusky spoke with Columbus Business Firstâs Newsmakersâ podcast on those topics and more including why the problem it is solving is a materials science problem not a biological one and how Central Ohio can continue to grow to be a hub for alternative food technology.âŠ

1 Crisis Management #41: Expanding Andelyn Bioscience on becoming for-profit, navigating pandemic - Women Of Influence 35:16
Even before starting construction on a $100 million facility, a biotech affiliate of Nationwide Children's Hospital had to adapt to two huge changes simultaneously: Switching into for-profit mindset and securing safety in a pandemic. Andelyn Biosciences Inc. is building a 185,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for the genetic materials used in gene therapy research and treatments. Eventually the factory could double in size if it adds enough commercial-scale clients. The company already has grown to 120 employees from 100 at the start of the year, most of whom transferred from the hospital's Research Institute. With more than a decade supporting research and clinical trials, the staff already was flexible, adaptable and committed to quality, CEO Mayo Pujols said. "So as weâve transitioned to a for-profit, geared towards commercial company, the I think the add-on for our team has been more of around a mindset of scalability, and the mindset of: It is important to think about it as a business," he said in the latest episode of Columbus Business First's Crisis Management podcast. That means paying more attention to controlling costs while investing in processes and systems to ready for a much larger production output. "Rather than just having quality as a mindset and you have to do quality work, we actually put the systems in place to ensure quality is engineered into everything we do. "We kind of took it a step further and preparation for being a commercial entity, and thatâs been new to the team. ... And theyâve done really well." The onset of the coronavirus pandemic in Ohio coincided with an already planned shutdown to bring in new equipment for larger production capacity within the Research Institute, until the new facility is ready. Before reopening in September, Andelyn had to layer in safety measures such as modifying work schedules to keep employees distant if they can't work from home. Some employees did contract Covid-19 or had to quarantine because of exposure, Pujols said. "More recently, we are starting to now see impacts from our suppliers," he said. "And I think weâre not alone. "We were able to do a little bit of stockpiling, but not probably enough to say weâre out of the woods."âŠ

1 Crisis Management #40: Nikola Labs on the Covid 'fog of war' and changing CEOs - Women Of Influence 43:09
As of January, Nikola Labs Inc. was headed for its best year ever. By April, like many businesses shut down by the coronavirus pandemic, the startup was in "the fog of war." In the latest episode of Crisis Management, Columbus Business First's podcast about steering a business through the pandemic, Nikola co-founder Will Zell and CEO Brian Graham discuss how Graham succeeded Zell mid-pandemic after two years as COO. After a more than seven-year mentorship relationship, the two had essentially co-led the company with distinct yet complementary approaches.âŠ
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1 Crisis Management #39: Simple Times Mixers on e-commerce, to-go cocktails and what growth looks like now - Women Of Influence 38:44
Simple Times Mixersâ big problem prior to 2020 was space. Its first two years of business were spent building its brand and then trying to keep up with demand as it used rental kitchen space. Last year it finally moved into a home of its own, not just giving it a retail storefront and space for events, but also quadrupling its production size with plenty of space to grow. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit this spring and knocked out 75% of its sales. A year that was intended for big growth â geographic expansion, adding jobs â became one about survival. How did Tinus and his team get Simple Times to survive the past eight months? How have consumers changed? What does the growth opportunity look like now? Tinus talked with Columbus Business First for this episode of Crisis Management where he shares those insights and experiences and touts a big reputation win in a national poll this fall.âŠ
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1 Crisis Management #38: Cameron Mitchell on lingering Covid questions and what's next for his business - Women Of Influence 31:03
Cameron Mitchell wasnât sure he restaurant company would still be around. The founder and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants was just as scared as anyone in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic that the event might lead to the end of the company heâs spent nearly three decades building. Now seven months in, the self-described optimist feels more confident in his businessâ survival and hopeful the worst has already occurred. But there still are key questions to be answered â five in his estimation â that businesses, restaurants especially, need answers to in order to feel better about the future. In this episode of Crisis Management, Mitchell lays out those questions and when he expects to hear answers. He also shares a look at how his business is performing â whatâs working and what isnât â in addition to updates on several new restaurants that were in the works when the pandemic hit.âŠ
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1 Crisis Management #37: Columbus Food Adventures on why it'll emerge stronger from the pandemic - Women Of Influence 26:39
Columbus Food Adventures thought its business was done when Ohio shut down dine-in restaurants in March. After all its business was based on going into restaurants. In groups. Thatâs two things that couldnât be done then and are still limited today months later. âIn a sense, we were starting from scratch,â said co-owner Andy Dehus. âWe just had to completely re-configure everything.â A business built around tours taking people to food turned into a delivery service bringing food to people. Months later itâs now delivered more than 2,500 dinners for two to customers from more than 50 Central Ohio restaurants spanning 35 different countryâs cuisines. Co-owner Bethia Woolf said it wasnât exactly how they expected to spend their 10th year in business but itâs turned into a positive. The Trust Fall delivery service and its new gift box program are expansions that have brought new customers to the business and will give it more diverse sales for when tours can resume. âOne of the real differences is in frequency,â Woolf said. âA food tour is something that you maybe do once or twice a year. ... We do get a good number of repeat customers, but itâs usually spread over a longer time period. But with Trust Fall, we have people who are now regulars who order it once a week. Weâve had some customers who will order it multiple times a week.â Sales are actually up, though profits are down because the margin is smaller on delivery versus tours. Dehus said itâs not a replacement for tours, but itâs proven to be a strong business of its own. In this episode of Crisis Management, Woolf and Dehus discuss building that business in the past several months as well as what they need to see to feel comfortable restarting the tour portion of the business, beyond the taco truck tour it does still offer.âŠ
One of the industry's most affected by the coronavirus pandemic has been healthcare, with hospitals not only serving on the front lines of the response to COVID-19, but also seeing their finances up ended by a temporary ban on elective procedures. The pandemic has also accelerated the adoption of telehealth, which has implications for hospitals operations and their physical expansion plans. Against this backdrop, Columbus Business First wanted to hear directly from the leaders of the region's major hospital systems. We sat down virtually with the four execs in late September to discuss the future of healthcare. Joining the conversation where the Lorraine Lutton, CEO of Mount Carmel Health System, Steven Markovich, CEO of OhioHealth, Hal Paz, CEO of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Tim Robinson, CEO of Nationwide Children's Hospital. Business First health care reporter Carrie Ghose moderated. We hope you enjoyed the discussion in return for more of our quarterly forums.âŠ
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1 Crisis Management #36: Yellowbird Foodshed's Benji Ballmer on growing and sustaining amid the pandemic - Women Of Influence 44:08
Benji Ballmer would like nothing more than to put himself out of business. Thatâs how heâll know he did a good job. The founder of Yellowbird Foodshed started his produce and food delivery business in 2014 connecting a handful of Ohio growers with a couple hundred customers. Today the company is working with 150 growers and food producers in the state and serving 1,500 customers, predominately in Central Ohio. But his ultimate goal isnât a successful business, itâs changing the food system, at least in the geography within his reach. âIâm trying to build a system that will put us out of business,â Ballmer said. âIâm not in this for how big can the Yellowbird be. Can we save the frickinâ planet?â Yellowbird is having its best year ever. The growth is fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic as customers sought out providers with produce and meat in stock and delivery services that allowed them to side-step the store. Ballmerâs business hasnât missed a beat despite that surge in sales â weekly home deliveries, for example, rose from 60 pre-pandemic to a peak of 660 over the summer. âWe were prepare for the pandemic because we were preparing for something else,â he said. âI always thought that the thing that would put us over the hump would be there would be a climate disaster in California, a drought that lasted for four or five years, and all of the stuff thatâs coming from out there thatâs on our shelves in our grocery stores, as organic would cease to exist. That isnât what it took. It was a pandemic.â Ballmer talked with Columbus Business First for the latest edition of Crisis Management. In addition to detailing how the pandemic has impacted his business, he also shared the origins of Yellowbird, how the company has evolved over the years and why he feels poised to hang on to many of the new customers gained this summer.âŠ
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1 Crisis Management #35: Alliance Data's Ralph Andretta on Great Recession learnings and the company HQ - Women Of Influence 34:28
Even though retailers may be struggling through the coronavirus pandemic, few of their customers are defaulting on their credit card bills. As the crisis unfolded, Alliance Data Systems Corp. managers looked back to the 2008 recession for credit management models to follow and what to avoid, CEO Ralph Andretta said. "During the Great Recession, Iâm not sure Alliance Data had a deep enough bench when it came to the forbearance programs they offered customers," he said. "That has changed." The company has offered some credit forbearance, such as offering plans to skip a payment, but few shoppers are taking up the most extreme 12-month program. âWhat weâve also seen is people are paying not just their minimum due, but a bit better than their minimum due on their cards,â Andretta said. âTheyâre keeping up with their bills; theyâre spending and theyâre paying. Thatâs that thatâs exactly the type of loyalty you want.â Andretta started in February, joining a growing list of Central Ohio leaders who took the helm right before or in the midst of the pandemic. The latest episode of our Crisis Management podcast series represents his first interview with Columbus Business First since taking the job. The Columbus company branded credit cards for retailers, such as fashion, beauty and home improvement stores; and a division in Texas operates loyalty programs like airline miles. Andretta is optimistic about the future of retail and the shopping mall â maybe they'll be more showroom than point of purchase, but physical gathering places will eventually return, he said. We discuss how the company can emerge stronger due to renewed focus and reduced expenses, both temporary and ongoing, as well as how Andretta landed the job and what it was like to be "battle tested" right after taking the reins. Andretta previously was managing director of the U.S. credit cards business at competitor Citigroup Inc. He was named last November to succeed Melissa Miller, who had moved the HQ to Columbus from Plano, Texas.âŠ
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CBF Archives

1 Crisis Management #34: Watershed's Greg Lehman on 10 years of distilling and the upside of 2020 - Women Of Influence 25:07
Watershed Distillery started 2020 hot â posting two of its best months of business ever. But by mid-March the coronavirus pandemic scuttled all those aspirations for the year. And it was a high hopes year. Watershed marks 10 years of business this month and though it is celebrating, the plan is what it once would have been. âIf it was February 15 and you told me what weâd sell in August I would have been super disappointed,â owner Greg Lehman said. âOh no, what are we doing wrong?â Its popular restaurant Watershed Kitchen & Bar, which accounts for one-third of total company sales, closed in March and isnât reopening until 2021. On the distillery side, 60% of sales historically are to other restaurants and bars, all of which have been challenged. But here in September, bottle sales are within 5% of last yearâs sales thanks to the return of some wholesale sales and strong retail business through state liquor stores. âIf you rewind to the middle of March I would take that any day,â Lehman said. In this episode of Crisis Management Lehman not only goes through the ups-and-downs of 2020, but also shares the companyâs history. It started in less than 2,000 square feet and now has more than 20,000. A restaurant and multi-state distribution werenât part of the thinking a decade ago, but are the reality today. To celebrate the occasion, the distillery is releasing Watershed Barrel Strength Bourbon, which has been aged six years and finished in spent apple brandy barrels. The tasting notes note aromas of baked apple with flavors of warm baking spices. Retail price will be $69.99. Itâll be available at the distillery as well as select shops around town.âŠ
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CBF Archives

1 Crisis Management #32: Mike Abrams on the pandemic's long-term impact on hospitals - Women Of Influence 30:38
Central Ohio's hospitals have teamed up for years to try to reduce high rates of infant mortality, and the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare even more disparities in healthcare. Statewide, hospitals are redoubling examination of how to reduce inequity, not only through public policy but their own care coordination and community outreach, said Mike Abrams, CEO of the Ohio Hospital Association. "We do need to all get a lot more interested in what the solution is," Abrams said, in the latest episode of Columbus Business First's Crisis Management podcast. "I think weâve been quite perfect at defining the problem and providing data and statistics about the problem," he said. "And then we scratch our heads." Abrams discussed other long-term results from the pandemic, including how it will affect hospital mergers or even survival of some institutions. And he left no doubt that the trade group supports wearing facial coverings to protect people surrounding the wearer from possible transmission of Covid-19. "We used to say in the old smoking debates that your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins," he said. "So youâre not allowed to contaminate the atmosphere that Iâve tried to function in and maintain my own health in. ... I donât understand how things like that get politicized."âŠ
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CBF Archives

1 Newsmaker #5: Origin Malt's Victor Thorne on the business case for diversity - Women Of Influence 32:16
Origin Maltâs mission is more than bringing barley back to Midwest farms. Co-founder Victor Thorne also wants to increase diversity in an industry of farming, malting and making beer and spirits where there arenât many people of color. Thorne is multiracial. His fatherâs family is from Barbados while his motherâs side is from rural Clermont County here in Ohio. In this episode of Newsmakers, he talks about that experience Ââ both its privileges and its problems. Heâs been detained by police and questioned about his ânationalityâ and heâs had his credentials questioned because of the color of his skin. âEven though three of my siblings went there, I was told the only reason I got into Harvard was because I was Black,â he said. It hasnât deterred him. Thorneâs professional roots are in technology and startups but his latest venture with Origin Malt, aims to make barley a big crop in the Midwest again. He talks about the need for diverse hiring throughout the beer and spirits supply chain and how that can be better accomplished. More than half of Origin Maltâs staff is female, while two of its six board members are Black â so it is practicing what it preaches. But how can these industries improve? Thorne has thoughts.âŠ
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CBF Archives

1 Crisis Management #31: The Royce's Walter Carpenter on opening a restaurant in the pandemic - Women Of Influence 19:50
Walter Carpenter is a first-time restaurant owner, but heâs doing so with decades of experience. The owner of The Royce, which is now open at Polaris Fashion Place, has more than 30 years in the industry starting as a cook at historic Columbus brand G.D. Ritzyâs and more than 20 years with Cameron Mitchell Restaurants where he worked in and helped open many of that companyâs sites. Carpenter spoke to Columbus Business First for Crisis Management, a podcast about doing business amid the coronavirus pandemic. He talked about what he learned in his various stops over the years and how that applies to his own space. He also talked about how the pandemic shaped his plans and the impact that the Black Lives Matter movement has had on his business.âŠ
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CBF Archives

1 Crisis Management #30: Hen Quarter's Ron Jordan on a #BLM sales bump and how he built his business - Women Of Influence 24:28
Sales are up at Ron Jordanâs Hen Quarter restaurant. But will that gain sustain? The owner of the Bridge Park dining spot said the combination of a new menu and a surge in support related to the Black Lives Matter movement are driving that increase. âI do think that some of it, unfortunately, is going to become a blip,â he said. Attention moves fast and customers compelled to spend money at Black-owned businesses last month may not feel that urge next month. But he has faith in the power of the African-American dollar. âIf they truly understood all of us together what that means and we banded together and made this a mainstay, it could be a definitely a long lasting impact sort of thing,â he said. Jordan sat down for Columbus Business Firstâs Crisis Mangement podcast where he talked about his restaurant roots, growing up in a family that owned successful Popeyeâs franchises, how heâs helped to shape the Hen Quarter brand and the difficulties of starting a business as a Black entrepreneur, even when you have a track record.âŠ
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CBF Archives

1 Crisis Management #29: Hal Paz on steering Wexner Medical Center through the pandemic (and more) - Women Of Influence 46:16
When Dr. Hal Paz stepped into a newly created role at Ohio State University last June, he told Columbus Business First, âI want to be at the place that defines the next century of what healthcare looks like.â No one could have imagined this century. "What has happened in the past year is incredible, unbelievable, remarkable," Paz said, in the latest episode of Columbus Business First's Crisis Management podcast. "In part we got there because of this (coronavirus) pandemic, but a lot of it already was going through a process of change and, and the key ingredient in all this is innovation." For 13 months Paz has been the university's executive vice president and chancellor for health affairs, as well as CEO of its Wexner Medical Center. In that role, he has oversight of the $4 billion hospital system and faculty physician practice, plus the university health plan and all seven colleges in the health sciences â not just the medical school but nursing, pharmacy and other professions. The university's vision is to better integrate the training of those professionals, and the research by those disciplines, Paz said. "We have this new framework, this new vision for the future that I really am passionate about," he said. "This becomes the defining characteristic of what an academic health center is in the future. "How do you train a nurse and a doctor and a pharmacist and a public health worker and everyone involved in this process together at the same time â teaching them the same language, teaching them the same process of care from day one â as opposed to dropping them into a healthcare are setting and then retraining them or trying to understand why things are not lining up the way they should?" A physician and engineer, Paz came to Columbus after five years as chief medical officer for Aetna Inc. Before that heâd led a fellow Big Ten academic medical center and med school, Penn State. Our wide-ranging interview covers the response to the pandemic, the future of telemedicine, OSUâs reinvigorated anti-racism agenda and much more.âŠ
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CBF Archives

1 Crisis Management #28: Mount Carmel's new CEO Lorrain Lutton on tackling they system's many challenges - Women Of Influence 32:35
When Lorraine Lutton started as CEO of Mount Carmel Health System in early April, Ohio had just passed 100 deaths and 1,000 hospitalizations from Covid-19, and the region's hospitals were almost finished building a field hospital in the Greater Columbus Convention Center. A lot had changed in the world in the month since she'd accepted the job. But Mount Carmel proved it was up to the task, Lutton said, in the latest episode of Columbus Business First's Crisis Management podcast. "We were quick to respond and put in place appropriate safety measures," Lutton said. "I think actually it helped us pull together as a team to understand that we can do remarkable things in remarkable times." Mount Carmel was starting recovery from a devastating series of events in 2019 before the global pandemic piled on more financial damage to the entire healthcare industry. Lutton was most recently head of a health system in South Carolina, where she'd led a financial turnaround. Mount Carmel's challenges were what attracted her to the job, she said, and leadership within the system and parent Trinity Health already had made the necessary changes before she arrived. Her job now is rebuilding trust in the community. "My career path has all been about quality," she said. "My first job in healthcare was as a quality service analyst. "I think of quality as working with a team of people to change processes to improve the patient experience, clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness. So I think that Iâve always been that, ... with progressively more responsibility."âŠ
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CBF Archives

1 Crisis Management #27: One Columbus' Kenny McDonald on job creation amid Covid-19 - Women Of Influence 44:19
One Columbus entered this decade with a sense of accomplishment and a revised mission to do better: Instead of "growth for growth's sake," the organization wants to build equity in every economic development project. Then a worldwide pandemic opened wealth gaps into chasms â making the work of job creation and retention more urgent than it's ever been, while scattering the economic development watchworks to videoconference chat rooms. "As we studied our region at the end of the decade, we saw incredible gaps in job creation, in wealth creation, in the ability to participate in the economy in our workforce, because of the inequities," One Columbus CEO Kenny McDonald said. "This crisis has put a magnifying glass on that for the entire world to see. "They arenât looking at charts, and donât need consultants to show it to them. We can see it every day as we drive through our communities. And weâre living through it." McDonald talks about how the pandemic increased urgency of the job creation mission in Columbus Business First's latest episode of the Crisis Management podcast, about seeing businesses through the pandemic. One Columbus adopted a prosperity-for-all agenda as it rebranded at the turn of the decade from its past 10 years as Columbus 2020. The nonprofit was formed out of the last recession to revive the economy of 11 Central Ohio counties, and met or surpassed its goals for private investment and job creation. At the same time, inequities persisted. A full-time job has the power to change lives for entire families for generations, McDonald said. Racism had already inequitably distributed access to education, jobs, housing and thus better health. Then the Covid-19 pandemic disproportionately threw members of minority groups out of work and exacerbated underlying health conditions. The crisis also accelerated by years the shift to a digital economy: Consumers are shopping and getting medical examinations online in numbers that hadn't been expected for five years or more. And companies furloughing staff are seeking artificial intelligence to automate essential tasks. Again, while the need to create jobs is greater than ever, forces in the very same market are decreasing need for headcount while demanding increased skills from those applying for jobs. "And right now we need people working, earning wages, having health benefits and things like that," McDonald said. "So weâre going to have to be better than ever in economic development." The interview outlines One Columbus' response, the path forward and more. However, it was recorded before nationwide protests erupted over racial injustice, so that topic is not discussed.âŠ
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CBF Archives

1 Crisis Management #26: Stephanie Hightower on Covid-19's impact on minority-owned businesses - Women Of Influence 22:31
The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on small businesses from across the Columbus community â but Columbus Urban League CEO Stephanie Hightower says that âWe may be in the same storm, but weâre not in the same boat.â Minority-owned businesses have been disproportionately impacted, Hightower said in Columbus Business Firstâs latest episode of our new Crisis Management podcast. âWe all know that this pandemic particularly is disproportionately going to impact minorities and communities of color,â Hightower said. Thatâs apparent looking at data from those who are being laid off and furloughed, to the access by business owners to needed capital to keep their businesses afloat, Hightower said. A May report from the U.S. Department of Labor found that while the white unemployment rate was 14.2% in April, but it was 18.9% for Latinos and 16.7% for African Americans. In addition, a report from the Center for Responsible Lending estimated that more than 90% of African American-owned businesses did not receive Paycheck Protection Program loans. Part of the reason, Hightower said, is that many donât have deep relationships with traditional financial institutions that were working on loan applications. âWhen it was time to apply for those PPP dollars they didnât really have anybody to call, and werenât comfortable calling anybody,â Hightower said. That is why the Columbus Urban League recently launched a Minority Small Business Resiliency Initiative. This initiative âprovides technical, financial, and strategic advice to minority and women-owned businesses,â according to the Urban League. So far, about 325 inquiries have come in for assistance, Hightower said, and about 50 companies have been approved for more than $3.7 million in loans. âWhatâs really great is that weâve been able to save 895 jobs ... because of our efforts,â Hightower said.âŠ
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