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Queen City Cookies’ new contract set to boost sales 25%Artfully designed cookies catch eye of major retailerPremium content from Business Courier by Tom Demeropolis, Staff ReporterDate: Friday, October 28, 2011, 6:00am EDT Peggy Shannon is founder and owner of Queen City Cookies. She displays some of the Queen’s Iced Delights made in her Northside bakery, are now available online by Sur La Table. Graeter’s brings Cincinnati national recognition in the ice cream industry. Peggy Shannon wants Queen City Cookies to do the same for cookies. The Northside-based entrepreneur makes and sells gourmet shortbread. And now, her growing company has landed its products on one of the premier websites for gourmet retailers, Sur La Table. Queen City Cookies is expecting that achievement to bring a 25 percent increase in business this year. “It’s a great endorsement of our quality,” said Shannon, founder and owner of Queen City Cookies. It all started when Shannon saw the 2008 holiday edition of “Martha Stewart Living,” featuring an antique German cookie on the cover. While shopping at Sur La Table, she saw one of the molds used to make the cookie. She now has more than 500 molds. Shannon started working on her shortbread cookie recipe in her basement and by September 2009, she was selling cookies. Sales started out slow. For the first Christmas season, she had about $2,000 in sales. But by last Christmas, her sales hit $70,000 for the season. Shannon didn’t disclose total revenue but said it’s in the six figures. “I wasn’t interested in starting a business, but I had friends and family encouraging me and got feedback that these were beautiful, edible pieces of art,” Shannon said. Queen City Cookies come in three main varieties. Queen’s Iced Delights are shortbread cookies with icing imprinted using a cookie mold. Frieda’s Creations are shortbread cookies with edible wafer paper printed with images. And Pachyderm Packs are bags of bite-sized, elephant-shaped cookies in four different flavors. Queen City Cookies will provide Sur La Table with exclusive designs for its Queen’s Iced Delights. The cookies are priced at $66 a dozen. Unfortunately for Shannon, customers too often tell her the cookies are too beautiful to eat. “That’s very frustrating,” Shannon said. It’s also part of the reason why Sur La Table added the treats. “Since we first ‘eat’ with our eyes, design is always an important factor and of course, taste is the critical factor,” said Susanna Linse, spokeswoman for Sur La Table. The cookies also met taste and ingredient criteria. This has been a big year for Queen City Cookies. In addition to Sur La Table, Shannon opened a retail space in Findlay Market this summer and added schnecken to her lineup of offerings. The addition of the gooey German pastry and the weekend retail spot have already increased sales 25 percent this year. And to help boost cookie production, Shannon has invested about $60,000 to buy and install a new rotary molder that can crank out 20,000 cookies an hour. That’s up from 64 hand-cut cookies an hour now. The company employs part-time workers at its retail location and to help with production. Priced as high as $4 or more each, the cookies are little luxuries. But luxury retail sales have been on the rise since last Christmas, said Martin Sneider, adjunct professor of marketing and luxury retail expert at Washington University in St. Louis. “While many Americans are just barely getting by, the wealthiest Americans are doing quite well,” Sneider said. In addition, affordable luxuries like expensive cookies and other pastries can be purchased by those who aren’t as wealthy as the top wage earners. The luxury retail category has posted 12 consecutive months of sales increases compared with the prior year, according to research service MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. As the stock market has posted mostly solid gains with a few hiccups, the wealthy “charged back to their favorite retailers,” Sneider said. Queen City Cookies are already sold in nine states thanks to retail partners such as Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Ohio and Keeneland Gift Shop in Lexington. ************************************************************************************************************************* Graeter's giving out free coffee and donuts on Fountain Square Business Courier by Tom Demeropolis, Staff Reporter Date: Tuesday, October 11, 2011, 10:39am EDT Graeter's is handing out freebies this week. Coffee and donuts are a good way to start the day. Free coffee and donuts are even better. Graeter’s will be serving free samples of donuts and coffee from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Fountain Square Thursday, Oct. 13 in downtown Cincinnati. Those who stop by also will receive coupons and have a chance to win Graeter’s prizes. The promotion is part of Graeter’s effort to let more people know about its pastries. Known nationally for its French pot ice cream, Graeter’s has been making a push to let consumers know about its baked goods. I recently wrote about a new role at Graeter's for someone known only as Greta. This month, Graeter’s rolled out seasonal favorites including butter schnecken, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin rolls and pumpkin muffins, which are available every Saturday in October. ************************************************************************************************************************************************** Here's a new way to do Cincinnati chili Business Courier by Tom Demeropolis, Staff reporter Date: Friday, September 23, 2011, 11:28am EDT Blue Ash Chili serves up a 6-Way, which adds fried jalapeño caps to a traditional five-way. Dixie Chili’s 6-Way adds fresh chopped garlic to spaghetti, chili, beans, onions and cheese. But leave it a member of the Lambrinides family to take Cincinnati chili to the next level. Tim Lambrinides, the owner of Silver Ladle, and Greg Aichele, his general manager, have been testing and perfecting the menu for the fast-casual restaurant that will open soon in the 580 Building downtown. Courier subscribers can read more about the new restaurant that will be joining others on Restaurant Row here. As a Lambrinides – the family that founded Skyline Chili – Tim has to have Cincinnati-style chili on his menu. And while the final version of the restaurants offerings isn’t set in stone, one item that will be making its way to downtown is the Silver Ladle Way. This concoction kicks the three-way up a notch. It starts with spaghetti, covered in Cincinnati-style chili, the same recipe used at Nick & Tom’s Restaurant and Bar in Bridgetown. Then, it’s doused with homemade black bean soup, sprinkled with onions and jalapeños, and blanketed with shredded cheese. Lambrinides and Aichele assured me, it is awesome. The two have been using Nick & Tom’s as a test kitchen, cooking, testing and eating. They did warn that the Silver Ladle Way is a big meal. “You might want to skip breakfast that day,” they said. Looking forward to grabbing a Silver Ladle Way when the restaurant opens later this year. ********************************************************************************************************************************************************* To grow, Cincinnati's Gold Star Chili finds more ways than just three-ways Premium content from Business Courier by Tom Demeropolis, Staff Reporter Date: Friday, July 15, 2011, 6:00am EDT Tom Uhlman | courier “There are a lot of markets we’re exploring,” said Gold Star Chili CEO Mike Rohrkemper. In the recession, while customers were cutting back on dining out, Gold Star Chili Inc. was figuring out ways to expand once the economy started to turn around. Gold Star, with 97 restaurants, had revenue of $61 million last year, about even with 2009. But for the first half of 2011, same-store sales for Gold Star are up 5 percent compared to last year, according to the company. Sales are up thanks to new menu items and improved customer service. Gold Star is the city’s second-largest chili chain. Its rival, Skyline Chili, has 132 stores and $89 million in revenue. CEO Mike Rohrkemper, who took over in 2008, said the company will likely end 2011 up 5 percent, with revenue of more than $64 million. And the Linwood-based company is looking for more growth in the form of new stores, catering and sales to schools and institutional customers. “There are a lot of markets we’re exploring,” Rohrkemper said. Gold Star, founded by the Daoud family in 1965, has opened four new restaurants this year and will open a fifth at the end of August in the Lexington area. The company has changed its development model, focusing more on site selection. The majority of its stores are franchises, with a handful of company-owned stores. “Historically, we used the ‘Field of Dreams’ approach, build it and they will come,” Rohrkemper said. “That model is no longer workable.” For new store growth, the chain is looking at southeast Indiana towns, Columbus and Lexington. But Cincinnati-style chili isn’t just for Cincinnatians. Regional flavors are becoming part of the national palate, said Jarrod Clabaugh, director of communication for the Ohio Restaurant Association. “We’re seeing more Midwest restaurants featuring Cincinnati-style chili,” Clabaugh said. “I don’t see this trend going anywhere but expanding.” Golden opportunities Gold Star’s growth is outpacing the restaurant industry average. Limited service restaurants – quick-service and fast-casual – are forecasting 3 to 4 percent growth, while full-service restaurants are expected to grow 2 percent to 3 percent, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president with Technomic Inc., a Chicago research firm. New menu items, including the hot mettwurst cheese coney and double-decker sandwiches, have helped the chain boost its sales, Rohrkemper said. The burritos and bowls it unveiled earlier this year lifted sales 7 percent over the same period last year. While new items can help drive sales, Tristano said it’s important for Gold Star to stick to its bread and butter: Chili and cheese. “The best option for Gold Star is to leverage their existing customers by increasing their frequency of visits, as well as expanding their occasions – catering, home meal replacement, sports events,” Tristano said. One of those outside opportunities is institutional sales. The Gold Star Chili Commissary next to the company headquarters, which makes all the chili for its restaurants and its retail products, only operates at 50 percent capacity, though it cranks out more than 300,000 pounds of chili a year. The company wants to become a co-packer or private label manufacturer that makes products similar to its chili, such as taco meat, soups and sauces. Seeking a new audience Gold Star also wants a piece of the massive institutional food business, selling its chili or other similar products to schools, health care organizations and even the military. It’s focusing efforts on schools first. Getting its products into schools gives Gold Star a chance to create brand loyalty at a young age, said Charlie Howard, vice president of marketing and brand development for Gold Star. “Schools are looking for ways to get children to eat lunch with more nutrition, and our vegetarian and turkey chilis fit the bill,” Howard said. Rohrkemper said there is great potential in the institutional food industry. Even if Gold Star wins a small piece of business, it could mean millions in new revenue. Company officials attended the Annual School Nutrition Association of Ohio Conference this June and is following up on contacts made there. The next chance to bid on providing products is November, and Gold Star is looking to pull in some new business for 2012. During the economic downturn, many restaurant operators sought to reinvent themselves to get through the tough business climate, said Annika Stensson, spokeswoman with the National Restaurant Association. Seeking new markets like managed services was one of those strategies. “It’s part of a larger trend of restaurants seeking new audiences and additional points of access to grow their business,” Stensson said. Gold Star also wants to expand its catering division through the use of its Chilimobile. Originally the food truck was intended to help nonprofits, such as Matthew 25: Ministries, a Blue Ash-based international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization, to raise money. However, Gold Star now sees this as an opportunity to add more customers through catering and by parking it in nontraditional locations. “We want to make the Chilimobile a revenue generator,” said Howard. The company hired a coordinator to schedule events and lead the sales effort for catering. The coordinator even cold-called office parks with few lunch options to make weekly lunch runs. The Chilimobile has been averaging three to four runs a week since spring, selling coneys and three-ways to office workers. “We have an opportunity to improve the performance of our company,” Rohrkemper said. **************************************************************************************************************************************** Don't pretend you don't want to go to the Sausage Festival Business Courier by Lucy May, Senior Staff Writer Date: Thursday, July 7, 2011, 3:17pm EDT If you’re reading the Business Courier’s web site, odds are you are a highly educated business professional with a good income and strong earning power. Even so, don’t pretend the Queen City Sausage Festival doesn’t interest you. C’mon. It’s a sausage festival. You want to read more. Just keep reading. You’ll be glad you did. Free meat products are at stake. (Not steak. This is a sausage festival, after all.) Here’s the free part: The Queen City Sausage Sampling Squad along with volunteers from the Newport Recreation Commission will be offering free samples of Queen City Sausage’s bratwurst at the Kroger Marketplace store in Newport. The free samplings will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 11, according to a news release issued by Queen City Sausage and Provision, Inc. The sampling, the release said, is all about calling attention to the Queen City Sausage Festival to be held July 15 through 17 at Newport’s Riverfront Levee. It also will raise money for the Newport Recreation Commission, which will have a tip jar handy in case any of you nice folks want to make a donation while you enjoy your free brat. Then go ahead and mark your calendars for the sausage festival, which the release says will feature “over 20 delicious ways Queen City sausages can be enjoyed in most any recipe.” We’re talking about things like mett and brat coneys and gyro metts on pita bread along with other standard festival fare including roasted corn, potato pancakes and strudel. ************************************************************************************************************************************************** Glier's already pumping up crowds for Goettafest Business Courier by Lucy May, Senior Staff Writer Date: Wednesday, July 6, 2011, 10:21am EDT Goetta is a combination of pork, beef, spices and steel cut oats. This is a story about the power of goetta, that Greater Cincinnati blend of pork, beef, spices and steel cut oats. Glier’s Meats, which calls itself the largest producer of goetta in the world, had an entry in the Fort Mitchell Fourth of July parade. I know this, loyal readers, because I live in Fort Mitchell. And my younger daughter Katy and I crowd along Dixie Highway each year with thousands of other people to watch because, as Katy said, “This parade is a big deal for Fort Mitchell people.” And Glier’s knows how to do it right. The company had a vehicle hauling a calliope playing loud, circusy music. That was pretty fancy. But it also had a guy on a segway looping back and forth from the east to west sides of the highway. He held a wrapped goetta log in one hand while steering the segway, and used the other hand to make that “I can’t hear you” motion to rile up the crowd. Then some lucky person would receive, you guessed it, the loaf of goetta. This goetta guy knew how to work the crowd. Some of my neighbors were screaming like crazy. It was like Elvis was on the segway giving away the secret to immortality or gold bricks. Katy and I were stunned. Fortunately, there will be more goetta to come. Lots more. Because Glier’s Goettafest will return for its 11th consecutive year at Newport’s Riverfront Levee. The event will be held Aug. 5 through Aug. 7. And Glier’s expects a crowd of about 150,000, according to a news release from the company. There will be Goetta Balls, Goetta Rubens, Goetta Pizza, Goetta Calzones – you get the picture. And you can finish the day with dessert items – Goetta Goobers and Goetta Fudge Brownies. The festival also will feature free music and a new “Karaoke Stage.” It’s all any goetta lover could hope for, and I expect Fort Mitchell will be well represented. We can only hope the calliope and segway guy are part of the mix. ****************************************************************************************************************** Old school chili meets new school marketing Business Courier by Tom Demeropolis, Staff reporter Date: Monday, June 27, 2011, 2:18pm EDT Jim Papakirk, who purchased Empress in 2009, has spent the past two years determining the best way to grow the chain. Empress Chili may be the oldest of the Tri-State’s Cincinnati-style chili restaurants, but that doesn’t mean it’s stuck in the past when it comes to marketing and advertising. Last week, the Empress Chili location in Hartwell was a featured deal on Groupon, a Chicago-based Web site that uses collective buying power to offer discounts on dining, activities, products and services in 43 countries around the world. For Empress, which is working to expand its brand in the Cincinnati market the exposure on Groupon resulted in hundreds of customers who will soon be coming in to use their coupons. The deal launched at midnight on June 23 and ended at 11:59 p.m. that night. By 2:41 a.m., 15 people had purchased Empress’ $5 for $10 worth of food at the restaurant. I’m not sure if that’s normal for people to be buying coupons for chili and double-deckers at 2 o’clock in the morning, but it’s good for Empress. By the time the deal closed, 551 coupons were sold. Even though customers are getting 50 percent off, the thought is that’s 551 customers coming in the door. More than likely, they’ll spend more than the coupon amount. And hopefully Empress added customers who will continue to come back. I’ve never actually made a purchase from Groupon, but I get the daily deal update. There have been plenty of deals I’m interested in, but I’ve never pulled the trigger. I worry I’ll buy something and forget to use it. Anyway, as of January 2011, Groupon had more than 50 million subscribers and sold more than 22 million coupons. It’s been called the fastest-growing company ever by Forbes. In July 2010, Groupon had 11 million subscribers. At that time, it only employed about 1,000 people. Today, it has about 7,000 employees. **************************************************************************************************************************************************** Jim Papakirk has big plans for Empress ChiliNew owner wants city's oldest chain to claim bigger share of Cincinnati obsessionPremium content from Business Courier by Tom Demeropolis, Courier Staff ReporterDate: Friday, June 24, 2011, 6:00am EDT “We put Cincinnati-style chili on the map,” said Empress Chili owner Jim Papakirk. Chili is big business in the Tri-State, and the original Cincinnati chili restaurant wants a bigger seat at the steam table. Empress Chili, founded in 1922 by the Kiradjieff family, is expanding its business, looking to add more restaurants and retail locations. Jim Papakirk, who purchased Empress in 2009, has spent the past two years determining the best way to grow the chain. Now, Papakirk is working with individual operators to open new locations and looking to sell Empress products in more retail outlets. “We put Cincinnati-style chili on the map,” Papakirk said. “We want to reacquaint Cincinnati with the original.” Empress Chili is sold at about a dozen restaurants, plus three “flagship” Empress locations. Its products also are available at Remke/Bigg’s and other independent stores. This fall, an Empress Chili location is expected to open on Cincinnati’s West Side, the second site in the area. And Papakirk said he’s aiming to open a new Empress store every quarter in 2012. These restaurants would be operated under unique arrangements made between the company and individual operators. ‘Restaurant business is in my blood’Eventually, Papakirk said he envisions Empress moving to a more traditional franchise format. As he builds the brand, though, he will continue to work with interested parties on a case-by-case basis. Adding an Empress Chili location in Cincinnati Marketplace, between Werk Road and Glenway Avenue in Green Township, is a step in the right direction. Steve Newman, a longtime Re/Max real estate agent, will be the owner of the new location. Getting back into the chili business is something he’s been trying to do for a long time. His family had an Empress franchise back in the 1960s and ’70s. The plan is to open the Empress restaurant between Pirate’s Den bar, which is owned by Newman’s sister and brother-in-law, and Champions. “The restaurant business is in my blood,” Newman said. “I would dream about the chili counter.” Since Newman won’t be operating under a franchise agreement, he has the ability to expand the menu. His location will offer sandwiches, salads and other options in addition to the traditional chili. And with the store right next to Pirate’s Den, Newman plans to offer his three-ways and cheese coneys at the bar through a window. Newman, who will continue to sell real estate, plans to open the 2,400-square-foot store by October. It will employ between 10 and 12 people, provide seating for about 70, and use a fast-casual ordering format, where customers order up front at a counter instead of sitting at a table and having someone take their order. Mike Ziegler, senior vice president with the Cincinnati office of Colliers International, said Empress would fit in with the plan to make the 160,000-square-foot retail center a dining and entertainment hub. In addition to working on bringing in Empress, Ziegler said he’s in discussions with both a local pizza company and a national pizza chain. While Empress is small now compared to the region’s chili giants, its early success spawned the Cincinnati chili craze. Two former Empress chefs left to start their own chili companies. Nicholas Sarakatsannis moved on to found Dixie Chili. Another Greek immigrant, Nicholas Lambrinides, left Empress in 1949 to start Skyline Chili, now the market leader. Between Gold Star and Skyline alone, revenue from Cincinnati-style chili was more than $150 million last year, according to Chicago-based research firm Technomic Inc. A “Chilinomics” survey by Gold Star Chili in 2010 said the chili industry is a $159 million economic engine. ***************************************************************************** LaRosa's named to Cincinnati Family Business Hall of Fame Business Courier Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2011, 5:31am EDT Iconic Cincinnati restaurant chain LaRosa's Inc. is the first company to receive the Family Business Hall of Fame Award from the University of Cincinnati's Goering Center. The new award recognizes "companies or individuals who have made a long-term community impact, through their commitment to philanthropy, community service, growth of employment and community image," according to a press release. LaRosa's got its start in 1954, when Buddy LaRosa opened a pizzeria on Cincinnati's West Side. The company has grown to include 64 locations, with sales of more than $120 million. LaRosa's will receive the recognition at the Goering Center for Family and Private Business Awards ceremony Aug. 23 at Cincinnati's Music Hall. Six other Cincinnati businesses will also be honored at the annual event. ******************************************************************************************************************************************
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