Daily Record Financial News &
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 104 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Photo by Fran Ruchalski
Abraham consulting on FSCJ restaurant
Peter Rummell walks down Laura Street on Wednesday during the retooled One Spark crowdfunding festival.
One Spark’ s successful reboot Rummell satisfied with turnout, says Thursday is key day
Peter Rummell made his way through the growing crowd on Laura Street early Wednesday evening, The One Spark benefactor hadn’t been sure what to expect for the dramatic retooling of the crowdfunding festival. But as he strolled down Laura Street a bit after 6 p.m., he heard and saw validation. A mix of handshakes and congratulations from people who were enjoying the inaugural merger of First Wednesday Art Walk and One Spark. Sure, the festival was shorter — from six days last year to just one. And there were significantly fewer One Spark creators, down from over 535 last year to 66. But Rummell was OK with that. He loved the mix and what he saw as an increase in quality of the entrepreneurs who, for the first time, had been screened by judges.
“
“
By Marilyn Young Editor
The hardest part of starting anything is figuring out if and when you change. Peter Rummell One Spark board chair
By 12:30 p.m., Rummell was “amazed” by the turnout. Shortly after 6 p.m., he smiled and said, “It’s a zoo.” And that was before the shoulder-toshoulder crowd hit Downtown later that evening, reminiscent of One Spark of old. The test continues today, with the Innovation Day conference and One Spark Ventures’ Spark Tank. The latter has 10 creators privately pitching their businesses
to a panel of experts. Today, Rummell said, is the “real big pivot day” as One Spark’s focus turns to connecting entrepreneurs with an ecosystem for success. That’s a focus he believes organizers — including himself — lost track of along the way since One Spark debuted in 2013. Those years, though, changed a lot. They put Jacksonville on the map as a place for entrepreneurs, they launched several successful businesses and they even changed a veteran businessman like Rummell.
Setting a new trend
In the past, mentions of One Spark almost immediately focused on crowd estimates. From 130,000 the first year to 260,000 in 2014 and 320,000 last year. To many, the festival atmosphere soon eclipsed the original intent of helping startups become successful. Rummell
continued on
Page A-4
Norman Abraham is back in the restaurant business, this time Downtown. The veteran restaurant operator, whose last venture was Two Doors Down in Brooklyn, has signed on as a consultant with Florida State College at Jacksonville to help set up its Downtown cafe. The college is developing Downtown housing for students at a leased six-story building known as the Lerner Building at 20 W. Adams St., off Main Street in the urban core. The cafe, on the first floor, would serve the public as well as college residents and would engage the school’s industry-recognized Culinary Arts & Hospitality program. FSCJ spokeswoman Jill Johnson said the college anticipates the cafe will start serving the first week in January. “My focus is to get the restaurant open,” Abraham said Wednesday. The college will own and operate the facility. Johnson said FSCJ hired Abraham on a $20,000 contract to consult for six weeks toward the development of the Downtown cafe project. He will provide market research data and recommend a culinary cafe, theme, concept, menu offerings, hours of operations and other factors. The program has been recognized by the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation Accrediting Commission as an exemplary program. FSR Magazine, which serves the full-service restaurant industry, named the program in 2014 as one of the country’s top 20 culinary schools. Abraham’s consulting goal is to determine what type of business plan would work best Downtown and how to set up the cafe to support the college’s academic programming requirements, including cycling program interns through the restaurant. Mathis
Spark Walk brings out difference of opinions
Michael DelCharco talks to a customer Wednesday evening who stopped by to check out his Bedder Covers product. The truck-designed product received validation at last year’s One Spark and was on sale for patrons this year.
Public
legal notices begin on page
Photo by David Chapman
By David Chapman Staff Writer
A-9
Downtown’s main corridor along Laura Street had a familiar vibe by early afternoon Wednesday. Food trucks were serving the hungry. Creators were pitching the curious. Extra officers kept control of busy intersections. Further north heading toward Hemming Park, artists and vendors had set up their booths and products — a familiar scene on the first Wednesday of each month, albeit hours earlier than normal.
The day had a One Spark feel. It had an Art Walk feel. The two merged this year for Spark Walk, a combination of the annual crowdfunding festival and the monthly evening excursion that typically brings 10,00015,000 people Downtown. The latest rendition of One Spark brought the most dramatic changes yet, a scaling back to one day for public consumption of all the sights, sounds and tastes festivalgoers of years past enjoyed over as many as six days. “I like this,” said Jim Lewis. “Last year seemed to be too Spark Walk continued on Page A-3
Published
for
continued on
Page A-2
Abraham
26,904
consecutive weekdays