Briefs

GUIDES & RESOURCES

Find out more in each issue of In Business Magazine as we provide resources and guides that can help businesses get and stay connected to the information they need to build business.

COVID-19

Business Stimulus: With now two phases of the Paycheck Protection Program loans and other Small Business Administration loans and stimulus packages, we include these links for businesses: • Restaurant Revitalization Award Portal: restaurants.sba.gov • PPP Loans: bit.ly/sba-ppp • SBA Stimulus: bit.ly/c19-guide-resources • Get My Check: irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment • Federal Resources for U.S. Small Businesses: covid-sb.org • Vaccine Finder and information: vaccinefinder.org • Testing (Onsite and Mobile): aztestnow.com Vaccine: As vaccines become readily available and businesses begin to go back to the office, we offer these links for more information on where to get vaccinations and who will qualify: • No appointments necessary (but recommended) beginning April 26, 2021. • Registration: podvaccine.azdhs.gov • General Information: azdhs.gov/index.php

SMALL BUSINESS

Assistance and Guidance: Many businesses are looking for information that will improve business through programs to enhance services, resources that can assist in day-to-day business or simply connecting businesses with opportunities. Here are this month’s resources: • Small Business Financial Resources: azcommerce.com/covid-19/financial-resources • Arizona Small Business Association: asba.com • CPLC Women’s Business Center: prestamosloans.org/womens-business-center • Small Business Development Center: maricopa-sbdc.com

IN BUSINESS MAGAZINE

In Business Magazine creates many resources throughout the year. Here are our most recent: • WESTMARC: The West Valley Connected: nbusinessphx.com/department/westmarc • In Business In the Firm Guide: inbusinessphx.com/2021-in-the-firm

MORE

Each month we will include other added resources and guides. Here is what we have for our readers this month:

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Maintenance Tips for a WellRunning Business Fleet

Preventive fleet maintenance will save a business time and money. Small businesses running well-maintained fleets save fuel and deal with fewer breakdowns. However, smallbusiness owners still come up short when it comes to fleet maintenance. As a mobile mechanic, I have worked with a number of fleet managers to ensure their fleet vehicles are running their best. Here are a few tips for small-business owners to help make sure fleet maintenance is being done regularly and in an effective manner.

Create a preventive maintenance

schedule. Owners should not wait until something breaks to fix it. One of the biggest problems I see is fleet owners wishing we could fix the vehicle while it is driving down the road. I understand the sentiment since a vehicle off the road is not making the business any money. However, I recommend scheduling blocks of time for preventive maintenance. Business owners can regularly schedule in advance when to change fluids, change batteries or check the oil. Many mechanics who work with fleets understand the business and will be willing to conduct jobs after or before business hours.

Change batteries and check brakes

frequently. Fleet managers should err on the side of caution when changing their cars’ batteries and checking their brakes. Many fleet managers only change a vehicle’s battery when it dies. However, I recommend changing the battery every three years no matter the battery’s condition. The rationale for this is simple: Businesses can save thousands of dollars in fleet management costs by doing maintenance ahead of time. Waiting to change a battery when it dies means losing money while an inoperable car waits for a new battery. Why not change it ahead of time and save some money in the long run?

Brake maintenance is another area where contractors fall flat during fleet upkeep. I have seen companies lose thousands of dollars due to bad brake maintenance. I recommend having a professional come in and check the status of the cars’ brakes every three months. This scheduled maintenance could be the difference between having to simply pay for new brake pads or having to pay thousands of dollars to fix shot rotors and calipers.

Fleet maintenance is incredibly important, and conducting maintenance properly and frequently can be the difference between a company making money one day and losing money the next day. It’s best to not sleep on maintenance work. —Matt Farnham, a mobile mechanic and owner of Auto Repair 2 You (mobileautorepair2you.com), which specializes in preventive maintenance options that keep fleets healthy

Restaurant Industry Faces Hiring Crisis and Extreme Rise in Food Costs

It has been a trying year for the restaurant industry and, throughout the pandemic, restaurants across the nation as well as many local restaurants, including Arizona-based fast-casual pizzeria Fired Pie, had to temporarily close some of their stores in Downtown Phoenix and quickly adapt to the unexpected challenges that COVID-19 presented. As things finally start to turnaround for local restaurant owners with restrictions being lifted and more people feeling comfortable to eat out again, they have been presented with new challenges, such as a hiring crisis, an increase in labor cost and an extreme rise in food costs. According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurant employees are down 3.1 million from expected levels.

This problem is not unique to Fired Pie; our friends across the industry are facing these hardships. We worry about our reputation with loyal customers who will now be facing longer-than-usual wait times and feel for our hardworking employees who are being stretched thin from having to service too many customers at once without enough help.

Fired Pie is currently looking to hire 60-plus employees in all positions across our 20 stores, including managers. We have boosted ads out across all hiring platforms and are offering wages up to $15 per hour in many locations. We are unable to find employees and I have been overseeing all our restaurants while also stepping in to help with food prep and delivery orders.

Many in this industry have cited the fact that stimulus checks and extended unemployment could be causing part of this problem. Plus, during the pandemic when we were facing severe hardship, many of our employees went to work for big corporations like Amazon. They have found other industries to enter, which has left the restaurant industry with a shortage as we open back up.

We are not the only industry facing this issue. Distributors are also facing a driver shortage and dealing with a rise in food costs because of it.

Our distributors are also unable to fulfill orders because they don’t have enough drivers and they have become overwhelmed with orders from restaurants now being able to operate at full capacity. We recently launched a ghost kitchen, Wow Bao (wowbao.com), out of six of our Fired Pie locations and have plans to rapidly expand to six locations in the next few months. Wow Bao is currently being offered only through thirdparty delivery services Postmates, DoorDash Uber Eats and Grubhub, but there have been multiple instances where we have had to shut down deliveries because we did not have enough product due to distributor issues.

A recent report in the Financial Times shows that global food prices have seen the biggest jump in a decade and the cost of labor, transport and shipping is expected to push prices even higher in the next few months.

Our distributor’s price for chicken and pork have increase by 40% and, unfortunately, this means our hands are tied with taking a price increase for our restaurants. Our distributors are saying the food increase is due to a lack of labor and that supply and feed increases are a large issue. They told us they are hoping to see relief as manufacturing plants work to get back to fuller employment.

Economists predict that there could be as many as 10 million more jobs between now and year’s end.

As we navigate finding amazing team members to join our Fired Pie family, we have been so grateful for our community and loyal customers. We are optimistic about the future and have loved seeing more people enjoying our outdoor patios and eating in our dining rooms again as Arizona continues to recover from the past year. We encourage Arizonans to continue to support local as much as possible and have patience for their favorite restaurants as we navigate a return to normalcy. —Doug Doyle, owner of Fired Pie (firedpie.com)

Customers Turn the Tables on Service

It’s no secret that the pandemic has caused a massive employee shortage in the hospitality industry. My wife, Cindy, and I have owned Il Vinaio in downtown Mesa for 12 years and, while we have been through our share of challenges, the recent lack of qualified workers has been one of the hardest to overcome. We’ve spent nearly $1,500 in advertisements looking for workers and we’ve had job offers out there but people just wouldn’t show up.

Help came to us in the least likely of places — our customers. Sally Kellett had been a regular of ours for more than eight years. She previously owned a popular bar and restaurant in Tempe called Mustang Sally’s, so when she started coming to eat at Il Vinaio we had an immediate shared connection.

Kellett was in for a wine tasting when she asked us how business was going. We told her we were having a difficult time finding help. It was then that Kellett offered to come out of retirement to work part time for us.

We also hired the daughter of another long-time customer of ours as a server and the nephew of a regular as a dishwasher. Neither had prior hospitality experience and both are working out great.

Our customers have always been so supportive and when they heard of our hiring woes they jumped to action. We look at our employees, customers and community all as one big family, without whom we wouldn’t be here today. We are still actively looking for employees, especially in the back of house, but it’s been really incredible to see this particular story unfold. —Cameron Selogie, managing partner and executive chef of Il Vinaio (ilvinaio.net)

LOOKING GOOD

Local Standouts Recognized for Achievements and Philanthropy

ACHIEVEMENTS

Sundt Ranked among ENR's Top 400 Contractors

Tempe-headquartered Sundt Construction, Inc. ranked No. 58 on Engineering News Record’s (ENR) 2021 Top 400 Contractors list. ENR, the construction industry’s principal trade publication, generates its list of Top 400 Contractors based on the prior year’s construction revenue. Employee-owned Sundt has consistently placed within the top 100 on the list for the past decade. Sundt’s work for a global semiconductor manufacturing company and on the Wildhorse Pass Expansion contributed to the $1.5 billion in construction revenue it reported during 2020. sundt.com

Southwest Behavioral & Health Services Honored for Worksite Wellness

Phoenix-based Southwest Behavioral & Health Services, an innovative leader in behavioral health, was recognized by the Healthy Arizona Worksites Program with its Platinum award for making efforts to positively affect the health and wellbeing of employees, their families and the community by implementing comprehensive worksite wellness strategies. sbhservices.org

PHILANTHROPY

Accounting & Finance Professionals Provides Diapers to Local Families in Need

Nationally, one in three families cannot afford diapers. Phoenix-based Accounting & Finance Professionals is hoping to change that statistic through its partnership with the Diaper Bank of Central Arizona to help local families get the diapers they need for their children, which it launched with a $2,500 donation. Disposable diapers can cost $70–$80 per month per baby, and there is no public assistance available through the food stamp program or WIC to cover diapers.

As a year-round corporate partner, Accounting & Finance Professionals will be a designated drop-off site. The recruiting and staffing agency will also help any other company wanting to sponsor or host a diaper bank drive. afprofessionals.com • diaperbankaz.org

Mesa Dealership Collects 81,652 Water Bottles for AZ Wildfire Firefighters

Larry H. Miller Ford Mesa recently joined other Phoenix Valley Ford dealers for the Ford Motor Company’s Annual “Fill an F-150” bottled water drive for The Salvation Army Metro Phoenix’s Emergency Disaster Services program. They unseated the eight-year reigning champions by collecting 81,652 water bottles. The dealership won a Dunkin’ Donuts party as a reward, which they generously chose to donate to the hotshot firefighters battling the Telegraph and Mezcal wildfires in their state. lhmfordmesa.com

DYPER Composting Diverts from Landfills

Eco-friendly diaper delivery service DYPER has launched a unique new service in Phoenix to make parents’ lives easier while offering a sustainable diapering option. DYPER provides a convenient monthly diaper delivery via a recurring subscription, and the brand is now offering parents a simple way to divert diapers from landfills by having dirty diapers picked up to be professionally composted.

DYPER is available nationwide, as is its professional composting program, REDYPER, but via mail. The Scottsdale-based company acquired another company last fall that enabled DYPER to roll out local pickup for the composting service. The initial market for this was San Francisco, where the acquired company was based. Phoenix has followed, as DYPER’s research revealed that Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the country that is growing each day with young families, making a great fit for this program.

Each year, 3.4 million tons of used diapers are added to landfills, with each disposable diaper containing plastic taking approximately 450 years to decompose. DYPER is on a mission to make it as easy as possible for parents to help the environment by not adding more diapers to landfills.

Residents within the Phoenix area can enjoy the convenience of having diapers delivered right to their door, and then utilize the REDYPER professional composting program. All parents have to do is drop soiled diapers into a provided bag and box, which are then picked up right from their doors to be composted. The diapers are professionally composted in a facility, and the resulting compost is used in cases such as the vegetation in highway medians. —Mike Hunter

DYPER dyper.com

How Tech Companies Improve Sourcing New Talent

Contrary to popular belief, there is not a talent crunch in the tech industry. Rather, the real issue lies in how tech companies are sourcing and selecting technical talent. As a new group of graduates enters the workforce, companies should think outside the “normal” recruitment lifecycle box. One of those ways is to recruit outside of traditional campus talent pools.

Another key factor to consider is flexible interviewing. Companies should expand interview availability as full-time and nontraditional students may have classes or prior work commitments that make it challenging to complete the required skills test. As an example, Karat provides 24/7 interviews with Interview Engineers from all over the globe.

Companies should also provide an opportunity for candidates to re-do interviews to ensure quality candidates aren’t accidentally weeded out if they didn’t perform well in the first interview. For example, a candidate may get extremely nervous and run out of time to complete the code test. If candidates have another opportunity, it will allow them to take a step back and evaluate what problems or questions they may need to allocate more time to complete, which can improve their chances of securing the job.

By leveraging these tips, companies can increase their pipeline of highly qualified candidates. Not only will they have access to a greater number of highly qualified candidates but improve access to the tech industry for more diverse candidates (gender, race, neuro, etc.) as well. —Portia KibbleSmith, an executive recruiter and diversity & inclusion lead for Karat (karat.com), a company that conducts live technical interviews for the world’s foremost techdriven organizations using enterprise-grade interviewing technology and a global network of experienced Interview Engineers, aiming to unlock opportunities for developers and tech-driven organizations by making every interview predictive, fair and enjoyable