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OneCommunity speeds up revenue Organization forms for-profit subsidiary to meet demand for its rapid Internet service By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
OneCommunity’s blazing-fast Internet service isn’t just for nonprofits anymore. The Cleveland-based organiza-
tion has formed a for-profit subsidiary, Everstream, that recently started signing contracts with private businesses. It’s a big change for a nonprofit that has spent the last decade bringing its fiber-optic Internet ser-
vice to schools, hospitals and government agencies. Now, in some situations, users can download data a hundred or even a thousand times faster than standard cable service at home. But private businesses want
those speeds, too, according to OneCommunity officials. And the organization, which plans to upgrade the speed of its network again later this year, is more than happy to meet that demand through Everstream for a couple
reason, said CEO Lev Gonick. For one, profits from Everstream will flow back to OneCommunity. With that money, OneCommunity plans to finance a few new programs, including a fund that would invest in startups working on software that can take advantage of ultra-fast Internet connections. See ONECOMMUNITY Page 18
HOLY COW! BEEF PRICES GO POW! Rising costs force many restaurants to re-examine menus By KATHY AMES CARR clbfreelancer@crain.com
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The beefing about beef officially has begun. Just ask B Spot, which three weeks ago eliminated its popular $5 happy hour special for any 8-ounce burger. Now it’s offering customers $1.99 sliders instead. Fans of the promotion, which ran weekdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and began in November 2012, issued pleas via social media to B Spot and owner/celebrity chef Michael Symon to reinstate it. “Not going to happen … w/ beef prices (double) of what they (were) when we started (happy hour), it was either lower quality or change,” Symon tweeted in response. Symon business partner Doug Petkovic said the change was a result of a half-year examination of B Spot’s
happy hour program, during which operators experienced a “dramatic price increase” for their high-quality, custom-blend Pat LaFrieda beef. “We couldn’t raise our prices at the same rate beef prices were increasing. We can’t raise a $5 happy hour burger to $10, but we don’t want to have to sacrifice our quality, either,” Petkovic said. “The sliders are a great option because we’re giving our customers something they can’t get from the regular menu, and they’re made with our same high-quality beef. It’s has been wildly successful.”
INSIDE: Increasing costs could result in consumers eating less beef. Page 12 As exemplified by B Spot, the rising cost of beef — a trend expected to continue until 2016 — is leading restaurant operators to re-examine their menu offerings and carefully monitor pricing strategies. A 63-year shortage of cattle in the United States — in part a result of the dry spell in Texas, the nation’s largest cattle producer — is causing See BEEF Page 12
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES; GRAPHIC: REBECCA R. MARKOVITZ
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Entire contents © 2014 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 35, No. 10