DESIGNING BUILDINGS FOR THE FUTURE IS ALAN’S BUSINESS. WE ARE PROUD HE HAS MADE IT OUR BUSINESS, TOO. Alan works every day to turn his vision into a reality. And Time Warner Cable Business Class partnered with him to bring it to life. We provided his firm with a High-Speed Internet and Business Class Phone solution to communicate with his clients. At Time Warner Cable Business Class, we take the time to listen — so you get the right mix of Internet, Phone, Ethernet and Cable TV solutions. We built that for Alan. We can build it for you.
1.866.TWC.4BIZ | TWCBC.Com
Some restrictions apply. Time Warner Cable Business Class is a trademark of Time Warner Inc. Used under license. ©2012 Time Warner Cable. All Rights Reserved.
INTERNET | PHONE | CABLE TV | ETHERNET
CENTRAL PIEDMONT COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Promoting our community For almost 50 years, CPCC has been building leaders who pursue meaningful careers that significantly contribute to the community. One such alumnus is Elaine Lyerly, whose talents and professional skills are promoting our community – making it a better place to live and work. Says Elaine, “CPCC’s instructors are extremely involved in the local community and its business and industry. It’s this connectivity that helped me find success after graduation – one of my instructors helped me secure my first job. By having that door opened for me, I was able to launch my career and eventually start my own business.” To learn more about CPCC and its programs and alumni or to support the College, visit www.cpcc.edu or www.cpccfoundation.com.
Elaine Lyerly CPCC Alumna, Associate Degree in Commercial Art & Advertising CEO and president of Lyerly Agency – brand marketing
in this issue
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cover story
Siemens Energy, Charlotte Energy Hub
Phrases like “workforce development” and “employee empowerment” get tossed around in business quite a bit, but at Siemens nothing gets tossed around lightly—not safety precautions, not the multi-ton sections of turbine equipment, and certainly not the concept of workforce development. When the company seriously considered moving the plant offshore, it was workforce development—combined with lean manufacturing and better process control—that turned the plant around, demonstrating that Charlotte is a powerful place to be.
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Marand Builders “When I first started, I discovered that, with the abundance of work available in the construction industry, a certain level of mediocrity had settled in. I wanted to go in the opposite direction,” says President Francisco Alvarado of his Southeastern general contracting company. “We welcome high expectations. We have no room for mediocrity.”
16 PROSHRED Charlotte People want your company’s information— some not in a good way. They want to peek at your trade secrets or steal your customers’ bank and credit card numbers or your employees’ Social Security numbers and more. Owner David Wright wants you to know how to protect your company’s disposal of sensitive information and help you comply with privacy laws.
28 Mellow Mushroom No two Mellow Mushrooms look alike, and the Myers Park and Ballantyne stores are no exception—but their décor is exceptional. With a prominence of tie-dye and colorful mushrooms, each is unique in their eclectic ’70s feel. Coowners Marc Kieffer and Stephen Small make sure the fresh stone baked pizzas are as much of an art form.
departments publisher’spost
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legalbiz
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Transforming the Business of Law to Meet the Needs of Business
consultingbiz
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Managing and Delivering Change to Optimize Business Value
webbiz
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New Media Strategies, Secrets and Solutions
accountingbiz
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Accounting, Tax and Consulting Solutions
biznetwork
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on the cover:
publisherspost
Mark A. Pringle Vice President Charlotte Energy Hub Siemens Energy, Inc. Photo by Wayne Morris
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february 2012
nergizin the
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Siemens Charlotte Generates More Marand Builders Than Turbines PROSHRED Charlotte Mellow Mushroom FireFold Mooresville Ice Cream Company Scan to view greatercharlottebiz.com
Mark A. Pringle Vice President Charlotte Energy Hub Siemens Energy, Inc.
34 FireFold
40 Mooresville
Christopher Grouse liked the name because it evoked images of data traveling like fire through cables with his business in the “fold” of it. His company does offer virtually every kind of connection or cable imaginable. “Your product is only as good as the company behind it,” he says, encouraging employees to continue the company’s record of excellent customer service.
Since 1924, generations of ice cream lovers have been able to enjoy locally made Deluxe Ice Cream, including the famous Deluxe Nutty Cone and the Mooresville Bar. Now the company is introducing its Front Porch Carolina Churned Ice Cream brand featuring Southern-inspired flavors.
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Ice Cream Company
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The most trusted health insurer in North Carolina. Plans for you, your family and your business.
The most trusted health insurer in North Carolina based on FrederickPolls, LLC April 2011. An independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. U7811, 9/11
[publisher’spost]
Charlotte 2030: a Global Intersection of Commerce Recently, Tony Zeiss, president of CPCC, and Chase Saunders of the McNair Law Firm sat down with me and turned my attention to an important initiative to focus attention on a new economic vision of the Charlotte region as a “global marketplace.” In collaboration with local, nationally-recognized regional planner, Michael Gallis, they are initiating conversations with local business leaders, the Chamber of Commerce, the Charlotte Regional Partnership and others, to recognize the convergence of a number of factors leading to John Paul Galles significant economic opportunities for our region. Together they have laid out a perspective of business history from 1762 to 2011 and demonstrated how that impacts our future to 2030 in a paper entitled Create It; Make It; Move It—Charlotte 2030: a Global Intersection of Commerce. They identify several factors leading to the next great surge in economic activity for this region. First, they describe the expansion of the Panama Canal and what that means to Charlotte. The Panama Canal is currently in the midst of a major expansion of its locks that will double the capacity of the canal by 2014. This expansion will allow more and larger ships to transit the canal from one ocean to the other. The locks will be widened and dredged to accommodate the new Post Panamax ships that carry three to five times the cargo of current ships capable of transiting the existing Panama Canal structure. Second, they indicate that the Panama Canal expansion will result in expanded deep water ports in Charleston, Savannah and Wilmington which are served by the Norfolk Southern Railroad with routes right into Charlotte. Third, they note the expansion of the U.S. Intermodal System at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. While we have had one intermodal center on North Brevard Street, it is constrained and limited in scope. The new intermodal center at the airport will address those constraints and open important “Crescent Corridor” service lanes. Within five years, it will offer 250,000 lifts (a lift is counted as a trailer or container being loaded onto or off a railcar) annually. They also make note of other favorable factors including: • The growth of Duke Energy, its power facilities and other energy companies which provide reliable energy and very competitive rates to power users • The growing number of educational facilities that educate and train our workforce and future generations • The area’s financial support centers—Bank of America and Wells Fargo, as well as the multitude of smaller banks • The thriving and expanding medical community providing the highest quality of care • The growing biotech, informatics, engineering and agribusiness presence • An east coast interchange of national information data pipelines • Our central location with interstate highways to east coast population centers from New York City to Miami • Our workforce that is reliable, dependable and adaptive to changing economic challenges • Our attractive quality of life with access to the mountains and the shore within easy driving distance With all of those factors in place, they have targeted a set of initiatives focusing on developing our region into a global center for the creation, manufacture and distribution of products to the United States and to the world. The ambition is to create, make and move things better than any other region in America and become a “global marketplace.” The logic and foundation for this new long-term planning project are substantially in place. Business leaders who can see the future and help prepare the way for these opportunities will be preparing Charlotte for the next 50 years. We have been fortunate that Charlotte’s leaders from the past have brought us to the bright circumstances of our current economy. It is time to lay the groundwork for the next great expansion of the Charlotte marketplace. We are immensely grateful to Tony Zeiss, Chase Saunders, Michael Gallis and others who continue to lead. It is important to identify what you can contribute to this dialogue and planning effort. Who can be helpful and what can they bring to the table to effect these changes in the most beneficial way to all concerned? We need you to examine these factors, consider the possibilities, and participate in these discussions. At the end of the day, this is how we plan for our future and that of our children. biz
Let me know what you think - jgalles@greatercharlottebiz.com
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704-676-5850
February 2012 Volume 13 • Issue 02 Publisher John Paul Galles x102 jgalles@greatercharlottebiz.com
Associate Publisher/Editor Maryl A. Lane x104 mlane@greatercharlottebiz.com
Creative Director Trevor Adams x107 tadams@greatercharlottebiz.com
Sales Manager Talbert Gray x106
partners Central Piedmont Community College hiSoft Technology International Limited Knowmad Technologies Potter & Company, P.A. Wishart, Norris, Henninger & Pittman, P.A.
Contributing Writers Zenda Douglas Barbara Fagan Suzanne Fulton Heather Head Margaret Carr Hughes Casey Jacobus
Contributing Photographers Trevor Adams Wayne Morris Galles Communications Group, Inc. 7300 Carmel Executive Park Dr., Ste. 115 Charlotte, NC 28226-1310 704-676-5850 Phone • 704-676-5853 Fax www.greatercharlottebiz.com • Press releases and other news-related information: editor@greatercharlottebiz.com. • Editorial: mlane@greatercharlottebiz.com. • Advertising: jgalles@greatercharlottebiz.com. • Subscription inquiries or change of address: subscriptions@greatercharlottebiz.com. • Other inquiries: please call or fax at the numbers above or visit our website www.greatercharlottebiz.com. © Copyright 2012 by Galles Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. However, Galles Communications Group, Inc. makes no warranty to the accuracy or reliability of this information. Products named in these pages are trade names or trademarks of their respective companies. Views expressed herein are not necessarily those of Greater Charlotte Biz or Galles Communications Group, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. For reprints call 704-676-5850 x102. Greater Charlotte Biz (ISSN 1554-6551) is published monthly by Galles Communications Group, Inc., 7300 Carmel Executive Park Dr., Ste. 115, Charlotte, NC 28226-1310. Telephone: 704-676-5850. Fax: 704-676-5853. Subscription rate is $24 for one year. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Greater Charlotte Biz, 7300 Carmel Executive Park Dr., Ste. 115, Charlotte, NC 28226-1310.
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[legalbiz]
What CAN You Find Out About That Job Applicant?
S
o you have big plans for 2012 for your business! Part of those plans involves the hiring of a new employee. The right candidate for this job has to be trustworthy for many reasons, but mainly because she may be entering into your customers’ homes, handling customer payments, or working with sensitive customer or business information. That last thing you need is an employee stealing from your customers or you, or doing something even worse. You’ve interviewed several candidates and found one you really like. She seems like the right fit, but what do you really know about her from a one-page résumé or application and a couple of interviews? What can you do to learn more about her? Should you run a criminal background or a credit check? Many businesses should and do use various types of background and credit checks. These can be as simple as in-house Internet searches (even checking Facebook) or as in-depth as third-party credit or consumer reporting agency reports. Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian are the most well-known credit reporting agencies and can generate reports about everything from creditworthiness to criminal records. There are also many other agencies that will provide you with a myriad of different possible reports. Before you run a background or credit check, you Given the potential should be aware that there are federal and state laws that (i) liabilities, those affect your ability to run these businesses looking to types of checks on job applior existing employees, hire should know the cants and (ii) dictate what you can do with the information FCRA requirements received. The Fair Credit and take steps Reporting Act (FCRA) is the most important law affecting to ensure FCRAyour ability to obtain and use compliant background a background or credit check. If you use an agency to obtain information about screening policies. an employee or applicant, you must comply with the FCRA or face some serious penalties. Under the FCRA, you must (i) properly disclose your intent to obtain the report; (ii) obtain express authorization from the applicant or employee to obtain the report; (iii) provide the applicant or employee with special notice if the you plan to take an adverse action based on information contained in the consumer report (i.e. not hire the applicant or fire the employee), and (iv) provide the applicant or employee with notice after taking the adverse action based on the information in the report. The FCRA imposes other related requirements as well. Thus, you need detailed background screening policies and processes to ensure compliance with the FCRA. So why should you care if a violation occurs? Upon a violation of the FCRA, your business may be subject to
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damages covering any actual damages sustained by the applicant or employee and the costs of the enforcement action (including the dreaded award of “attorneys’ fees”). If the violation is found to be willful, the award can include significant other statutory and punitive damages as well. If your business has a substantial number of employees, it may be suddenly facing a class action from a creative plaintiffs’ attorney. In fact, last year saw a large rise in the number of class actions filed regarding alleged improperly conducted background checks of job applicants. These lawsuits have even resulted in some multimillion dollar settlements. For example, a transport operator settled two FCRA class action suits for the collective sum of $5.9 million in March of last year. A freight business settled a FCRA-related class action suit for $2.6 million the next month. In these suits, the plaintiffs typically allege that the businesses did not properly obtain FCRA-compliant authorizations and/or did not provide pre-adverse action notices. What may seem like a small issue for the employer is now a large lawsuit. Given the potential liabilities, those businesses looking to hire should know the FCRA requirements and take steps to ensure FCRA-compliant background screening policies. Those looking to perform background checks should also be aware that there is a trend toward states regulating these checks and the use of the information obtained. With regard to criminal background checks, 23 states have recently created rules limiting the use and inquiries into criminal records and imposing their own notice requirements to the applicant or new hire. A few cities even have ordinances regulating what investigations a business owner may make into criminal backgrounds. These states typically require that these checks may only be run on employees that will be put in a position of trust and confidence where the background check is a genuine job requirement. The recent increase in FCRA class actions and state legislation suggests that this issue will not go away soon. Generally, you should begin to limit your background checks to those applicants or employees that will have job requirements that they handle significant money or trade secrets or will have significant access to customers’ personal assets. If your business plans to use background checks on applicants or current employees, it is important that you consult with an experienced labor and employment consultant for compliance with all FCRA and applicable state requirements. Then properly run that background check on that good applicant, get great results and put her to work! Content contributed by Wishart, Norris, Henninger & Pittman, P.A., which partners with owners of closely-held businesses to provide comprehensive legal services in all areas of business, tax, estate planning, succession planning, purchases and sales of businesses, real estate, family law, and litigation. For more information, contact Eric Bass, J.D., M.B.A., at 704-364-0010 or visit www.wnhplaw.com.
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Leadership Insights Networking 3:30-4:00 PM | Program 4:00-6:00 PM February 15, 2012
2012 Winter Session | By Invitation Only
Health Care Reform: An Update from “The Hill” These times are especially challenging for business leaders like you, trying to deliver revenue growth in a down economy—a tough situation requiring the full engagement of your knowledge and skills.
Michael Foresman Vice President of Sales Cigna HealthCare of the Carolinas
Joe Toole New Business Manager Cigna HealthCare of the Carolinas
N. Keith Sharpe Vice President Employee Benefits Division Knauff Insurance Agency, lnc.
• 112th Congress Legislative Update (Near-Term Agenda and Longer-Term Agenda) • Court Rulings and Possible Schedule
Join us for the winter series of Leadership Insights to learn how to better deliver your results. This executive roundtable will provide a forum for CEOs, CFOs and business owners to seek advice and share experiences, just as you would with a corporate board of directors. Come build relationships with each other that will help you grow.
• Exchanges Timeline (Status by State) • Roundtable Discussion
Please contact Joan Haber of Knauff Insurance at (704) 405-0076 or jhaber@knauffins.com for more information.
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hiSoft Technology International Limited
[consultingbiz]
Global Partner for Success
T
User Involvement in IT Testing
he traditional approach to testing a new IT system is to delay end-user involvement until the final test phase, typically referred to as a User Acceptance Test. Until then, testing remains the responsibility of the project team and exposure to the new system is limited. The premise behind this approach is straightforward…don’t let the users see the new system until it’s stable and works well. But doing so sacrifices opportunities to enhance testing and change management efforts. A better approach is to involve users in the testing process, but do it in a controlled way. Key Benefits There are many benefits to involving end-users in system testing. Some are obvious but others may not be readily apparent. Let’s review the key ones. End-users approach a new system differently than the project team because it is a tool to perform their jobs. This perspective helps identify issues while the project is still underway, when it’s easier and cheaper to fix defects. Including users in testing and helping shape the new system is a powerful way to create positive change agents. It gives users a sense of ownership in the process. Building a core support group within the user base will help increase acceptance once the system goes live. Being part of testing also gives users an opportunity to get accustomed to the new system in a safe environment. They get to practice before it counts toward their job performance. Once the system goes live, not only will those users be more prepared, but they can help others adapt. This will mitigate the typical post go-live performance dip and lessen the load on technical support. Finally, since testing usually begins prior to training, users that are involved in testing will have a solid knowledge base and get more out of the training experience. Proactive Approach So how do you effectively involve users in testing? The key is to proactively manage every aspect of the experience. Here are some guidelines to follow: ■ Involve users early in the process but not too early. If the project adopts a typical multi-phase test plan, the ideal time to involve users is phase two when testing usually becomes more functional in nature, rather than purely technical. It’s possible to involve users from the start but only if the system is already fairly stable. ■ Identify a cross-section of areas for users to test. But shield them, at first, from those that are not as stable. As testing progresses, broaden the areas in which they’re involved. ■ Prepare. Understand that users will likely have little knowledge of the system by that point. Train users to ensure they understand objectives, test procedures and tools. Define what testing success means and how to spot it. Distribute supporting documentation.
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■ Monitor progress closely. Communicate with users frequently to help them understand testing results and gauge their experience. Solicit feedback but stick to requirements and designs. Testing is not an opportunity to raise new requirements. Listen to their issues and desired modifications but adhere to a predefined change control process. ■ Consider users’ inexperience when creating the test schedule. Allow more time to execute test scripts. Plan for project members to spend time with users to address issues and enforce good practices.
Theodore Frangulescu, Senior Managing Consultant in the U.S. Consulting Division
■ Have a clear process to report defects. Ensure that project members are on hand to clarify and coach users on what they’re seeing and how it relates to specific system functionality. ■ Start with a small group of users then expand. Do not rely on users as your core test team at the beginning. As testing progresses, gradually layer on more responsibilities. Risks and Mitigation Strategies Involving end-users in testing doesn’t come without risk. Let’s review the common ones and how to avoid them. › Users get exposed to problem areas and report back to peers and management, creating unnecessary change management problems. The way to mitigate this risk is to control the areas to which users are exposed and start with those that are robust and stable. As defects arise, ensure users understand the implications and how big or small a problem really is. Maintain a positive attitude and remind users that the system improves every day. › The rigor of user testing may be inadequate. Most business users typically have little or no IT testing experience. Don’t take for granted that users understand the purpose of testing and what a defect is. The tools to mitigate this risk are communication and education. › If users are not dedicated to testing on a full-time basis, they can be distracted by their day-to-day job responsibilities. Account for this when building the test plan. Be prepared to adjust workloads and assignments as necessary. Test execution plans typically have little slack and missed deadlines can easily have a snowball effect. It is important to build contingency into the test execution plan. Including end-users when testing a new system can help a project immensely, and build goodwill across the organization. The critical success factor is to adopt a hands-on approach to managing user testing and facilitate the best possible experience. Content contributed by hiSoft Technology International Limited, a consulting services firm. For more information, contact Theodore Frangulescu, Senior Managing Consultant in the U.S. Consulting Division, at patrick.sullivan@hisoft.com or 704-944-3155 or visit www.hisoft.com.
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[webbiz]
Knowmad Advancing Business Online
Inexpensive Real-Time Market Research dvertising on search engines has always been a great way to jumpstart online visibility and generate leads. Busy business buyers are using the Internet as their primary research tool to solve business problems. Pay-per-click (PPC) Diona Kidd is a quick way to get in front of potential buyers Managing Partner by targeting the searcher’s real-time interest. Did you know PPC is also a great tool to do quick and inexpensive market research, refine a keyword strategy, and get new content ideas? Market Research Test out product names, benefits, market appeal and marketing offers quickly by running ad campaigns tied to landing pages with a clear call-to-action for visitors. Measure how many times the ads are clicked and the action is taken to see which products, benefits and offers are most compelling. Keyword Strategy PPC can be used to discover new keyword combinations, long tail keyword opportunities and test keywords for conversions. New keywords and long tail opportunities can be discovered by using different keyword matching options and reviewing the results. The fastest way to test keyword performance is to use them in search engine ads and create a landing page with an attractive callto-action offer. Content Ideas Because pay-per-click is actual search data related to your target keywords, it contains valuable insight into the needs of your target audience. Keywords and phrases from the PPC campaign can be used for blog titles and content planning.
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Think Pay-Per-Click is Dead?
Think Again.
“It’s too expensive.” “It doesn’t work.” Most of us have heard from a friend, who heard from a friend, a horror story about pay-per-click advertising. “Sally sunk $30,000 into Google AdWords and it didn’t work.” I’m sure your friend was right. I’ve heard these stories too, and I can understand why some people think pay-per-click is dead. Pay-per-click (PPC) requires constant attention and, when managed poorly or forgotten, it is very costly. If you don’t have the time or expertise to manage it, don’t do it! Or, educate yourself to learn more about your options and their pay-offs. Budget Management Setting a budget, instead of letting the software manage your budget, ensures that only a set amount of money is spent. Relevancy is Rewarded Ads closely aligned with page titles and content keywords are considered more relevant, which reduces the cost-per-click. Quality and relevance are rewarded in pay-per-click. Long Tail Keywords Long tail keywords are two- to fiveword phrases that are less popular and less competitive than shorter, more commonly used phrases. Targeting long tail keywords is far more cost-effective and results in higher quality traffic because they target more informed searchers who are further along in the buying process. Geographic Targeting Geographic targeting (geo-targeting) is useful when a business is targeting a specific market for sales. This option prevents the ad from receiving unwanted click-throughs from searchers outside of the target market area. Content Networks Content networks allow ad placement on other websites based on keywords. This is useful if your target buyers are reading these other websites and you can create an offer compelling enough for them to engage the advertisement. Content contributed by Knowmad, a Web strategy, design and Internet marketing company located in Charlotte, N.C. Knowmad guides clients on the most effective ways to advance their business online. For more information, contact Diona Kidd at 704-343-9330 or visit www.knowmad.com/gcb.
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CHARLOTTE’S LEAN SIX SIGMA AUTHORITY LEAN SIGMA PROFESSIONALS It’s About Your Culture | It’s About Trust
704.875.1585
LEAN SIGMA PROFESSIONALS LSSPROFESSIONALS.COM Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina
[bizprofile]
by zenda douglas
On Time and
Marand Builders Has No Room for Mediocrity
■■■■■
On Budget Marand Builders has no room for mediocrity. “We welcome high expectations,” touts Francisco Alvarado, president of Marand Builders, Inc., a $29 million dollar general contractor operating in the Carolinas, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern markets. Marand Builders delivers preconstruction, construction management, design-build and general contracting services within a variety of industry spaces including interiors, institution, retail, commercial and conversions and has begun to venture into health care. The company has completed numerous multi-million dollar facilities including financial institutions, communication facilities, restaurants and airport terminal buildings as well as manufacturing and distribution centers. With its business core in the financial industry, Marand Builders follows its clients’ geographic footprints. “We serve a lot of banks,” Alvarado explains. “As they expand or change hands, there is work to do. Our customers want us to provide the same level of quality work and customer service that we do in the Carolinas in all of their markets. With this expectation, they have given us the opportunities and we have been successful in exceeding their expectations.” Financial clients include Bank of America, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, Branch Banking & Trust, Fifth Third Bank, SunTrust and Peoples Bank. Marand Builders has completed over $100 million in construction projects for the financial industry in the past four yours, according to Alvarado. Other commercial clients include NASCAR and Dell Computers. Marand Builders is also heavily involved with mid- and high-rise office space upfits. Well-known clients include C.B. Richard Ellis, Lincoln Harris and the Lauth Property Group. The company has the expertise to handle LEED projects and has completed many, most recently a Gold LEED project for Fifth Third Bank on Wilkinson Boulevard. Marand Builders is a member of the United States Green Building Council and of the National Minority Supplier Development Council. A Good Foundation “We welcome high expectations,” reiterates Alvarado. “There are three basic principles to our approach: take the necessary time to understand the costumer’s vision and requirements; execute every task with excellence in communications, quality control and customer service; and deliver what is promised. “At the end of the day, we want our customers full satisfaction with their needs and expectations exceeded in every way. “When I first started, I discovered that, with the abundance of work available in the construction industry, a certain level of mediocrity had settled in. I wanted to go in the opposite direction.” Alvarado says he also found that too often people in the construction industry brought excellent technical and craftsmanship to the table, but were less likely to have the necessary business ➤ and financial skills to fully succeed.
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Marand is a full service General Contractor with Headquarters in Charlotte, NC. We serve the Carolinas, the Mid-Atlantic, & the Southeastern Markets
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Commercial Retail Healthcare Institutional Interiors
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Francisco Alvarado CEO, Owner Marand Builders “I spoke with many talented people who didn’t know if they were making money or not,” he says in amazement. With 14 years of corporate experience behind him, Alvarado knew he could offer these skills to the industry. “My expertise is in running companies and, along the way, I’ve learned a lot about construction. A successful company requires a team effort that starts with a proper execution of the trade and finishes with the proper management of the business,” says Alvarado. By 2008-2009, the economic recession had ripped through the construction industry and as Alvarado describes it, “The only work that was available was public work and we proactively went after it.” The company completed a $5.3 million high school project (Piedmont High School) in Union County, terminal projects at CharlotteDouglas International Airport and Stanly County Airport, as well as construction projects for Gaston County Schools. “There’s an old Spanish saying that ‘Turbulent waters benefit the fishermen.’ That held true for us,” says Alvarado. “After closing our hatches and taking a step back to analyze the future, we decided not to just stay inside and weather storm, but rather to go out and have more influence of our own fate.” Not only did the company increase its number of customers, but it expanded its geographic footprint. And importantly, Marand Builders made the strategic decision to go into the health care space. “We are very excited over the development of a joint venture with Miami-based OHL-Arellano Construction Company which specializes in health care construction.
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“When I first started, I discovered that, with the abundance of work available in the construction industry, a certain level of mediocrity had settled in. I wanted to go in the opposite direction.” ~Francisco Alvarado Owner and CEO
OHL-Arellano’s extensive experience includes building hospitals, medical office buildings, clinics and laboratories,” says Alvarado. “This joint venture provides our healthcare customers with local presence, technical and financial resources and most importantly, our long-term commitment to serve the health care community in the Carolinas,” continues Alvarado. Arellano is owned by OHL, a $6.8 billion company headquartered in Spain. The company has a presence in 27 countries. Alvarado expects this joint-venture to open doors in the very challenging healthcare industry. “It’s difficult to penetrate the health care market because of the complexities of building these types of facilities,” explains Alvarado, also noting that working in an active facility such as a hospital, without disruption to services and staff, can only be learned through years of experience. “Companies that go into this market have to make a full commitment to understand the industry and meet the guidelines,” says Alvarado. “We’re that company. Our plan for the future is to
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solidify our position in the various markets and exceed customer expectations.” Building a Future Born in Chicago, Alvarado’s family moved to San Salvador, El Salvador, when he was 5 and they lived there until he was 18. His mother sent him to a full-immersion German school where only German was spoken during school hours. Spanish was spoken at night. At that time in his life, Alvarado did not see the point of his involvement with German school or the German language. He started to learn English during eighth grade but recalls it was rather difficult. He made much more progress linguistically when he came to the U. S. the summer before he enrolled in Louisiana State University. It was from there he graduated with a B.S. in electrical engineering. After graduation Alvarado went to work for two years as an electrical project engineer with Formosa Plastics Corporation in Baton Rouge, La., in the construction of power stations and electrical designs for production lines. Two years later, in 1985, he was offered a senior electrical engineer position with Hoechst Celanese in Delaware in charge of design and construction of new lines for the production of PVC films. Within two years he was promoted to marketing manager worldwide for PVC films and moved to Hoechst’s headquarters in Germany, were he resided for the next eight years. “They recognized management aptitude and potential in me, plus I spoke German, so I was moved from the technical side of the company to the business management side in marketing ➤ and sales.
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“I started to love my mother a little bit more,” says Alvarado, shaking his head and having to laugh. Alvarado married his fiancé who had joined him on the journey and had two sons while in Germany. During those years he traveled extensively for the company. In 1995, Francisco Alvarado returned to the United States on a two-year assignment as a business director of North America PVC/A-PET Films for Hoechst Celanese, with the task of selling the business unit. The return trip brought him to Charlotte. Two years later, with assignment completed, he decided to stay. “I wanted to do something on my own,” says Alvarado, although he confesses he didn’t know what that would be. “My first impulse was to stay in the chemical and films industry but nothing was really panning out,” he remembers. It didn’t take him long to figure it out. Alvarado had landed back in America in the heyday of construction. “Construction was going on everywhere,” he says. “It was all around the city, in the news and all around in my neighborhood!” Soon, he started to engage with people in the construction business and then made the important career decision to become a general contractor and to start Marand Builders. Building a Legacy In addition to great weather, beautiful surroundings and a cosmopolitan flair, Alvarado considered Charlotte fertile grounds to start a business and raise a family. “For those who are committed to being involved and investing in the community, the return is great,” says Alvarado, although he admits that there are challenges for newcomers. “Charlotte’s conservative nature and loyalty to previous relationships can make it challenging to penetrate certain markets. Perseverance, commitment to your plan, and economy oscillations, coupled with generation changes, create opportunities.” Alvarado manages a diverse staff of 55. “We are capable of handling all the sectors we service which equates to customer satisfaction and repeat business.” Indeed, Marand Builders enjoys a 95 percent rate of repeat business. Culturally diverse and entrepreneurial in spirit,
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“A team approach to building that is composed of clients, architects, vendors, subcontractors and general contractors, coupled with good communication, is the perfect formula for a successful and enjoyable job. This is very important since we are only as good as our last job.” ~Francisco Alvarado Owner and CEO
Marand Builders’ workplace culture fosters progressive solutions to goals and challenges. “We are not of the ‘This is the way we’ve always done it’ mentality,” says Alvarado. “From preconstruction through execution and closing of projects, we are always questioning ourselves as to how we can be more effective.” This approach has led the company to invest in technology, a forward leap as the construction industry is relatively slow in adopting new technologies. By the end of the first quarter of this year, the company plans to implement phase one of its technology update initiative. “The goal of becoming a high-tech construction company is to provide our team members with the tools to communicate from anywhere and at anytime with customers, vendors, architects or other team members,” says Alvarado. “Proper and timely communication is imperative for the completion of successful projects.” Throughout its geographical expansions, Marand Builders has been careful to maintain its culture by selecting team members with the proper attitude and skills, as well as using a modular approach for training the Marand Builders’ way of doing business. “A team approach to building that is
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composed of clients, architects, vendors, subcontractors and general contractors, coupled with good communication, is the perfect formula for a successful and enjoyable job. This is very important since we are only as good as our last job,” says Alvarado. With respect to being a minority business owner, Alvarado says that Marand Builders is a high-performance general contractor that happens to be owned by a minority member of the business community. “It’s important to have a minority certificate, especially if you are working for companies with minority inclusion programs,” says Alvarado. “It has helped to open some doors, but it’s our record of performance that sparks their interest and leads them to become customers.” Outside of work, Alvarado is equally committed to Marand Builders’ mantra of “Doing what we say we do, on time, with high quality.” He sits on the executive committee of the Charlotte Chamber and is a member of the board of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. He is past chair of Latin American Chamber of Commerce and in the early stages of developing a charitable health care initiative in association with area physicians. biz Zenda Douglas is a Charlotte-based freelance writer.
Marand Builders, Inc. 4215-B Stuart Andrew Blvd. Charlotte, N.C. 28217 Phone: 704-525-1824 Principal: Francisco Alvarado, Owner and CEO Locations: Charlotte, N.C. (headquarters); Nashville, Tenn.; Kennesaw, Ga.; Atlantic Beach, Fla. Established: 1999 Revenue: $29 Million Employees: 55 Business: Full-service general contractor operating in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern U.S. with expertise in preconstruction, general contracting, construction management and design-build of commercial, retail, institution, interiors and health care space. www.marandbuilders.com
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Potter & Company, P.A.
[accountingbiz]
Accounting, Tax and Consulting Solutions
›Starting a New Business in 2012? Read this first.
N
ew business owners have many important decisions to make to get their business off the ground. One of the most important choices is the form of legal entity the business will take. Three of the most popular entity types are limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and Subchapter S corporations. C corporations are still available; however, they have lost popularity in recent years due to a less favorable tax structure compared to ‘pass-through’ entities. Limited liability companies, limited partnerships and S corporations all provide liability protection and are taxed as ‘pass-through’ entities, but there are many important differences between them. Limited Liability Company A limited liability company (LLC) is a hybrid entity in that it can be structured to resemble a corporation for owner liability purposes and a partnership for federal tax purposes. The owners of an LLC (called “members”) are generally not liable for the debts of the business except to the extent of their investment. Thus, the owners can operate the business with the security of knowing that their personal assets are protected from the entity’s creditors. This protection is far greater than that afforded by general partnerships. LLCs can be treated as partnerships for federal tax purposes. LLC earnings ‘pass-through’ to the members and are reported on the members’ individual tax returns. LLC losses ‘pass-through’ to the members as well and are deductible on their individual tax returns subject to certain limitations. An LLC that is taxable as a partnership can allocate, among other items, income and losses to its members by special allocation. Also, LLCs are not subject to the restrictions the Internal Revenue Code imposes on S corporations regarding the number of shareholders and the types of ownership interests that may be issued. Limited Partnership A limited partnership (LP) can be the most suitable entity for a new business venture that raises capital from private investors but also provides those investors with limited liability protection. LPs allow you to raise capital to fund the business without giving up control or being saddled with considerable start-up debt. A general partner assumes the role of managing and operating the business. Investors who contribute capital receive limited partnership interests
Key Entity Differences
in exchange for their contributions. Limited partners are able to share in the entity’s financial results without managing the business or risking personal liability. The general partner is usually personally liable for the entity’s debts. The risk of this liability can be minimized by: (i) creating a corporation to manage the partnership and serve as general partner, and (ii) procuring adequate insurance to cover potential liabilities arising from operation of the business. The partnership is a ‘pass-through’ entity for tax purposes, with each general and limited partner including their share of income, deductions, credits, and losses, on their individual tax return. Subchapter S Corporation In an Subchapter S corporation (S Corp), the shareholders are not personally liable for corporate debts. In order to receive this protection, the corporation should be a viable entity separate from its shareholders and incorporated in accordance with applicable state regulations. S Corp shareholders report their percentage shares of profits and losses on their personal tax returns. S Corp profits are taxed directly to the shareholder whether or not the profits are distributed from the entity. S Corp losses are deductible by shareholders to the extent of their basis which includes what they paid for their stock and any loans made to the entity. Losses that cannot be deducted because they exceed shareholder basis are carried forward and can be deducted when there is sufficient basis. No special allocations to shareholders are permitted. An S Corp can lose its status if the original shareholders transfer stock to an ineligible shareholder such as another corporation, partnership, or nonresident alien or if shareholder distributions are not distributed according to ownership percentages. If the S election is terminated, the corporation becomes a taxable entity (a C corporation). Shareholders of a C corporation are not able to deduct losses and corporate earnings could be subject to double taxation. To conclude, the entity choice will depend upon the nature and size of the business entity, the level of activity of the participants, consideration of tax consequences, concerns for succession and management, as well as potential liability protection. The proper choice of business entity is a critical decision, one which shouldn’t be made without solid professional advice. A little planning ahead of time can alleviate unexpected problems in the future.
LLC
Limited Partnership
S-Corporation
Limited Liability
Yes
Limited partners – yes General partners – no
Yes
Income Taxation
At member level only
At partner level only
At shareholder level only
Deduction of Losses for Owners
Yes – to extent of basis – may be limited
Yes – to extent of basis – may be limited
Yes – to extent of basis and loans from shareholders – may be limited
Entity Liabilities Increase Basis?
Increase in basis for share of entity liabilities
Increase in basis for share of entity liabilities
No increase for entity liabilities (only for loans from shareholders)
Special Allocation of Income and Losses to Owners Permitted
Yes (if substantial economic effect)
Yes (if substantial economic effect)
No Allocation at ownership percentage basis only
Cash Distributions to Owners
Non-taxable distributions can be made Non-taxable distributions can be made Non-taxable to extent of basisaccording to member agreement to distributions have to be made pro rata according to member agreement to the extent of partner basis in stock ownership percentage the extent of member basis
Self-employment Taxes
Paid on member guaranteed payments and for entity flow through income
Paid on general partners guaranteed payments and for entity flow through income. Limited partners are not subject to self-employment tax
c o n s t r u c t i ve c a t a ly s t fo r c re a t i ve c o n s c i o u s n e s s
Paid on owner salaries but not for entity flow through income
■■■ Content contributed by Samuel M. Leder, CPA, Partner with Potter & Company, P.A., a locally based certified public accounting firm offering core services of audit, business consulting, tax, and financial analysis. For more information, contact him at 704-786-8189 or visit www.gotopotter.com.
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[bizprofile]
by suzanne fulton
Protecting Proprietary Information
Prying Eyes
from PROSHRED Charlotte Supplies Trustworthy Secure Shredding
P
eople want your company’s information—some not in a good way. They want to peek at your trade secrets or steal your customers’ bank and credit card numbers or your employees’ Social Security numbers and more. The Federal Trade Commission recently reported that identity theft is the number one most common complaint in America and more than 72 percent of identity theft stems from the paper stream. Are you and your employees making it easy to pull confidential data from your trash or recycling bin? Do your employees think it is too much trouble to separate out the sensitive from the non-sensitive paper for shredding? Would you trust every office employee to make a smart decision consistently about what is or is not sensitive? Are your employees even aware of the importance of ensuring that propriety information is destroyed properly? As an executive, you may know that all businesses in the United States—including home-based operations—are required by law to properly protect and dispose of confidential information. Do you or your administrative staff know what constitutes “properly dispose”? Facilitating Legal Compliance The North Carolina Identity Theft Protection Act (2005) requires businesses to take reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized use of employee and customer information, including “burning, pulverizing, or shredding of papers…so that information cannot be practicably read or reconstructed.” Of equal importance in the Act is that it stipulates that businesses must have policies and procedures in place to protect against unauthorized access to private information. Without secure destruction procedures in place, consider what might happen to your organization when private information comes before the eyes of a disgruntled and revengeful employee or even an unethical visitor or cleaning person. PROSHRED is a 20-year-old national franchise that pioneered mobile shredding, making document destruction a secure, easy and non-obtrusive process for its clients. PROSHRED is the first and only secure on-site document shredding company in America to meet the rigorous standards of the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) 9001 certification for quality management and customer satisfaction. PROSHRED also holds industry certification from National Association for Information Destruction. The corporate office maintains that the company “is the most secure, convenient and cost-effective method for destroying and recycling confiden➤ tial documents and materials.”
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PROSHRED Charlotte, owned by David Wright, has been serving the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina for six years. As a franchisee to a professionally run, well-established national entity, Wright’s company uses procedures that have been proven to be effective. His company, like all PROSHRED franchisees, is subject to regular audits by ISO as well as by the franchiser’s corporate representatives. Wright also brings solid business management experience to the table. Prior to purchasing the PROSHRED Charlotte franchise, he owned and operated three Jersey Mike Sub Shops for eight years after his stint in the corporate world. He sold the sub shop and bought the PROSHRED Charlotte franchise because he preferred a business-to-business type of enterprise. To devise the best arrangement to protect your files through shredding, Wright’s company can send their customer service professional to your offices to learn your needs and devise a solution that suits you. “We look at the client’s use of their documents and provide advice, always trying to save the client money,” he explains. “Sometimes we help a client start from scratch,” says Wright. “For a legal office we worked with recently, we educated the office manager, who had no process in place to secure the documents.” Destruction and shredding of legal record documents is generally essential in order to meet the requirements of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA). Some companies ask PROSHRED to be a vendor because their in-house shredding policies are not followed, as illustrated by comments of Brett Wilson of Custom Manufacturing & Engineering: “The service that PROSHRED provides has saved me personally several hours per month. When I look back at the way we did our shredding before, I just cringe. It was a central point for failure. “If our one shredding machine was busy or not convenient, I worried that documents would get put in a stack somewhere or thrown out with the regular trash. Now, not only have we taken the menial task away, but we have the peace of mind that confidential documents are disposed of properly.” PROSHRED Charlotte’s primary function is to perform on-site shredding, but customers also have the option of dropping off hard drives, documents and CDs at the company site on Clanton Road or at the regular community shred events in which PROSHRED Charlotte participates. In fact, Wright is looking at moving his company to a larger, still centrally located
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David Wright Owner PROSHRED Charlotte
“As a locally-owned company, we are nimble and very responsive to customers. A live person always answers the phone and, after business hours, it is my cell phone that is reached.” ~David Wright Owner
site so he can better accommodate those who prefer to drop off documents and computers. “It’s more often residents than businesses who bring their documents to the site,” says Wright. “An especially busy time for personal and community shredding are April and May, after taxes are paid,” he adds. The Process PROSHRED Charlotte customer service professionals are trained to guide your administrative staff to help your company establish and maintain a process to keep your records secure. When a PROSHRED Charlotte employee responds to a request for a consult or pick up, he or she appears wearing an identifying badge as well as a uniform. All employees have been
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thoroughly trained, background-checked, drug-tested, and have passed a rigorous annual certification exam and are bonded. Each customer service professional signs a Customer Confidentiality Agreement pledging to protect each customer’s sensitive material and maintain total confidentiality. Nevertheless, in PROSHRED Charlotte’s default process, it is you or your employee who is the last one to touch your company’s documents before shredding happens. And it’s not just paper documents that PROSHRED Charlotte can securely destroy. The powerful teeth of the machines easily chew up CDs, DVDs, microfilm and more—even bulldog binder clips. Sensors are advanced and, if ® warranted, the machine will automatically reverse then resume the flow several times until a potential jam is prevented. For destruction of hard drives and other computer equipment as well as digital photo copy machines, a PROSHRED Charlotte technician comes to your facility, collects, removes and secures your equipment. They remove and physically destroy the hard drives, rendering the data completely unrecoverable. The process can even be completed at your facility. The remaining hardware is demanufactured, sorted by material type and then recycled by partners who are certified to comply with federal and state electronic waste regulations. More details about the process are available on the company’s website.
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For document destruction, special collection containers are brought to your site, designed to be a secure repository where no eyes can view the contents. Once the paper is dumped in, only the PROSHRED technician can unlock the container door or lid. The bins of paper are taken to your parking lot to the branded truck and shredded on the spot within the vehicle. Company staff are welcome to monitor the whole process and even view the shred job going on inside via a closed circuit monitor mounted on the truck.
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Recycling is the next step in PROSHRED’s process. Their truck drivers offload the shredded material at a nearby recycling center, which separates out the paper from non-paper and forwards it to a mill. Tissue paper and brown paper towels are the most common product produced by the mill from the office paper mix. ➤ To enable you prove to authorities that
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the shred occurred, your company receives a signed certificate of destruction and, for clients with an ongoing pick up schedule, an environmental certificate reporting about the number of trees saved via the recycling. ROI and Other Benefits PROSHRED corporate claims that the average cost for your own staff to shred 100 lbs. of paper in your office once per month would be $171.12. Engaging PROSHRED Charlotte affords you peace of mind, lawful compliance and efficiencies. It costs about the same as contracting with a coffee service. Wright notes also, “Personnel become more productive on other matters as a result. They are pleased to see the PROSHRED Charlotte technicians arrive.” Part of PROSHRED Charlottes’s host of ancillary services is training your employees and leaving behind a DVD about the procedures to ensure that new employees are able to learn the steps and value. For medical offices and other customers that must comply with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic
“We look at the client’s use of their documents and provide advice, always trying to save the client money. Sometimes we help a client start from scratch. For a legal office, we educated the office manager, who had no process in place to secure the documents.” ~David Wright Owner
and Clinical Health) regulations, PROSHRED Charlotte offers a compliance package that includes an employee training DVD, a generic procedure with employee acknowledgement form, and locked shredding containers for an on-site shredding service. In the case of medical records being discarded, it is vital that the record destruction process also be managed with utmost care and professionalism. It is law that health care organizations handle PHI
Galway Hooker offers a multitude of businesses under one roof, with the restaurant, the Comedy Zone, and a full service catering facility. We can always count on Daniel Ratliff & Company to manage all of our businesses correctly and efciently.This allows us to focus on our day to day business and stay on top of what’s most important, our customers!
(Protected Health Information) patient medical records and documents with the highest regard for patient privacy. HIPAA requires that this protected medical information be properly destroyed prior to disposal. Changes to HIPAA put more emphasis on the need for covered entities, including medical clinics, to train their employees on the proper disposal of PHI. Failures to provide such training could be considered willful neglect and result in the highest level of mandatory fines. Organizations of all types and sizes in the greater Charlotte area use PROSHRED Charlotte. Service can be tailored to the needs of the company. Larger firms are likely to schedule recurring pickups/destruction of their documents; smaller entities usually request once-a-month service or “as needed.” Companies also have the option to engage PROSHRED Charlotte to pick up all office paper—whether or not in the secured containers. Such a “Shred All Program” costs only a couple of dollars more, reports Wright. Wright points out that he offers other features that differ from his competition. “As a locally-owned company, we are nimble and very responsive to customers. A live person always answers the phone and, after business hours, it is my cell phone that is reached,” he says. His company testimonials routinely echo that of businessman John Cheffer: “Your company was the most responsive and professional of three other companies I contacted. Your service was as stated; I expect as much from an ISO certified vendor. I have recommended you to others. I appreciated your patience and advice.” PROSHRED is a member of the Greater Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, and David Wright and his family reside in Charlotte. Off hours, you might see David and wife Julie carting their kayaks in search of white water. biz Suzanne Fulton is a Charlotte-based freelance writer.
~Chris Boukedes, co-owner The Galway Hooker Irish Pub, LLC
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Daniel, Ratliff & Company 301 S. McDowell St., Ste. 502, Charlotte, NC 28204 704.371.5000 www.danielratliff.com
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DW2, Inc. dba PROSHRED Charlotte 801 Clanton Rd., Ste. C112 Charlotte, N.C. 28217 Phone: 704-940-5617 Principal: David Wright, Owner Employees: 8 In Business: 6 years locally Business: Secure file shredding, storage and scanning for businesses and individuals. www.proshred.com
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Photo: Wayne Morris
Mark A. Pringle Vice President Charlotte Energy Hub Siemens Energy, Inc.
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by heather head
[bizprofile]
C
Siemens Charlotte Generates More Than Turbines
atchy phrases like “workforce development” and “employee empowerment” get tossed around in business quite a bit, but at the Siemens Charlotte Energy Hub, nothing gets tossed around lightly—not safety precautions, not the multi-ton sections of turbine equipment, and certainly not the concept of workforce development. In 2005, when the company talked of moving the Siemens Charlotte plant to Europe, it was workforce development—combined with lean manufacturing and better process control—that turned the plant around, demonstrating that Charlotte is a powerful place to be. Siemens, the German-based global behemoth, involves itself in so many industry sectors that nearly everyone knows the name, while few can say what exactly they do. With 405,000 employees in 190 countries and over $100 billion in sales each year, they describe themselves as a “global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy, health care and cities/infrastructure sectors.” What Siemens does is complicated. But what the Siemens Charlotte Energy Hub does is really quite straightforward: They make turbines and generators for energy plants. Specifically, they take raw chunks of metal, roughly shaped, machine them down to extremely tight specifications, and assemble them into gas- and steam-powered turbines and generators, which are then shipped around the world to provide decades of energy service.
nergizin the
Siemens makes turbines and generators for energy plants. Specifically, they take raw chunks of metal, roughly shaped, machine them down to extremely tight specifications, and assemble them into gas- and steampowered turbines and generators, which are then shipped around the world to provide decades of energy service.
Workforce
Generating a Return The Charlotte plant has mastered what it takes to produce goods in a competitive global market where most manufacturing has gone overseas, but it hasn’t been easy. In 2002, Siemens Charlotte cranked out 80 generators. In 2003, the market collapsed and the organization had to cut 350 jobs to make ends meet. By 2005, talk had turned to closing the Charlotte plant and moving its operations to Europe. That’s when Mark Pringle was brought in as director of operations and given a chance to turn things around. He convinced Siemens leadership to give the Charlotte plant responsibility for order management, supply management, and all the support functions necessary for production. At the same time, he promoted the adoption of lean manufacturing principles, creating a more efficient production process. Meanwhile, says Pringle, the new leadership team began the process of “rebuilding employee trust.” In the prior several years, management had cut back on employee benefits and in other ways attempted to squeeze cost out of the employees creating, in Pringle’s words, “an ‘us versus them’ mentality.” As a result, many in the Siemens global leadership thought Europe would be a better employment climate for the plant. Pringle saw things differently. He says that rather than punch a clock and get through the day with a minimum of effort, the Siemens Charlotte’s workforce were willing to put in a fair day’s work and to contribute to productivity, but they needed to feel like their ➤ contribution was welcomed and honored.
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the fact that they have been achieved in what is a notably challenging workforce and manufacturing environment. The energy industry in particular faces significant problems in the U.S. thanks to an aging workforce and the availability of cheap labor overseas. Partnerships with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) and Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) represent a few examples of initiatives that are continuing to bolster Charlotte as a hub for energy workforce development.
“I was convinced that if they got excited about what they could accomplish,” he says, “they would even do extra. It’s a positive work ethic.” But when he first arrived, all that potential was wrapped up in distrust between management and Nov. 16, 2011 Opening of 450,000-square-foot Gas Turbine production plant in Charlotte employees. “We would go out and have meetings in the shop, and the employees would stand there with arms crossed and leaning back,” he remembers, “body language saying ‘I am not with you. I am looking for something that I can attack.’” Pringle says they began to change that attitude simply by showing that management could be trusted to do what they said they were going to do, and that they valued everyone’s input. Part of the process included an initiative called Kaizen, a Japanese word meaning “improvement.” Under Pringle’s leadership, Siemens Charlotte began facilitating regular “Kaizen weeks,” during which employees were given permission to stop production in order to look at their processes and uncover better ways of doing things. For example, a group of machinists looked at their work station during a Kaizen week and realized that they were wasting time walking around the work station gathering tools for each portion of the job. During their Kaizen week, they designed a tool box that containing everything they needed and located exactly where they needed it. Management gave them the resources to create a prototype, then approved a budget and helped implement the idea. Kaizen projects like this benefit the organization by improving processes and increasing efficiency, while at the same time giving employees a sense of ownership. “People are more motivated by seeing that they are accomplishing and creating something than just by the salary that they are getting. You turn their minds on to participating,” says Pringle. As a result of the changes, Siemens was able to reduce the number of hours it takes to build a generator to 30 percent of what it took in 2005, making the Charlotte plant one of the most cost-competitive plants in the Siemens global network. By 2008, Siemens had decided to remain in the Charlotte market. In 2010, Siemens set their stake in Charlotte in an even bigger way with the announcement of a new gas turbine plant, which, with a recently completed expansion, totals 1.2 million square feet and an investment of $350 million. In January 2012, Siemens Charlotte announced it was part of a $1 billion sale of 10 gas turbines to a combined-cycle energy plant in Saudi Arabia. Workforce Development Siemens Charlotte’s accomplishments are all the more remarkable for
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Siemens has co-designed a program with UNCC’s Energy Production and Infrastructure Center that can deliver highly trained engineers and other skilled employees to Siemens upon graduation. Similar programs at CPCC and other local colleges likewise prepare students for careers in energy. But young people don’t have to save up for a four-year degree to benefit from Siemens educational programs. The Siemens pilot apprenticeship program recruits students straight out of high school who may not be planning a college career, but have the aptitude for highly skilled work. They are offered hourly jobs on the plant floor, and simultaneously work toward an associate degree in mechatronics through a partnership with CPCC. After three and a half years, they graduate from the program with the skills and ability to run the machines and operate the control systems inside the plant. Once inside the organization, employees are engaged in a variety of programs that encourage inter-generational knowledge sharing and relationship building. Pringle says, “At one time, employees believed that knowledge hoarding provided job security. Now, skilled employees are successfully encouraged to engage in developing standard operating
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procedures and documentation to facilitate knowledge transfer.” Pringle explains that initially, these ideas were pushed out to employees, but, “The interesting thing to watch was how more and more people started running with it. Now our people have grown into a culture where they improve and learn and share on their own, because things are under their own control.”
their role in that development, and believes the city is well poised to capitalize on that title. “We have 250 businesses here that have to do with energy, which is near the top for U.S. cities,” he says. “And the education infrastructure is here. We have a kind of fraternity of folks in this city that are in the energy business, and we get to know each other and see where we can help each other.” For instance, in January an Italian company called Turbocoating will begin construction on a $30 million factory in Hickory that will provide parts for the gas turbines Siemens builds. The deal came about thanks in part to a coalition of interested energy-related businesses who coordinated
to demonstrate the benefits of a Charlotte location. Just recently, Pringle gave a plant tour to a group of representatives from another energy company that is considering moving to Charlotte. Executives from Duke Energy, Piedmont Gas and Celgard had joined the group. “The more energy companies that come here,” explains Pringle, “the more we can develop the things we all need.” Pringle is bullish on Charlotte as the New Energy Capital, but he says we’re not quite there yet. Transportation infrastructure needs improvement, as roads and public transport haven’t kept pace with Charlotte’s growth. Plus, rail is cur➤ rently the only option for transporting product
“The interesting thing to watch was how more and more people started running with it. Now our people have grown into a culture where they improve and learn and share on their own, because things are under their own control.” ~Mark A. Pringle Vice President In addition to these initiatives, Siemens has made diversity a part of their mission, seeking qualified employees among diverse backgrounds. For an industry that has traditionally been highly white male dominated, Siemens is making great strides. Among the six individuals currently employed through the pilot apprenticeship program, two are female and four are Hispanic. Similar improvements can be seen throughout the organization. New Energy Capital In Charlotte, Siemens has been visible as a leader in the push for our city to be known as the New Energy Capital. Pringle says he’s proud of
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“We have 250 businesses here that have to do with energy, which is near the top for U.S. cities. And the education infrastructure is here. We have a kind of fraternity of folks in this city that are in the energy business, and we get to know each other and see where we can help each other.” ~Mark A. Pringle Vice President
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SPECIALISTS IN VOICE NETWORKS FOR 33 YEARS. out of Charlotte, and only one rail line serves the city. Pringle would like to see more options. “We’ll know we can truly claim the title of Energy Capital when anyone in the whole United States thinks of Charlotte first when they think of energy,” he says. To get to that point, he believes city leaders will need to focus on getting the word out about Charlotte’s great energy education infrastructure, the resources available here, and all the great reasons to bring energy companies to our city. “I told the gentlemen this morning that if you made a matrix of all the attributes of the city you wanted to move your companies to— international air travel, standard of living, ease of recruiting, education infrastructure, weather— Charlotte would place high in every category,” says Pringle. He adds that city leaders could design a visual for that matrix and market it to the world.
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Siemens Charlotte in the Future Siemens Charlotte has come a long way since the early 2000s, and they won’t be resting on those laurels. They added 700 new jobs with the plant’s expansion in 2011, and plan to add significant new jobs over the next few years. They’ll be providing $400 million in exports during 2012, including the new contract to Saudi Arabia. To support their growth, and that of Charlotte’s energy hub, Siemens continues to initiate workforce development programs and educational support throughout the region. Currently, they are looking for more high school graduates to join the pilot apprenticeship program preparing for a career in energy. Pringle is enjoying his tenure as head of operations in Charlotte and expects growth to continue. The Charlotte plant produces innovative products that work well in modern environments and create efficiencies for energy plants. One Siemens model of turbine cycles up and down quickly, making it more compatible with sustainable methods of energy generation than old fashioned turbines have been. And because natural gas is a highly efficient form of fuel for turbines, he expects demand for their products to surge very soon. Pringle knows Siemens Charlotte Energy Hub will be ready: “We have an advantage here with a lot of property. We have 450 acres that we own, and we’re not using even half of it right now. We have room to grow.” And thanks in part to the Siemens team’s efforts, Charlotte’s workforce has room to grow too. biz
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Siemens Energy, Inc. Charlotte Energy Hub 5101 Westinghouse Blvd. Charlotte, N.C. 28273 Phone: 704-551-5100 Principal: Mark A. Pringle, Vice President Employees: 1,400 in Charlotte; 400,000+ worldwide In Business: Since 1847 Parent: Siemens AG headquartered in Munich, Germany Business: Providing innovative electronics and electrical engineering products, services, and solutions to the industry, energy, health care, and cities/infrastructure sectors. www.siemens.com/energy/charlotte
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[bizprofile]
by barbara fagan
It was December of 2009 and Dr. Steve Small and his new business partner, Marc Kieffer, were at the Charlotte Mecklenburg School bus depot. It is a huge lot where repairs are done on close to a thousand buses in the system, but Small and Kieffer were in the back where the surplus buses were parked. “It was like a bus graveyard,” Small recalls. “All the old, crusty buses were pushed up against a back fence.” They spotted the 30-foot bus Kieffer had scouted out online and gave it a going over. They knew the bus was an unconventional business expense, but it was perfect for their new roles as owners of a Mellow Mushroom restaurant. Immediately, they bought it. “We found a company here in town called Charlotte Party Bus,” Kieffer continues. “They convert double deckers into party buses, so we towed the bus over there and they took out the drive train, the engine and all the seats. They opened it up on one side and then an art team spray painted it to look like a hippie bus.” “The day it was delivered to the restaurant was a production,” recalls Small. “It was brought in on an 18 wheeler flatbed, lifted off with a forklift and then rolled in on dollies. We had to take the restaurant windows out to get it in.” The bus now enjoys pride of place in the Mellow Mushroom on Selwyn Avenue in Myers Park and the booths nestled inside are a favorite spot for families with kids and apparently some aspiring graffiti artists who have ➤ added their names and doodles to its colorful walls.
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Psychedelic Experience “No two Mellow Mushroom stores look alike,” says Small. “Marc and his wife, who is an interior designer, created the look.” True to the store’s culture, each store is decorated differently, sometimes having a unifying theme to the artwork. Tie-dye and colorful mushrooms are common. “Selwyn store is a ‘road trip’ theme,” Kieffer says and points out the stylized painted road that meanders along the restaurant floor and the concert posters and wall-sized triptych of Woodstock photos above the back booths. “Instead of regular lighting we hung street lights over the booths. And then there’s the bus,” beams Kieffer proudly. In contrast, there are no buses in the other Mellow Mushroom in Charlotte owned by the same investment group. The Ballantyne restaurant which opened in December, has a “Magic Carpet Ride” theme complete with four carpets floating from the 24 foot ceiling, murals of genie lamps and minarets and a glass cylinder with a smoke machine and colored lights to give the effect of a giant hookah pipe. It’s been so popular that some customers have encountered up to two hour waits during the opening weeks. “Right now we’re crazy busy,” Small says, “but it’s going to take some time to see where we’re going to end up.” “The Selwyn store does a lot of night business and is usually ranked at between 10 and 25 in sales of Mellow Mushroom stores nationwide,” Kieffer adds. “I think Ballantyne will be both a lunch and dinner business. Our goal is to have the Ballantyne store be a Top Five store consistently.
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“We have a lot of customer loyalty. Many customers are fans of Mellow Mushroom from other cities and those people are telling their friends. During the opening of Ballantyne, I’ve heard a lot of people saying, ‘We’ve heard about Mellow Mushroom. We want to try it.’” “I grew up with Mellow Mushroom,” says Small. “The pizza is awesome, but it’s also an experience. People come to Mellow Mushroom to eat great pizza or try a new beer, but they also want to see what’s going on.” Flour Power Both Small and Keiffer grew up with Mellow Mushroom in Atlanta, where three college students had started it in 1974 to celebrate fresh stone baked pizzas as an art form and to reflect their eccentric philosophies
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The first location was created out of an old liquor store near Georgia Tech, but long lines and gaining popularity led to the opening of more stores in Atlanta and then expansion around the state and Southeast. By the late ’80s, Mellow Mushroom started offering franchising opportunities and has since grown to 130 stores nationwide in 18 states. “The original Mellow Mushrooms were super funky places but bare bones inside and smaller, maybe 2,500 to 3,000 square feet,” Kieffer explains. “Now each store has a minimum of 25 beers on draft and our Selwyn store is 5,700 square feet. Ballantyne is even larger at 6,500.” The size may have changed but today’s Mellow Mushroom stores have kept their fun and funky roots. Each store is unique but they all have an eclectic ’70s feel evoking the best of that decade.
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(l to r) Marc Kieffer Steven Small Co-Owners Mellow Mushroom Myers Park Mellow Mushroom Ballantyne
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A smiley face wearing an “Easy Rider” motorcycle helmet covers the wall in the Men’s Room of the Selwyn store; a burning bra mural decorates the Ladies’ Room. And the signature characters “Mel O. Mushroom” and “Dude Shroomington” chill out on top of the hippie bus.
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“We have a lot of customer loyalty. Many customers are fans of Mellow Mushroom from other cities and those people are telling their friends. During the opening of Ballantyne, I’ve heard a lot of people saying, ‘We’ve heard about Mellow Mushroom. We want to try it.’”
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Mellow Mushroom stores have also expanded from their college town roots to other markets. “Our customers span the gamut,” says Small. “Pizza appeals to everybody and we all use the same recipe from Atlanta.” “We still get the Queens University kids coming in for the late night menu that has $1.50 slices,” Kieffer points out, “but we get business people coming in to grab a beer and wings after work and people coming in to watch the game. It’s also a family place. The kids line up on Friday nights to watch the guys toss pizzas.” ➤ Both locations offer live music and trivia
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“I grew up with Mellow Mushroom. The pizza is awesome, but it’s also an experience. People come to Mellow Mushroom to eat great pizza or try a new beer, but they also want to see what’s going on.”
nights, as well as beer and wine specials. They are also social media-connected on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and Urban Spoon. “We get corporate support for marketing,” explains Small, “but since our focus is local, we have to come up with the majority of our efforts on our own. We advertise in local publications. We do a lot of sponsorship or trade deals.” “Charlotte is way wired-in,” Small comments. “The word from corporate is that the Charlotte area really uses the Internet and social media.”
“On National Pizza Day,” Kieffer notes, “Mellow Mushroom gave away 25,000 Internet coupons for a free cheese pizza. Our Selwyn store collected more coupons than any store nationwide so you could say people here are online a lot.” A Long, Strange Trip or Kismet? “It seems like I was destined to be involved with Mellow Mushroom,” says Kieffer, who has a degree in hotel and restaurant management and has owned and managed restaurants in the past.
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~Steven Small Co-Owner He says he planned on eventually buying a Mellow Mushroom franchise in Atlanta with his brother. Plans changed when his father asked Kieffer to move to Charlotte and help him with his business of selling multi-million dollar commercial and packaging printing equipment. Kieffer made the move to Charlotte and into printing equipment sales, but the Mellow Mushroom franchise was always in the back of his mind. “I approached Mellow Mushroom in 1995 about opening stores here in Charlotte,” he says, “but I wanted the rights to all of Charlotte, not just one store, and at the time Mellow Mushroom didn’t want to do that. I like to cook and friends were always telling me I should open up a restaurant, but by that time my wife and I had adopted two children from overseas and we needed the security of a steady job.” With the downturn of the economy, sales of multi-million dollar printing presses dried up and Kieffer’s steady job became a lay off. Then a chance conversation in April of 2009 brought Kieffer full circle and back to his goal of owning a Mellow Mushroom. Small, who is a practicing emergency room doctor, had always been interested in business and was part of an investment group with some friends. “We looked into a lot of businesses but every time we did due diligence on a prospective business, it fell apart. We always felt that if we found the right thing, we’d like to go into business together.” The “right thing” began as an opportunity to be a small investor in a commercial real estate property deal being put together by a friend of the family who was a real estate broker and developer. The deal morphed from renting space to a new corporate-owned Charlotte Mellow Mushroom into owning an actual franchise. “Marc and I are neighbors, our wives are friends,” explains Small, “so he and I went out
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for a couple of beers down at the EpiCenter one night and I told him about the deal. I didn’t even know about Marc’s restaurant background until then. We were just out having a beer. And then I thought, ‘We may actually have something here. It was meant to be.’� Small and Kieffer joined with Small’s brother and two of Small’s friends to invest in the franchise. “One partner lives in L.A., one in Nashville and one in Virginia,� Kieffer says. “We formed this whole corporation having never even met these people face-to-face. The first time we met them was at the Selwyn store opening.� Only Kieffer and Small live in Charlotte, so Kieffer acts as manager and handles most of the day-to-day responsibilities, but even with his full-time job as a physician, Small is very involved. “It’s stimulating,� Small says. “Someday I might quit medicine and work solely in the stores. But it takes a lot of money to build a store so it won’t happen next year, but depending upon the success of the stores, I can see it happening in the next five to 10 years.� Kieffer looks up as Jordan Gross of the Panthers walks in the back
door to grab a take-out order. They exchange “Hey, man� greetings. Kieffer smiles. “You also get to meet celebrities,� he says. “Four or five of the Panthers come in a lot. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have been in and Angie Harmon and her husband, Jason Sehorn. But I think my favorite part is the ‘regulars.’ I like that our customers know us and we know them.� Together, the partners have the rights to five stores in the greater Charlotte area and plans are to open all five. Concord, Lake Norman, Huntersville and Steele Creek top the list of possible future locations and the next store may open as soon as later this year. “It all depends on when we find the right space,� Small says. “If we find something we love next week, we can start trying to put it together right away. That’s the part of the business I like best—scouting out the space and putting together the real estate deals.� Small and Kieffer already have a theme planned out for the next store based on the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. “The guy from Charlotte Party Bus has called
us to say he’s figured out how he can make the sub,â€? Kieffer says. “We need to get an old Windstream camper‌â€? biz Barbara Fagan is a Charlotte-based freelance writer.
Mellow Mushroom Myers Park-Charlotte 2820 Selwyn Ave., Ste. 100 Charlotte, N.C. 28209 Phone: 704-966-7499 Mellow Mushroom Ballantyne-Charlotte 14835 Ballantyne Village Way, Ste. 150 Charlotte, N.C. 28277 Phone: 704-369-5300 Principals: Marc Kieffer, Stephen Small, Nabil Boutros, Jeffrey Small, John Fiske, Co-owners In Business: Since 2009 Employees: 145 Business: Charlotte franchisees of Mellow Mushroom/Home Grown Industries, Inc.; a relaxed, funky restaurant specializing in pizza and craft beers. www.mellowmushroom.com
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by margaret carr hughes
C
[bizprofile]
On Fire To Perform For You
hristopher J. Grouse enjoyed technology from an early age. “I’ve played with computers since I was a kid. I would go into the King’s Quest program [one of Atari’s first video games] on my Tandy 1000 [one of the first personal computers],” he admits, “and change what the little guy said. My mom says I would ‘program the guy to say funny things.’” “We were fortunate because we had access to more technology than most people,” Grouse says. Grouse’s father worked for Fairchild Weston Systems which, at the time, was a U.S. defense contractor specializing in defense electronics. Grouse recalls instances when his father would bring home the latest gadget and how the two of them would play for hours exploring its capabilities. The experiences taught Grouse that exploring new technologies could be fun and his father showed him how innovation could quickly lead to change. Grouse went on to graduate from high school in 1990 and, though he clearly exhibited an innate talent with technology, took some time to decide just what he wanted to do. He ended up at the University of Central Florida where, after completing an internship with the juvenile court system, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work. The Inner Techie Desiring to continue working with juveniles, Grouse took a job as a social worker with the 9th Judicial Circuit Court in Orlando. As an aside to his duties as a social worker, Grouse would also tinker with the technology at the courthouse. Over time, he earned the reputation of being the “go-to guy” when the courthouse computers would break down. In 1997, Grouse was asked to consider a new job at the courthouse. Court administrators wanted to create an information technology department and they wanted Grouse to head it up. Although Grouse wasn’t sure he wanted to give up
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social work entirely, he took the job. In two years, he built a new technology department by migrating the court’s computers to new servers. He networked all users to create an interface and developed backup systems in case there was an emergency. “Many occasions I was the only person at the courthouse until the early morning hours,” Grouse remembers. This experience solidified Grouse’s ability to make a living at what he enjoyed doing, albeit accomplished through a rather circuitous route. By 1999, Grouse’s parents had relocated to the mountains of the North Carolina and his brother lived in Huntersville. So Grouse decided to relocate to Charlotte and began working for Cabarrus Health Alliance as a PC technician. He worked hard and within five years, he was promoted to chief technology officer. ➤
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Christopher Grouse President and CEO FireFold and, in 2005, they decided to quit their “official” jobs to develop the business now known as FireFold.
Grouse also found time to assist family and friends with their personal computing needs. He developed a network of referrals. So much so, that in 2001, Grouse decided to start an e-commerce store out of his basement. He called his company Compunettech. In addition to providing computer and system repair service, Compunettech shipped computer and networking hardware to individuals and businesses. It was practically the only e-commerce site of its kind at a time when e-commerce sites were either taking off or dying quickly. Grouse was in the right place at the right time. His website grew significantly. In the meantime, he had also met and married his wife, Holly. Holly had a keen sense for running a business and quickly pitched in to help with Grouse’s growing e-commerce store. Grouse recalls late nights with Holly filling shipping orders in their basement. The couple worked hard to keep up
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FireFold Unfolds “We’re a technology firm,” Grouse says. “A one-stop shop for technology needs.” For years, Grouse struggled with the name Compunettech. He felt it was too long to say and was often misspelled. So Grouse turned to the Internet to gather suggestions from the public. “Pretty much what we were doing was just brainstorming with thousands of people, plus, it didn’t hurt that I offered a cash incentive,” Grouse laughs. Grouse received hundreds of suggestions but one—FireFold—really seemed to stick. Grouse liked the name FireFold because it evoked images of data traveling like fire through cables with his business in the “fold” of it. After all, the company offers virtually every kind of connection or cable imaginable. Grouse also envisioned good branding opportunities around the fire concept. “It suggested the speed of communications cables and the ‘hot’ concept, like an electrical current,” he explains. FireFold consists of three major departments. The biggest department, e-commerce, is an online store that sells products such as cables, adapters and connectors. This department also provides individuals and businesses with website and graphic design service. E-commerce accounts for 90 percent of Firefold’s business. The e-commerce department ships computer and networking supplies throughout the world. Many accounts are recurring orders. This year,
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the e-commerce department was awarded a large government contract. “It made our year!” Grouse exclaims. Touring the extensive warehouse, it is clear that the e-commerce department operates like a well-greased machine. People are busy packing up orders. Items are clearly labeled in enormous bins that reach the ceiling of the 20,000-square-foot warehouse. Grouse says that in most cases, online orders are shipped the same day. This sort of efficiency is clearly what has afforded FireFold over 25,000 positive comments on Bizrate.com. One, for example, reads as follows: “I have purchased from this company on more than one occasion and every order has arrived intact and in a very timely manner. The price of all the items that I have ordered or even thought of ordering can’t be beat by any local retailers in my area which is one of the reasons why I am a repeat customer. I have told several of my friends and family members and they have also ordered from this company as well. In this economy, thank goodness for a company like this with prices everyone can afford.” The second department, FireFold technologies, accounts for six percent of the business and is growing rapidly. This department handles computer repair, Web and email hosting, cabling, backup system development, and provides IT support. Grouse added this department because he learned early on that relying on others to fix a problem could delay and/or damage his own product. So instead of waiting on other vendors, Grouse decided to offer the services so he knew the job would get done correctly and in a timely manner. Currently, FireFold Technologies assists over 70 businesses and individuals with their technology needs. The third department, audio/visual sales and support, comprises the remaining four percent of
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the business. The Audio/Visual department sells and provides service for home theatres, home networking, whole house audio, construction planning and design consulting. Grouse says, “What’s happening in this economy is that people aren’t buying and selling their homes. Instead they are improving their homes, so they can justify adding the new TV or surround sound. FireFold can do it all.”
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Grouse liked the name FireFold because it evoked images of data traveling like fire through cables with his business in the “fold” of it. After all, the company offers virtually every kind of connection or cable imaginable.
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Grouse employs 30 individuals. His management team is made up of his wife Holly, a finance manager, a sales and service manager, an e-commerce/design manager, and a warehouse manager. Each manager supervises a team of employees. The sales and service department is also broken down into four divisions: audio/visual, technology support, customer service and sales. All FireFold employees are encouraged to share new ideas with their managers and Grouse. Grouse says that many of company’s successful ideas have come from his employees. He welcomes their input. A Standout Business There are several reasons why Grouse believes his business has remained so successful during difficult economic times. “Your product is only as good as the company behind it,” Grouse says. Grouse tells each employee that they must aim to continue the company’s record of excellent customer service. ➤
02 • 25 • 12
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Grouse has a single manager dedicated to monitoring the company’s customer service so that when a customer calls, they are going to get a live operator with little to no wait time. If the live operator can’t answer a question immediately, they will transfer the customer directly to a technician who can assist them. Grouse also believes that increased Internet accessibility is what made FireFold’s e-commerce department excel. Grouse says, “Online shopping is so common now that most people do an Internet search before they head out to a retail store. What our customers are finding is that FireFold simply has a larger selection and charges a lot less for the same product that is offered by the bigger stores.” FireFold is also committed to educating the public. Grouse recalls the initial release of high definition cable boxes, when FireFold received thousands of calls from people who could see a picture on their TV but couldn’t hear the audio. The customers thought the problem was the HDMI cable; however, FireFold technicians took each call and explained how to program the cable company’s high definition box. Grouse knows that he could have referred people to the cable company, but that is just not the way he does business.
“What’s happening in this economy is that people aren’t buying and selling their homes. Instead they are improving their homes, so they can justify adding the new TV or surround sound. FireFold can do it all.” ~Christopher Grouse President and CEO FireFold frequently posts how-to videos on YouTube. “YouTube is a fabulous tool!” Grouse says. “All you have to do is conduct a search for a cat5 or cat6 ethernet cable and you’ll see a number of videos produced by FireFold on how to hook the cables up!” Lastly, Grouse knows that in order to remain competitive, he and his staff must always stay abreast of changing technologies. Each year, Grouse attends six national conferences to learn about new products. Grouse,
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a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, also covers expenses for his employees to receive training towards various certifications. FireFold’s customer service has not gone unnoticed; it has received some impressive accolades. Since 2008, the company has been selected for the BizRate Circle of Excellence. This distinction is earned by retailers who go above and beyond the norm to provide exceptional service to their online customers. Additionally, FireFold has been recognized by Inc. 5000 for the past five years. The Inc. 5000 list is significant because it measures a company’s growth based on revenue. In addition to having an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau, FireFold was designated as the Largest Area Technology Consulting Firm in 2008 and 2009 by the Charlotte Business Journal. This month Grouse will finalize the purchase of a 28,000-square-foot building. The new facility will have office and warehouse space. Grouse intends to open a separate retail store in another location to promote his audio/visual department. Grouse is also launching a new website which he says will greatly enhance the user experience. It seems that most successful entrepreneurs possess similar characteristics. They tend to be persistent, optimistic and highly energetic. They tend to think about their business night and day; always striving to become better. They are consumed with providing excellent customer service and believe that their product is the only product that makes sense. They understand what it means to create something out of nothing which usually means they are compassionate and fair managers. Their collective life experiences guide them to practice their passion for which they often excel. From all indications, Grouse is no exception. biz Margaret Carr Hughes is a Charlotte-based freelance writer.
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FireFold 2701 Derita Road Concord, N.C. 28027 Phone: 704-979-7100 Principal: Christopher J. Grouse, President and CEO Employees: 30 In Business: 10 years (first named Compunettech) Business: Sells communication, networking, audio and visual products through its online and retail stores; also provides graphic design support, home theater installation, and IT support to individuals and businesses. www.FireFold.com
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[bizprofile]
by casey jacobus
Mooresville Ice Cream Company Adds Front Porch to its Deluxe Brand
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n 1924, The Mooresville Enterprise led off its February 21st issue with a scoop on a new business coming to town. Its headline read, “Mooresville is to have an Ice Cream Factory.” Ever since, generations of ice cream lovers have been able to buy locally made Deluxe Ice Cream, including the famous Deluxe Nutty Cone and the Mooresville Bar, at convenience stores, restaurants and grocery stores throughout the area. This year Mooresville Ice Cream Company is introducing a second brand, called Front Porch Carolina Churned Ice Cream, featuring Southern-inspired flavors. It premiered the new 15-flavor line in January at the Best of Our State Festival at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, where over 800 people sampled the different offerings, including Sassy Strawberry, Peachy Kean and Sweetie Tea. “People enjoyed both the flavors and the names,” says Robert Acree, general manager of Mooresville Ice Cream. “We had a lot of positive feedback.” Acree says the Front Porch line features uniquely crafted flavors with Southern-inspired recipes, designed to evoke memories of summer nights spent gathering with family and friends on the front porch. Flavors like Scarlett Red Velvet and Nana’s Banana Pudding will be available at local Food Lions in March, Bi-Los and Lowe’s in April and other grocery store retailers throughout the Carolinas this spring. It will also be available for tasting at local events and festivals during the upcoming months. “We are looking for as many opportunities as possible to introduce folks to Front Porch Ice Cream,” says Acree. “We hope to scoop and serve 3 million people at events this year.” The Cream of the Crop The history of ice cream in Mooresville actually goes back to the establishment of the Mooresville Cooperative Creamery in 1914. Much of the butter fat sold in Hickory was coming from Mooresville and Iredell country, so local dairy farmers joined forces to organize their own creamery. Stock was sold for $25 a share and $6,000 was raised in two days. Stockholders were limited to four shares each in order to insure that the operation was truly a “cooperative.” The Mooresville Cooperative Creamery produced large quantities of butter fat at the plant on the corner of Moore Avenue and Broad Street and sold it in regional markets. Autumn Leaf butter was also available in ➤ local grocery stores.
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Robert Acree General Manager In 1937, the Creamery installed pasteurizing equipment to make Grade A milk. Whole milk was purchased from farmers in the cooperative and processed in the local plant. Daily delivery from the Creamery resulted in additional income for the farmers and freedom from the delivery and collection process. Once the Creamery was established, it made sense to use the surplus cream to make ice cream. The Mooresville Ice Cream Company was incorporated in 1924 with an authorized capital of $50,000. The original investors included many of Mooresville’s most prominent businessmen of the period—B.A. Troutman, Charles Mack, Side Mack, H. C. Newsome, Joe Ikall, Ben Salem, and Thomas Morrow. B.A. Troutman was elected president, a position he held until 1940. The company organizers all had something to contribute to the new business. Robert S. Edmiston produced, bottled and sold milk. Morrow also had a diary. Charlie Mack had access to wholesale sugar, while Ikall could sell ice cream at his candy kitchen on North Main Street. B. A. Troutman owned the land beside the co-operative Creamery and was a contractor. He built the ice cream plant at 172 Broad Street, which is still the home of Mooresville Ice Cream today. In 1924, the W.N. Johnston and Son business, located nearby on Broad Street, had just expanded its ice-producing capacity from 25 tons to 45 tons a day and would soon be supplying the
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ice cream company with up to 45 300-pound blocks of ice daily. R.C. Millsaps, who had experience making ice cream, was recruited from Statesville to run the new company. Millsaps joined the operation in March 1924 and production began the next month. Millsaps was a purist who believed that premium ice cream must be handcrafted in small batches and made with the freshest cream and highest-quality ingredients, a core belief that made Deluxe Ice Cream a favorite with Carolina ice cream lovers for decades. The business grew and by 1929 the company was using the first refrigerated truck in the county to deliver its products. Millsaps managed the company until he became president in 1943. By 1947, he had bought out all the original investors and Mooresville Ice Cream became a true family business with R.C.’s five sons and three daughters all working at the plant at one time another. Sons Ralph Jr. Harvey and Clyde all made careers there. By 1972, the company employed 18 people full-time and another five part-time. At that time, the company was producing 380 gallons of ice cream or 500 dozen Popsicles an hour. Under the direction of Gene Millsaps, Ralph Sr.’s grandson, the Mooresville Ice Cream Company eventually produced 3,000 gallons of ice cream a week in 35 flavors. Local historian and newspaper columnist O.C. Stonestreet tells several stories about Deluxe Ice cream. One is that the old Lawrence Hospital in Mooresville was recruiting a
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physician, who was having trouble committing, until the hospital staff had the Mooresville Ice Cream Company send him several gallons of their product packed in dry ice. The sweet treat sealed the deal.
Ice Cream Fun Facts Vanilla is the #1 selling flavor of ice cream. Chocolate syrup is the favorite topping to put on ice cream. The major ingredient in ice cream is air. July is National Ice Cream Month; it was created by Ronald Reagan in 1984. It takes approximately 50 licks to finish off a scoop of ice cream. Another story is that when the federal government came out with new regulations several decades ago, one of the Millsaps brothers contacted a government agent for clarification. He was told that if the product was under 10 percent butter fat, it had to be labeled “ice milk,” but if it was more than 10 percent, the product could be labeled “ice cream.” “Well,” said Millsaps, “I guess we can cut the butter fat content in Deluxe in half and still have ice cream.” Continuing the Tradition In 2009 Mooresville Ice Cream Company
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changed ownership when it was purchased by a partnership between Stamey Farms of Statesville and the Alarcon family of Ecuador. The Stamey family have been farming in Iredell County since 1951 and have been exporting cattle to the global cattle market since 1975. The Alarcon family controls Tonicorp SA, Ecuador’s leading yogurt producer and maker of the Topsy ice cream brand.
“It makes good business sense to move beyond the borders established by Deluxe. Deluxe is very stable, but a new brand will open the avenue for new people who want to come in. With Front Porch, we can take shelf space in stores outside our current area.”
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“The Stameys are an old Iredell family who have been in business for more than 50 years,” says Acree, “and Toni is a major Ecuadorian corporation with strong ties to the United States. The Alarcons have been friends with the Stameys for 20 years and they were looking for an opportunity to do more business in the United States.” The partnership hired Acree to run the Mooresville Ice Cream Company as general manager. Acree, a graduate of the University of Michigan, began his career in the dry cleaning business, before spending 10 years with ice cream icon Ben & Jerry’s. When the Vermont company was sold to the British-Dutch multinational food giant Unilever, he moved to ➤ California to work for Foster Farms Dairies.
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Acree’s 22 years of experience in the ice cream industry should help him fulfill the company’s vision of introducing new brands and expanding beyond the local area served by the Deluxe brand. “It makes good business sense to move beyond the borders established by Deluxe,” asserts Acree. “All the major ice cream manufactures, Dreyers, Blue Bell, Unilever, have multiple brands. Deluxe is very stable, but a new brand will open the avenue for new people who want to come in. With Front Porch, we can take shelf space in stores outside our current area.” Acree understands what goes into the business of creating an ice cream brand from the initial marketing and formalization to the production and packaging. “The number one rule is to be consistent,” he explains. “You have to do it the right way every time.” Mooresville Ice Cream Company is making its move to expand at a good time. For the most part, the recession’s been good for ice cream makers and sellers. Market research firm Packaged Goods estimates ice cream sales in supermarkets and scoop shops rose 1.1 percent in 2009 to $14.5 billion. Time magazine reports that Lynda Utterbvack of the National Ice Cream Retailers Association pegged sales in 2010 up 25 percent from the year before. “When times are hard, ice cream is a relatively inexpensive way to feel good,” says Harold Waxman, owner of the industry newsletter Ice Cream Reporter. Acree reports that a lot of team work went into developing the Front Porch brand. “It’s business 101 to want to develop a good quality product,” he asserts “We wanted to accomplish a feeling for a time in people’s lives when they spent time sitting on the front porch with family and friends.” To that end, Front Porch Ice Cream comes in 15 flavors. Their names alone evoke a Southern culture, from Sweetie Tea to Scarlett Red Velvet. Each one is made from fresh cream and ripe fruit, and most contain a bit of a surprise in their taste. Sassy Strawberry, for instance, has a touch of Dutch chocolate added to its rich strawberry flavor. Lemony Sunshine combines lemon
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ice cream with lemon custard. Nana’s Banana Pudding adds crispy vanilla wafers to banana ice cream. Blackberry Crumble mixes rich vanilla ice cream, blackberries and sweet crumbles. Dandy Peppermint Candy adds crunchy flecks of real peppermint candy to peppermint ice cream. Other flavors are Peachy Keen, Chocolate Rocker, Mountain Mint Chip, Dreamy Vanilla Cream, Praline Coastal Crunch, Homestyle Butter Pecan, Sublime Key Lime, and Black Cherry Twilight. To showcase the new brand, Mooresville Ice Cream is revamping its own ice cream retail operation in Mooresville. It is transforming the small, cramped store at the entrance to its production facility on Broad Street to a true ice cream parlor, open seven days a week with longer hours and an extended menu. In addition to scoops of ice cream, customers will be able to order shakes, sundaes and other ice cream products and enjoy them in a “retro” shop reminiscent of a bygone era. The new parlor, adjacent to the current facility, will seat 20 people inside and more on the sidewalk outside in good weather. “We should double the business we do now,” says Acree. “We’ll also provide a unique experience that should add to the foot traffic in downtown Mooresville.” At a time when businesses in general are struggling to survive, it’s especially rare that such a local family-owned businesses has survived so many years—and definitely something worth celebrating with a few scoops! biz
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Casey Jacobus is a Charlotte-based freelance writer.
Mooresville Ice Cream Company, LLC 172 North Broad Street Mooresville, NC 28115 Phone: 704-664-5456 Principal: Robert Acree, General Manager Employees: 16-17 Founded: 1924 Business: Family-owned business focused on producing hand-crafted ice cream; known for its Deluxe brand and introducing the Front Porch Carolina Churned Ice Cream brand featuring Southern-inspired flavors. www. deluxe1924.com; www.enjoyfrontporch.com
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