A rendering of what a future Bread Garden Cafe in UIHC's main lobby might look like. CREDIT: UIHC
About two weeks after setting off a
social media outcry over its decision to terminate its 14-year-old contract with Java House,
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has named the new operator of four hospital locations: the Bread Garden Market and Bakery, headquartered in downtown Iowa City.
"We are pleased and excited to announce the selection of Bread Garden Market, a locally-owned business, as our new vendor that will operate four kiosk locations here," UIHC said in a statement released yesterday.
"Bread Garden Market opened in downtown Iowa City in 1995, and has built an unrivaled reputation for providing high-quality homemade food and beverages."
Bread Garden Market will begin service Nov. 1 at locations in the R
oy Carver Pavillion, General Hospital, the Pomerantz Family Pavilion and the Stead Family Children's Hospital.
Java House, which has been told to vacate those sites by the end of October, will continue to
operate its location in the Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building on the health sciences campus and in the Iowa Memorial Union.
UIHC received a total of seven bids during "a fair and open competitive bid process," with the review team unanimously recommending acceptance of the Bread Garden Market bid.
Under the terms of the two-year contract, Bread Garden will pay upward of $58,000 annually in rent and share profits on a sliding scale ranging from 18 percent on revenue up to $1 million to 22 percent on revenue over $3 million. Java House paid over $50,000 in annual rent with revenue sharing topping out at 17 percent.
In its statement UIHC, which has faced difficult financial decisions in recent years, emphasized Bread Garden's willingness to adapt and expand for the hospital market: "One of the important features of the winning bid was Bread Garden Market's vision for expanding their service and providing a complete range of menu options for patients, visitors and staff."
"We intend to create an environment that allows guests to proudly tell their family, friends and associates to Meet Me at the Bread Garden Cafe where they will find fresh flavors served by familiar faces," Bread Garden said in a statement of its own
posted on Facebook, adding that it encouraged current hospital coffee shop employees to join its new team.
"Suede Moto Jacket" by Almvghty is part of a couture streetwear collection to be sold at Foundry.
Eight University of Iowa student-led businesses offering everything from fashion and accessories to furnishings will open Foundry IRL, a collaborative retail space at Coralville's Iowa River Landing next month.
Foundry IRL will feature sustainable object and furniture designs by Vako Design, streetwear collections by Almvghty, Elevated Supply Company and Kulture Vaccine, accessories by Conquer Accessories, Yiran Li Design and Wanderlust Wraps, and on-site cell phone repair by Parametecs.
"Foundry gives young entrepreneurs away to share their creations," said Vakhtangi Darjania of Vako Design in a release. "It's exciting to be a part of the first group."
Each business has already established a following through online retail, social media and local pop-up shops, but for most, Foundry will represent their first brick and mortar retail space.
The IRL location, visible to 70,000 cars daily from Interstate 80, is expected to give the brands exposure to a broad
Planters by Vako Design will also be on sale at Foundry IRL.
CREDIT: FOUNDRY
demographic, and the opportunity to partner with neighboring national brands on special events and community engagement. The eight student entrepreneurs will also gain hands-on experience in floor design, merchandising, promotions, event management and customer service.
"The design of the store itself is one of our best features,"
said Patrick Hagan of Almvghty. "It was a fun challenge to unify diverse businesses into a cohesive, design-forward atmosphere. We can't wait to welcome our customers into the space."
The concept for Foundry IRL arose when Iowa City real estate developer Deanna Trumbull served as a mentor for several student-led business developing retail products. Ms. Trumbull approached the city of Coralville to propose that Iowa River Landing lease a space to a collaborative of start-ups.
"A number of cities are making shared spaces for local products a key feature of retail development," Ms Trumbull said. "This mix of edgy startups alongside major national brands makes for an exciting visitor experience, and highlights Iowa's creative energy."
Lynn Allendorf, director of the Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, where the student businesses receive guidance and support, added, "I'm excited to see these talented students take on this business endeavor. When student entrepreneurs integrate with the community, not only does it build our economy, but it also encourages students to stay in Iowa after graduation."
Nationally noted interior design business re-opens in Coralville
Rhonda Staley
Interior designer Rhonda Staley, whose work has appeared in both local and national interior design magazines, has re-opened her residential design business in Coralville.
"Your home should not only look amazing, but it should be a reflection of your personality and style," said Ms. Staley, who re-opened Rhonda Staley Design LLC last month. " It needs to function in a way that works with how you live your life. Great spaces are carefully explored, planned and managed by a professional."
With more than 30 years of professional design experience and clients throughout Eastern Iowa, Minnesota, Las Vegas, Nevada and Florida, Ms. Staley specializes in consultation for new home construction and remodeling. She also offers clients custom window treatments, fine furniture and accessories.
Her client's homes have been featured in Traditional Homes Magazine, Cedar Valley Home and Garden magazines and in local Corridor newspapers. She also authors a popular award-winning interior design newsletter, "Inspirations."
She began her career in Las Vegas while interning there through Iowa State University's interior design program.
Since returning to her home state and settling in Iowa City-Coralville in 2003, Ms. Staley has continued to work with Las Vegas clients on new residential projects, as well a growing list of clients in Dubuque, Fort Madison, the Quad Cities and Florida.
Small biz index finds optimism high, strong access to capital
A new index of small business sentiment suggests that nearly 70 percent of small business owners have a positive
outlook about their company and the small business environment in the United States, while fewer are reporting difficulties accessing capital for growth.
The
Q3 MetLife & U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index released Wednesday shows another increase in optimism with overall business health up one point from last quarter. The optimistic outlook reflects the current economic climate and recent legislative reforms, index authors said.
"Small business owners continue to tell us that they are confident in the national small business environment, and, just as encouraging, most have confidence in their local environments as well," said Jessica Moser, senior vice president for Small Business Solutions at MetLife, in a release. "This bodes well for the U.S. economy, as small businesses are consistently an engine for growth all across the country: purchasing equipment and inventory, paying taxes and employing ever-increasing numbers of individuals."
This is the sixth consecutive quarter the index has risen, and year-over-year, the index score has increased by 7.4 points. The rise in optimism reflects a rebound in national economic outlook and denotes the highest levels in the history of the survey.
Amid the general optimism, results indicated access to capital is strong. However, that access differs across all small businesses. Less than one-quarter (23 percent) of small businesses report that it is hard to obtain financing, but opinions vary based on recent experience with the financing process.
Those that sought financing in the last year are twice as likely (41 percent) to report that getting access to credit is difficult than those that have not tried (20 percent). Businesses that have applied for credit at some point in the past, rather than in just the past year, were more likely to say it is easy to obtain financing (70 percent) rather than difficult (24 percent).
"After the 2008 financial crisis, there was a decline in small businesses' access to capital. Recently, Congress took steps to make it easier for small businesses to get capital," said Tom Sullivan, U.S. Chamber vice president of small business policy. "We are moving in the right direction, but more policies that ease small businesses' access to financing need to occur to ensure this vital sector of our economy continues to grow, create jobs and positively impact communities across the country."
Consulting: How to build authority in a digital world
In this week's consulting spotlight, Sherry Bonelli of early bird digital marketing outlines how to build trust and authority online to reach more potential customers.
These days, people go online to look for trusted local businesses they can go to when they need products or services. When an online search is performed, Google uses hundreds of factors to determine which websites show up high in search results, and "authority" is one of those factors.
Building your company's authority can not only help with your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and help you rank higher, but it can also help build trust with potential customers. But how do you do it? There are several ways you can use your industry knowledge to position yourself as an expert who can be trusted by your current and future customers. Here are a few:
Get backlinks to your website
Getting high-quality backlinks to your website is a known ranking factor that can help boost your rankings when people do a search for your business. However, getting backlinks is getting more and more challenging.
First, never pay for backlinks. Paid-for backlinks are sketchy and the websites that link to your site are generally low quality. This is a horrible combination and can get you "blacklisted" from Google (meaning your site could get banned from its search results.) You want to get high-quality backlinks from quality websites.
As a local business, reach out to your chamber of commerce, business networking groups, industry sites, etc., and ask for a link to your site. Give them a reason to link to your site, as well. Instead of asking them to link to your home page, give them a deep link to a page on your site that provides their visitors with valuable information, like a link to one of your blog posts.
Also, instead of asking a website to just link to your company's URL, ask them to add some context around the link. If you're able to get keywords into the backlink to your site (through what's known as "anchor text") that's a bonus.
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Business PM, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Spotix, 2810 Stoner Court, North Liberty. Meet with area professionals for an evening of casual networking. Free.
Ground Breaking: Tipton Habitat Build, by Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity, 6 p.m., 1111 Lynn St., Tipton. Celebrate the kick off of the Tipton Build home, which will be built in partnership with Tipton High School students. Free
Aug. 31
Ribbon Cutting: Treasure Cove, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, 9 a.m., 2301 Second St., Coralville. Help welcome Treasure Cove to the Iowa City business community. Free.
Sept. 4
On the Menu: Winning Websites, by Marion Chamber of Commerce, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Marion City Hall, 1225 Sixth Ave., Marion. On the Menu is a quarterly lunch and learn series. Each event will feature a topic expert from SCORE of East Central Iowa. Free for members, $10 for non-members. For more information, visit
bit.ly/2Mol40b.
Iowa City Roundtable, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, noon-1 p.m., Hilton Garden Inn, 328 S. Clinton St., Iowa City. Roundtables are social lunches over the noon hour. All are invited to network and keep up-to-date with chamber and community events. Free for members. Call the chamber at (319) 337-9637 if interested and not a member.
Ribbon Cutting: Central State Bank, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, 4 p.m., 805 22nd Ave., Coralville. Help celebrate the opening of Central State Bank's new branch. Free.
Headlines from CBS2/FOX 28
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
The ACLU of Iowa claims city ordinances in the state that ban panhandling undermine constitutional laws, writing letters Tuesday to three Iowa cities demanding the repeal of the local laws.
"These ordinances, these laws, are unconstitutional. They prohibit, they regulate speech that is free-speech rights that everybody has," said ACLU of Iowa legal fellow Phil Brown.Under the Des Moines ordinance, a person needs a license from the city clerk in order to solicit money or risk misdemeanor charges. The ordinance also bans any begging from the hours of 9 p.m.-8 a.m. The ACLU of Iowa argues the ordinance strips people of their First Amendment rights and criminalizes poverty. "The bottom line is this makes it illegal to ask for help. When someone asks passersby for money, that is sharing a viewpoint, that is sharing their own personal feelings, their ideas, what they want to say," Mr. Brown said. The civil liberties group also sent letters to Grimes and Council Bluffs, but it contends similar local laws are prevalent all throughout the state.
Tuesday's storm that moved near and south of I-80 fcaused extensive damage across the Corridor. Iowa County was hit the hardest.
Crews from ITC arrived at 8 p.m. Tuesday to the ITC Sub Station several miles north of North English to begin working through the night to restore nearly 30 fallen power poles. Many poles and power cables lay in pieces on the side of the roads. As of Wednesday morning, 190 Alliant Energy customers in Iowa County were without power, and many were told they'd remain without power for 36 hours. Power outages were just the beginning of what many residents in Iowa County had to deal with. Silos were smashed. Acres of corn were flattened. One man's large red truck sat in his driveway in Parnell, dented and destroyed after a tree fell on top of it. Parnell resident David Quiram said the storm made quite the sound. "All of a sudden it cut loose, you could hear like a train motor, locomotive sound," said Mr. Quiram. "It was time to get down in the basement then." Mr. Quiram is one of many who live in Parnell whose trees were swept to the ground by the storm that produced 60 mph wind gusts. However, thanks to the community coming together, residents aren't left picking up the pieces alone. Many residents say they're just thankful it wasn't worse. "It's something you don't expect, the Marshalltown and Pella stuff, you know, recently happening," said Mr. Quiram. "It makes you think."
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
CBS2 Chief Meteorologist Terry Swails' Weather First Forecast
We'll have another nice day today before the pattern turns more active once again. Temperatures will warm into the mid-70s this afternoon with plenty of sunshine and low humidity. Moisture will begin to move back in tonight as our next storm system approaches. There will be a complex of thunderstorms tonight, but there is uncertainty in where exactly it tracks. There could be a few storms in Eastern Iowa Friday morning. A frontal boundary will be stalling in the Upper Midwest Friday and through the weekend. Several disturbances will move along it and will be chances for showers and thunderstorms through the holiday weekend. There will be some dry time Friday afternoon, with another chance of storms Friday evening into Saturday morning. Saturday will be dry with thunderstorms on Sunday and Monday. With a lot of moisture around, one to three inches of rain will be possible area wide, with some locally higher amounts.
