Kiger's Notebook

Of hot dogs and hotels

It weighs five tons, is 11 feet tall, is 27 feet long and has four wheels.

What is it? The most famous food-shaped vehicles in history, of course, the Wienermobile. The iconic vehicle that is as recognizable as the Batmobile, Bigfoot or the Mystery Machine is rolling along the Med City's streets yet again.

Very early this morning (the Daylight Savings switch had me out a lot later or earlier than usual. Heh.), I spotted massive fiberglass hot dog proudly parked across Second Street Southwest from Saint Marys Hospital.

Even more interesting than the brightly-colored vehicle was the hotel sign at 1211 Second St. S.W.

In a column last week, I teased that a Med City hotel was looking at making a change. That seems to have happened, since the sign over the Oscar Mayer car says Aspen Suites instead of Staybridge Suites.

The 83-suite hotel, along with the Fiksdal Hotel, is owned by Blue Stem Capital of Sioux Fall, S.D., and Glen Fiksdal of Rochester.

I guess I should stop hotdogging and give them a call to find out the details.

 

Glimpse of the past as Broadway biz gets facelift

Downtown Broadway caught a brief glimpse of Rochester's past as a long-time business started working on a new, updated look this week. Construction crews started working on the facade of Kathy’s Pub at 307 S. Broadway Thursday. As the green Kathy's awning was taken down, they uncovered the old Hollywood Bar neon sign.

The Hollywood was one of Rochester's most venerable nightspots going back at least to the 1940s. It was known for its 90-foot-long bar that was staffed by an "all-girl" crew. Offering live music six nights a week, it was the home venue for the local music legends, the Parrish Brothers band.

It later became Kathy's Pub with Kathy and Gus Chafos as the owners. Matt Murphy and Matt Teal bought it in 2003, but kept the Kathy's name.

Murphy says the classic Hollywood sign that dates back to Rochester's "Mad Men" days has been put into storage for the winter, while it is decided what to ultimately do with it.

Meanwhile, the entire front facade of Kathy's is getting a face-lift from the sidewalk all the way up to parapets by the rooftop patio.

"We're going to restore it back to the old look," says Murphy. "The bricks will get cleaned. It'll get fresh paint. They are restoring the parapets. And a new, updated awning is coming."

The hope is to finish the renovation work within about a month. A facade improvement grant from the Rochester Downtown Alliance is paying for half of the $30,000 project.

A new neon glow is in the works to light up Kathy's sometime next year. Murphy says Schad Tracy Signs is working on a new design that will look similar one at The Griffin Cocktail Lounge in Las Vegas. Look for that project to come to light in the spring.

The geometry of collaboration — 'Cubists' bring co-working to Rochester

They may be square, but the Cubists coming to downtown Rochester are on the level.

Think of it as your office away from home with a new angle.

A group of business people are shaping up a new co-working space called The Cube, which describes the blockiness of their small building at 717 South Broadway. That's behind the Rochester Area Family Y parking lot.

Spearheaded by David Hewitt of Mama Meg's Frozen Novelties, the details of this project were hammered out by a collection of 15-20 local entrepreneurs.

So what is co-working?

"Coworking is the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values, and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space," said Hewitt.

In Rochester's Cube is a 360-square-foot office space where members, who all own and run small creative businesses, can get out of their home offices or coffee shop booths and work next to similarly minded people.

It is designed to encourage collaboration and creativity.

The "Cubists" signed up to work there, at least part-time, are Erik Giberti of AF-Design, freelance designer/marketer Sarah Miller, Nate Nordstrom of BrandHoot, Beth Ebnet of Trio Marketing and Events, Bucky Beeman of Snappy Stop and Hewitt.

The space can accommodate about eight people, along with a conference room seating for five. Very few members will be working there every day, so that allows for a larger pool of members.

It features a business broadband network, wireless printing with scanner, copier, a white-board wall, member-only events, coffee and Mama Meg's ice cream sandwiches.

"This has been a dream of mine for some time. It is really quite exciting," says Giberti, who has trying to bring the idea of co-working to Rochester for three or four years. "The time just wasn't right until now."

For the online application developer who has worked out of his Rochester home for the past years, being part of The Cube means he'll have a place to go on occasion to work and brainstorm with other creative people.

And when Giberti needs focused, "heads-down" work time, he still has his home office.

Why do this instead of just leasing a small office or a cubicle somewhere?

"What is really interesting in the co-working model is the creative and interaction that you have by not having those boundaries," he says.

Will ex-311 be Ground-ed?

It looks like the rumors may be true.

Since 331 Bar and Grill closed its doors in March, there has been buzz about Ground Round rolling back into Rochester into that space.

This morning I spotted the Snappy Sign's clown standing in front of the 331 Bar and Grill at 7386 Airport View Drive S.W. with this message:

"Ground Round is Coming Soon."

While that sounds pretty definite, I'll check this out today.

If true, this is the latest plot development in the story of the Rochester's airport restaurant.

When it closed three months ago, it was owned by two brothers from Chicago, Tom and Jimmy Karabatsos

The Karabatsos duo originally bought the main restaurant at the start of 2009 from local developer Andy Chafoulias.

The restaurant was originally launched as The Hangar by a group of local developers led by Chafoulias in 2002. He later sold it in 2006.

The Hangar did not make it under the new ownership. Chafoulias bought it back in early 2008 and relaunched it as 331.

Chafoulias developed most of the businesses surrounding the airport, including the Rochester International Event Center and the 72-room hotel now under the AmericInn brand.

When I talked to him in March after the 331 closure, he wouldn't say yes or no to the idea of taking the controls of the restaurant for a third time. However, he was seriously considering the possibility.

Take-and-bake dough biz to close

After about two years since it first arose on the Rochester scene, a take-and-bake frozen dough business will soon close its doors.

Ads and announcements this week say that U-Bake is closing with a possible final day of around June 15. Here's some from one of those messages:

We will continue to offer BIG SAVINGS to you through approximately mid June, 2012.  Please redeem any U-Bake, Rochester gift cards promptly.  Stock up and enjoy those savings!   It has been our pleasure to serve you, and, as always, thank you for your business!

U-Bake, which is owned by Dianna Baker is located in a 2,000-square-foot spot in the Crossroads Plaza anchored by Walgreens . That's the center  where Maid-Rite recently closed and Jimmy John's gearing up to open.

The concept of U-Bake is all about conveneince. It has about 20 freezers full of frozen, bake-at-home products, including about 59 kinds of cookies, about 30 types of breads, 18 pies, 15 pizza crusts, croissants and cinnamon rolls.

It also carried specialty meats and cheeses from around Minnesota.

I'll check to see if I can find out any more on this.

 

 

Kiger's Notebook reborn

Sorry for disappearing for so long, but I'm back now.

As the PB changed its online approach, I took some time off from the blog to consider its future and what it should look like. It was sort of like a strategic planning retreat without the big pads of paper or markers.

Actually, there wasn't much strategy either. Heh.

I didn't really come up with any great insights other than I missed writing Kiger's Notebook. This blog launched back in March 2005. For seven years, I've been posting bits and pieces of news and semi-humorous quips on here.

I think I'd like to keep doing that.

So to any readers left out there, I pose the question - What would you like to read on this blog? What kind of info will make it worth your time.

The bottom line is that I'm back and this blog is back in the game.

Canned meat battle Spam vs Prem ends in a tie

Here's some from an article by the PB's legal eye Matt Russell about the resolution of Hormel Foods tussle with Netherlands-based Zwanenberg Food Group.

More of the article can be found here.

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A trademark infringement case involving the iconic yellow and blue packaging of Spam food products has been dismissed in federal court.

A settlement between Austin-based Hormel Foods and Zwanenberg Food Group led to the dismissal of the suit by Judge David Doty Tuesday in U.S. District Court, with both parties agreeing to dismiss all claims and counterclaims.

Hormel filed the suit in March, alleging that Zwanenberg used packaging starting in 2010 on a competing product, Prem, that was "confusingly similar" to Spam.

While Zwanenberg altered the label design at Hormel's request, Hormel maintained that the new label still created confusion because it still used a yellow-on-blue color scheme. The products were sold in Japan and the Philippines, according to the complaint.

Zwanenberg responded that its packaging was unlikely to cause confusion with Hormel's packaging, adding that Spam's yellow lettering on a blue background "is generic and/or otherwise unprotectable as a matter of law."

Spam Lip Glaze? Yes, this exists

Here is a taste from my column in today's paper. I lead off with a Hormel product that I can imagine Miss Piggy using.

Check out the print edition for more details, including how well such a lip balm is selling.

The art is from ThinkGeek.Com.

Pucker up with pork-flavored lips.

Austin's Hormel Foods, known for its iconic Spam canned pork, rolled out Spam Lip Glaze balm in early August.

For between $1.95 to $2.99 a tube, fans of Minnesota's favorite canned meat can keep their lips soft and meaty with a Spam-flavored balm.

"Rubbing meat on your face is a good way to get noticed, but probably for all the wrong reasons. But what if you do it because you really want to taste meat, but not eat it? Well, grab yourself some Spam Lip Glaze and you can rub the flavor of meat on your lips without getting weird stares from having bacon hanging from your cheeks."

That's how ThinkGeek.Com describes the latest quirky product that Hormel has branded with the Spam logo.

Two growing area businesses make Inc. 5,000 list

Dramatic revenue growth has landed two area businesses — WaterFilters.Net and AffordableButtons.Com — on Inc. magazine's just-released annual list of financial rising stars.

A striking revenue climb of 566 percent from 2007 to 2010 scored WaterFilters.Net of Zumbrota its third appearance on Inc.'s fastest-growing list in the 576th spot.

AffordableButtons.Com of Rochester hit the list for the first time at the 3,620th spot. It tallied its own impressive three-year growth of 45 percent to hit $3.3 million in revenue for 2010.

Still growing in Zumbrota
For WaterFilters.Net which opened its 20,000-square-foot distribution center in Zumbrota in 2008, making the list again is "… a strong validation of our core values as a company," says Karl Rist, the online retailer's marketing specialist.

In 2008, the company, which sells water filters and filtration products online, had a staff of three. They have about 30 employees today, he says.

The company that was originally started by Jamin Arvig in his Twin Cities apartment collected $10.3 million in revenue for 2010.

Her dream made real
Seeing her business on Inc.'s list is simply a dream come true for AffordableButtons.Com's founder Linda Christopherson.

"I've always wanted to make the Inc. list. I think it makes a huge difference," says Christopherson, who runs the family-owned company with her husband, Tom.

Like WaterFilters.Net, AffordableButtons' name is pretty self-explanatory.

It makes custom buttons with messages and designs for about 40,000 customers, including presidential candidates, high school sports teams, Fortune 500 companies, kids' birthday parties, Hollywood movie studios and many others.

"In our category of advertising and marketing, we're ranked at 327. That's a huge industry that includes a lot more than just button makers," Christopherson says.

Its 35 employees make and ship out tens of thousands of buttons a day from its facility on Rochester's 19th Street Northwest.

As candidates are starting to jockey for position in the 2012 presidential race, AffordableButtons is starting to see a surge in its political business.

About 50,000 Ron Paul buttons have already be made as well as about 6,000 ones for Rick Perry.

MarkIt in the sky(way) with ...uh..pictures

While many of you were basking in warm Spring Break spots last week, I posted a piece about Rochester's newest downtown skyway nearing completion.

 This is the skyway that connects Joe Weis' City Centre commercial building on South Broadway to the City Centre Hotel, formerly known as Holiday Inn Express.

Well, I guess it must now be open for business. Markit, a marketing and advertising firm in the Med City's downtown, posted a piece about Eric Froiland's inaugral trip across this enclosed path in sky.

We take our first walk through the brand new skyway in downtown Rochester, MN. It was a trip to lunch and back. We’ll have only a half block to walk outside in the Minnesota winter to get to almost any hotspot in the city. Monumental!

Follow the "first walk" link to see their pics and comments.

Now the next skyway to soar into downtown Rochester's clouds up will be the one connecting the parking garage by the Minnesota BioBusiness Center to the under construction student housing project, 318 Commons.