Shopping : Innovation + Job News

The latest craft brew to come out of Minneapolis-St. Paul isn’t made from barley and hops. It’s Prohibition Kombucha, a fermented beverage made from high-quality teas and fruit or floral flavorings.

The tasty product of a partnership between former Herkimer brewer Nathan Uri and Verdant Tea founder David Duckler, Prohibition is the region’s first homegrown kombucha. The company’s three kombucha flavors are available at about a dozen co-ops, coffee shops and farmers markets around the Twin Cities, including Mill City Farmers’ Market, Seward Co-op, Spyhouse and Kopplin’s Coffee.

Uri has bigger aspirations, though: He’s teaming up with Minneapolis-based Tree Fort Soda to build a larger kombucha brewery at a to-be-determined location in the Twin Cities.  Eventually, Uri envisions a product line available at cafes, restaurants and grocery stores throughout the country, plus satellite breweries on the East and West Coasts to supply customers in other regions.

Prohibition Kombucha’s creations are healthy -- really healthy. “Depending on the quality of tea and type of yeasts and bacteria used, there can be varying levels of amino acids like L-theanine, healthy sour acids like malic and acetic acid, B vitamins, magnesium, zinc and other nutrients,” says Uri. “Our kombucha is also low in sugar and calories, slowing the glycemic load of a meal when consumed with food.”

According to Uri, all Prohibition Kombucha varieties have less than one gram of sugar per ounce and no more than 56 calories per pint.

Popular with the counterculture movement in the Southwest and West Coast, kombucha is novel concept in the Twin Cities. “Currently, the main reason people drink Kombucha is for the probiotic content,” explains Uri, “which can be as simple as one bacteria or as many as 20 beneficial yeasts and bacteria.”

The microbes ferment a mixture of tea, sugar and other natural ingredients, producing carbonation, crisp flavors and a trace, non-intoxicating amount of alcohol. A multi-organism fermenting base is called a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts, or SCOBY.

Kombucha doesn’t always taste great, though. Without naming names, Uri fingers “some other brands” that have a funky, sour, “sharkbite” flavor that’s too tangy to be pleasant. Prohibition uses high-quality black and oolong teas, plus carefully selected secondary ingredients, to achieve a “crisp, cider-like acid-sugar balance,” Uri says.

The fermenting process does produce trace amounts of alcohol -- less than 0.5% by volume. Though 0.5% isn’t intoxicating, Uri and Duckler are sensitive to sober customers’ concerns.

“We completely and unequivocally respect and support” those who avoid kombucha for any reason, says Uri. “That said, others in recovery enjoy our Kombucha without issue. It's a very personal choice and we want everyone to lead healthy and happy lives, so we label our product accordingly.”

In fact, Prohibition Kombucha probably wouldn’t exist if not for Uri’s temporary decision to quit drinking. In 2012, while living in Portland, he hankered for the sensory and aesthetic experience of a fine wine, great beer or perfect cocktail.” He tried his first “small batch craft” kombucha, loved it, and began brewing kombucha at home.

Soon realizing the importance of quality tea to quality kombucha -- many other kombucha producers use low-quality teas or “the bare minimum” of a higher-grade variety, he says -- Uri moved back to the Twin Cities and contacted Duckler, an old friend. Now, Uri exclusively uses Verdant Tea’s black and oolong teas in his kombuchas.

“Since [Duckler] sources the finest, freshest and highest quality Chinese teas available in the US, it’s a natural partnership,” he says. One that could soon bring a fermented, cocktail-quality and (almost) totally non-alcoholic beverage to your local coffee shop or grocery store shelf.

 

You no longer need to bike to the boutique to find the latest in Twin Cities fashion. With HOTROCITY, a Minneapolis-based e-shop run by model, blogger, event promoter and fashion guru John-Mark, you can shop for local designs in the comfort of your living room. Still, you may want to pedal over to Public Functionary on Friday (October 17), where HOTROCITY will be featured during an open-admission launch party.
 
HOTROCITY launched at the beginning of October, drawing inspiration from (among many others) local artist Jesse Draxler, “the exquisite personal style” of Twin Cities’ fashionista Sarah Edwards and the collaborative fashion blog MPLSTYLE, which John-Mark ran with locals Drew Krason and Savanna Ruedy.
 
HOTROCITY specializes in such items as pendants, bracelets, earrings and bags, made right here in the Twin Cities. Featured local designers include East Fourth Street, Silver Cocoon and Objects & Subjects. Some items are instantly memorable, like Silver Cocoon’s “Moon Rabbit Rice Pack Draw String” and Objects & Subjects’ “Bullet Bracelet” (yes, those are shell casings).
 
“At HOTROCITY, we have a very unique relationship with each individual designer,” says John-Mark. “It's been so much fun getting to know [them all]. We're pretty flexible with our designers and do our best to accommodate wherever they're at in their own journey as artists and business people.”
 
Though the focus is on local artists, HOTROCITY also curates designs from creatives in L.A., Chicago, Seoul and Shanghai. And John-Mark is always on the hunt for new looks, wherever they’re found.
 
“We have an intensive checklist of standards to ensure that we're providing our customers with high quality product, manufactured with care,” he says. To keep things fresh, he adds, HOTROCITY will add to its lineup on a monthly basis and “do an aggressive turnover of store product bi-annually.”
 
HOTROCITY launched after a year of “brainstorming how I could foster a greater impact on the local design community that extended beyond blogging,” says John-Mark. He paired with Irv Briscoe of VON91, a web design agency based in downtown Minneapolis, to craft an arresting website and e-commerce platform: “something notorious,” according to the website.
 
John-Mark expects the “relentless creativity” of the Twin Cities to seal HOTROCITY’s success. The region isn’t known as a fashion hub, but there’s enough inspiration here to support a locally focused fashion boutique.
 
“This is an easy job when I see all the talent we have in the local design community,” he says. “Starting a business can be scary, but I've seen enough positive growth in our design community to be confident in the sustainability of HOTROCITY.”
 
John-Mark is a big fan of the buy-local concept, too. “Most women make the pilgrimage to Uptown, the Mall of America or the Internet to buy clothing or accessories at least once a year, if not more,” he says. “Wouldn't it be great if that shopping also supported local artists?”
 

Minneapolis event-organizing company, GetKnit Events, is changing the way Twin Cities residents experience local businesses and attractions. On September 13, it pulled off its most ambitious and far-reaching experience yet: Rails & Ales, a self-guided tour of the breweries and brewpubs along the Green Line, from Target Field to Union Depot. Hundreds of participants sipped discounted brews, previewed special cask releases and rubbed shoulders with some of the most innovative brewers in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
 
For GetKnit founder Matt Plank, connecting Twin Citians with local business owners—preferably on a permanent basis—is the whole point. He and the company’s “core team” of paid employees, most of whom knew each other socially before GetKnit’s founding, are constantly looking for “ways that we [can pursue] our goal of community engagement while supporting local businesses in and around Minnesota,” says Plank.
 
Tickets for Rails & Ales sold out quickly, but a lucky group of several hundred attendees got their run of three establishments in Minneapolis and five in St. Paul, all within walking distance of the Green Line. (Though pedicabs were out in force to transport customers between stations and breweries, especially at farther-flung spots like Urban Growler and Bang Brewing.) Guests checked in at the Target Field, Stadium Village or Union Depot stations, where GetKnit staffers and volunteers handed out T-shirts, drink tokens (two per person, each good for a free pint) and “event passports” that listed participating breweries, their specials and Rails & Ales social media contests.
 
Other locally owned businesses got in on the act too. The Dubliner Pub, between the popular Raymond Avenue (Urban Growler and Bang) and Fairview Avenue (Burning Brothers) stops, ran all-day drink and food specials. Food trucks like Peeps Hot Box posted up outside participating breweries, tempting customers with daily specials. And even independent vendors, like the woman selling vintage glassware outside Bang, profited from the early-afternoon crush on a beautiful Saturday.
 
Meanwhile, the brewers themselves relished the chance to mingle with enthusiastic craft beer fans. At the Mill District’s Day Block Brewing, for instance, the head brewer handed out free pints to anyone who correctly guessed the varieties of hops laid out on the table before him. Rails & Ales wrapped up at 6 p.m., but brewery owners have to be hoping that the day provided a permanent boost in visibility.
 
GetKnit draws inspiration from other tour companies and event organizers, says Plank, but with a twist. Aside from the focus on locally owned business, which is lacking in some areas of the industry, the company aims for “wildly original” events “that our participants likely couldn’t do anywhere but through GetKnit.” You might be able to spend an entire Saturday riding the Green Line between breweries, in other words, but you probably wouldn’t be able to mingle with head brewers, try specially brewed cask releases or enter social media contests for free events and swag.
 
And unlike more bare-bones tour and event operators, GetKnit organizes well-staffed, all-inclusive events that “allow participants to turn off their brains for a day...and not worry about anything,” says Plank. For Rails & Ales, GetKnit had at least one representative at every participating brewery, in addition to staff at check-in stations. The goal was to facilitate “safe and responsible” enjoyment while showcase the ease of using local transit and “how much is accessible right off of its grid.”
 
GetKnit also designs bespoke events for private groups. Plank cites a recent example in which a group of Latin American businesspeople came to the Twin Cities for meetings and sightseeing. Many had never been to Minnesota, so Plank’s team set about creating the "quintessential Minnesotan experience” that included a horse-drawn carriage tour of St. Anthony Main, a brewery tour and tasting, a hands-on cooking class featuring Jucy Lucy burgers and even private curling lessons.
 
For now, GetKnit organizes events in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota. But Plank doesn’t rule out the possibility of expanding the model to other regions, possibly with the help of knowledgeable locals. A recent St. Croix Valley winery tour did cross the Wisconsin border, and “we are playing with other events that might do more extensive tours of other areas in our neighbor to the east,” he says.
 

Man Cave Meats, a rapidly growing Minneapolis startup founded by a recent University of Minnesota grad and his brother, aims to do for burgers and brats what Summit and Surly have done for beer. The company sells “craft meat” processed and prepared in small batches from high-quality regional (the pork comes from Iowa and the beef from Nebraska) ingredients.
 
From its first 20 grocery store accounts in November 2013, Man Cave has grown to around 200 individual accounts, mostly in the Twin Cities, greater Minnesota and North Dakota. Locally, the company deals with homegrown grocers like Lunds, Byerly's, Kowalski’s and some Cub Foods outlets. In its ever-popular beer brats, Man Cave incorporates a hyper-local ingredient: Summit Pilsener.
 
“You can smell the beer when you cook our beer brats,” says Man Cave marketing coordinator Jessica Hughes.
 
Man Cave’s goal, Hughes says, is simple: to produce flavorful, high-quality and responsibly sourced meat products that don’t cost an arm and a leg. Everything but the initial butchering and processing, which needs to be done at a specialized plant, happens at Man Cave’s Twin Cities production facility. Unlike larger producers, Man Cave exclusively uses pork shoulder in its brats. Pork shoulder is a relatively lean (80/20) and flavorful cut of meat, and a far cry from the fatty cuts used in mass-produced sausages.
 
Man Cave also hires locally. About half the full-time staff hails from the U of M or the University of St. Thomas, and most referrals come via word of mouth. During the warm season, when Man Cave’s business picks up, the company retains 20 to 30 part-timers to do grocery store demos and to staff booths at outdoor events, like minor league baseball games, 5K runs and street festivals.
 
“We’re taking a page right out of the craft beer playbook,” says Hughes, citing local beer festivals like the Summer Beer Dabbler as inspiration for Man Cave’s outdoorsy promotional events. Hands-on demonstrations, preferably outdoors, are in the company’s DNA: As a U of M sophomore, co-founder Nick Beste promoted the nascent Man Cave with backyard grilling events at which guests (and passers-by) sampled brats and socialized.
 
Early on, the Bestes also secured a stall at the Mill City Farmers Market. “That really got us off the ground,” says Hughes. Until last year, the bulk of the company’s sales came from on-site purchases at the farmers market and the occasional backyard party.
 
But Man Cave has outgrown its roots. Its exponential growth in the past year is exciting for the company’s nine or 10 full-timers, some of whom started out as part-timers. Finding new markets is exciting as well: Thanks to its growing, affluent and heavily male population, Williston, North Dakota—the epicenter of the shale oil boom—is Man Cave’s most promising market outside of the Twin Cities, says Hughes.
 
Challenges do remain. With a tight focus on Angus burgers and flavored brats, Man Cave’s product line is heavy on the grillables. But the company has grown to the point where it needs a strong revenue stream all year long, says Hughes, so the team has redoubled its efforts to identify “winter-friendly craft meats.” One such item is Man Cave’s mini-brats. “They’re about a quarter the size of our regular brats and come in packs of 15,” says Hughes, “so they’re perfect for pigs-in-blankets and can easily be cooked in any oven.”
 
The company is also looking to introduce a new line of bacon. “It can’t just be your standard slice of bacon,” says Hughes. “It needs to uphold that craft theme.” Further down the road, locally sourced chicken and turkey sausage could make their way into the inventory, especially in health-conscious markets like Minneapolis and St. Paul. And the company is focused on fleshing out its online store as well.
 
But for now, Hughes and the Man Cave team are just happy to be part of an ambitious startup that’s putting the Twin Cities back on the butchery map—and, hopefully, making it possible for people everywhere to pair their craft beer with a craft brat or burger.
 

The AIGA Minnesota  Design for Good initiative (#designforgood), first launched nationally by AIGA in 2011, is partnering with The Common Table for a first-of-its-kind showcase at this year’s Minnesota State Fair. The exhibit will highlight the diversity of local food systems, with input from “organic farmers, farm-to-table restaurants, nonprofits working on healthy soil initiatives and other organizations involved with sustainable agricultural initiatives,” says Sandy Wolfe Wood of AIGA Minnesota.
 
Among other things, the exhibit highlights Design for Good’s commitment to “design thinking,” an “iterative problem-solving process” that “has the power to find innovative solutions to our most challenging social problems,” says Wolfe Wood.
 
Design for Good's showcase is part of The Common Table's exhibit about local food stories in the Horticulture Building at the state fairgrounds. The Common Table enlisted AIGA Minnesota and the Design for Good initiative to design the graphic and multimedia storyboards for the 18 partner organizations. These storyboards are supported by the Storytelling Pavilion, a structure designed and constructed by The Common Table team that resembles branching trees with a canopy of airy honeycombs. The exhibit is both kid and family friendly, and will remain as a permanent exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair for years to come.
 
Many of the partner organizations are based in the Twin Cities. Notables include Red Stag Supperclub, Wedge Community Co-op and Birchwood Cafe. All of them source organic and sustainably farmed produce from farms near the Twin Cities.
 
Several producers will be on hand as well, including Homestead Gardens of Welch (an innovative plot that utilized cold-climate permaculture techniques) and Moonstone Farms. Industry thought leaders from the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy, Environmental Justice Advocates and the Central Minnesota Sustainability Program will participate too. 
 
Design for Good has grown into a key initiative for AIGA Minnesota, which is one of the country’s largest AIGA chapters and one of the state’s largest design organizations. According to its website, Design for Good’s ongoing programming aims to build “a core group of designers interested in design for social impact...who want to be engaged with social change, who have ideas of what issues are most salient, and who can share stories of successful collaborations that have made a difference in the world.”
 
Fairgoers who aren’t affiliated with AIGA Minnesota, The Common Table or any of the exhibit’s partner organizations can still lend their time and talents to the event in exchange for free State Fair admission on the day they volunteer. The Common Table is handling volunteer scheduling here.
 

A recent city-ordinance change has paved the way for mobile grocery stores. Now the Wilder Foundation’s Twin Cities Mobile Market, a repurposed Metro Transit bus that cost the foundation just over $6,000, can distribute fresh produce on St. Paul’s East Side and the North Side of Minneapolis.

Both neighborhoods are considered “food deserts” because the corner shops and independent markets that provide residents with groceries lack fresh produce and other wholesome items.

“[Low-income] people living in these neighborhoods are already at higher risk for obesity and diabetes,” explains Leah Driscoll, the Wilder Foundation program manager in charge of the project. “Living in a food desert makes these problems worse.”

Many residents of these lower-income areas also lack reliable transportation to supermarkets in adjacent city neighborhoods or suburbs, further constraining their shopping options.

The ordinance change, which requires each food truck-like mobile grocery store to stock at least 50 individual fruits and vegetables in at least seven varieties, replaces an older ordinance that had restricted mobile grocery sales to areas around senior housing complexes.

The new law permits mobile grocery stores to set up in commercial, industrial and apartment complex parking lots between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. They can’t locate within 100 feet of traditional grocery stores and farmers’ markets without explicit permission from owners or operators. They also can’t sell certain items, including tobacco products and alcohol.

In addition to the requisite variety of fresh fruit and veggies, Twin Cities Mobile Market will also stock other staples, including bread, dairy products, meat, canned goods, and other non-perishables at costs competitive to places like Cub Foods. Before selecting sites for weekly visits—“public housing high-rises, senior buildings, community centers, and churches” will get the highest priority, according to the foundation—Wilder must secure at least 50 signatures from locals interested in using the market.

Driscoll is working closely with local community leaders to ensure that “we’re actually wanted and needed in the neighborhoods that we select—we don’t just want to show up,” she says.

Twin Cities Mobile Market, which Wilder unveiled on Monday at a “sneak preview” event hosted by Icehouse, isn’t the only mobile grocery truck set to take advantage of Minneapolis’s ordinance change. Urban Ventures, a faith-based organization headquartered in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, is putting the finishing touches on a repurposed refrigerator truck that will begin making grocery sales around South Minneapolis, and eventually the North Side, later this summer. The truck, whose wares will include healthy helpings of local produce, will accept EBT and carry a nutrition specialist to help customers make healthy buying decisions.

 

Max Martin, a luxury shoe brand based in the Nokomis neighborhood of Minneapolis and recently featured in celebrity swag bags at the Grammys and Oscars, goes into production next month with its first full high-heel line. In addition to the Fall 2014 line, a Spring/Summer 2015 line is also in the works. If these two big releases prove successful, a more inclusive women’s shoe line—beyond high heels—could be on the horizon, along with men’s shoes and possibly accessories or other clothing items.

Max Martin got its start in 2012 after William Panzarella, founder of the Minneapolis-based Aegis Foundation (which helps “vulnerable, needy, underserved, and imperiled youth plan, prepare, and focus on education” according to the website), was seeking a sponsor for the foundation’s annual High Heel Dash on Nicollet Mall.

Panzarella noticed a proliferation of shoe brands with ties to celebrities. A longtime hip-hop fan, he immediately saw the potential for a hip-hop line that leveraged his connections to the music industry. Panzarella broadened the idea into a high-heel line that wouldn’t just appeal to musicians. He credits MC Lyte, a former president of the L.A. Chapter of the Grammy Association, with generating publicity about Max Martin among L.A.’s fashionable set, which has driven early sales. Panzarella donates a portion of Max Martin’s pre-season sales to charity.

Being featured at two national awards ceremonies, again thanks to MC Lyte, was a big step forward for Max Martin. For Panzarella, the marketing represented a significant investment, but “the press pays for itself,” he says. During awards season, the shoes were features on Entertainment Tonight and ABC News, as well as in local Twin Cities media outlets. Panzarella also hosted Minneapolis’ “official Oscar viewing party” at Muse. Proceeds from that event benefited the Smile Network and Aegis Foundation.

Panzarella’s fall line includes a striking boot called “Leo,” an angular stiletto called “Betty,” and a classic high-heel called “Moma,” among others. The line’s goal: to prove that true luxury footwear can be made by American hands. The shoes are manufactured in Los Angeles and reportedly are easier on the feet than many other designer shoes, which make them easier to wear on the red carpet—and around town.

The American-made angle was present from the get-go: During Panzarella’s initial market research, he realized that virtually every high-end footwear brand is made in low-cost Chinese factories or, at best, Italian workshops. Spurred on by 2012’s Chinese-made U.S. Olympic uniform fiasco, he set aside his romantic notions of master Italian cobblers manning antiquated shoemaking equipment and resolved to create a footwear line made by Americans, for Americans.

So far, Max Martin’s raw materials, components, and production processes exceed the Federal Trade Commission’s “American Made” guidelines. Panzarella has “tentative plans” to move production to Minnesota in the future.

 

As local food and sustainable farming gains even more momentum in the Twin Cities, entrepreneurial efforts are cropping up to help people navigate this new landscape.
 
One of the most intriguing is The Everyday Table, recently launched by dietitian Sara Bloms and local chef Polly Pierce. The pair started the venture as a way to help those in the metro area not only learn cooking skills, but also gain knowledge about nutrition, food shopping, and menu planning.
 
"The [impetus] behind The Everyday Table was frustration, with the constant reminder of the obesity statistics and the impact it has on rising healthcare costs, the rotation of fad diets claiming to be the magic formula to weight loss, and the plethora of processed foods that fill the grocery store shelves," says Bloms.
 
She adds that information has become a detriment rather than an advantage — so much info is available online in the form of recipes, websites, company newsletters, blogs, and other media that people often feel overwhelmed.
 
The Everyday Table aims to provide tools and resources in an interactive and engaging way that takes relevant information and puts it into action. For example, Bloms will meet clients at a grocery store and guide them though decisions, and Pierce can go to client homes and teach them how to cook in their own kitchens.
 
The Twin Cities, in particular, is well suited for the entrepreneurial effort since the area has become a hub for local food, as demonstrated by more farmers markets and an innovative restaurant scene. Also, Bloms believes that the large number of young professionals here is driving a change.
 
"This generation understands the benefits of using fresh ingredients and cooking at home but wants to learn how to create a meal plan that fits their lifestyle, not their mother's," she says. "They are also the ones that can benefit the most from sustainable, long-term, healthy eating habits."
 
Source: Sara Bloms, The Everyday Table
Writer: Elizabeth Millard
 

A new website, Community and Local Food Resources, is aimed at assisting rural community food systems and development. Sparked by a tri-state collaboration, the site's mission is to improve local food resources, no matter where people might live in the upper Midwest.
 
"Farmers and community members can face a variety of unique struggles and opportunities when working to develop strong local food systems," says Greg Schweser, Community Food Systems Planner at the University of Minnesota's Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. "We worked with rural communities in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota to find out what those issues were and addressed them as best we could in this website."
 
The university collaborated with North Dakota State University Extension Service, Buy Fresh Buy Local South Dakota, and non-profit organization FARRMS to craft a site that will be useful for those working in local food systems. Topics include production, marketing tactics, business advice, sourcing options, education, and public policy.
 
The site comes at a crucial time, as community support for the farm-to-fork movement is growing. By providing online resources to rural communities, the site's developers hope to connect farmers with local organizations and also assist consumers who might be searching for affordable farmers market options or looking to start a community garden.
 
"While there is a wealth of information online to help those working on local foods, this website combines and organizes hundreds of resources into one easy-to-use interface," says Schweser.
 
As food systems change over time and community food strategies develop, the site's developers hope that people will forward new resources so the site can be kept up to date. Schweser is confident that the website can be a major force for change, and a central point for those aiming for stronger, community-based food systems.
 
Source: Greg Schweser, University of Minnesota
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Most consumers haven't heard of Grocery Shopping Network (GSN), but it's likely that nearly everyone has seen the company's work. The Minneapolis-based firm creates digital tools for grocery retailers and packaged goods manufacturers, resulting in a wealth of online and in-store promotions.
 
With the surge in digital marketing efforts and greater interest in food and cooking, GSN, currently on a roll of hiring and expansion, is likely to have even broader reach in the near future. The company's distinctive analytics capability is leading sales on a national level, promising to expand GSN's market reach, according to company spokesperson Albin Andolshek.
 
"We’ve built a great deal of strength on the regional level, and now we’re seeing more national campaigns emerge," he says. "With the new digital shopper marketing tools we have access to, our clients have access to unlimited reach."
 
Started in 1996 as a website developer for the grocery industry, GSN has been beefing up its offerings ever since. The company added e-grocery.com in the late 90s, then brought in software that let clients add recipes and online coupons to the mix.
 
GSN still offers end-to-end solutions for websites, but it also integrates online display advertising into its services. Both areas of the company are growing, and attracting partnerships with sites that focus on grocery shopping, coupons, deals, and cooking.
 
Part of the unique digital marketing that GSN provides is deep integration with digital marketing resources. For example, if a grocer runs a special on coffee and wants to target only coffee drinkers in the store's loyalty card program, GSN helps them find those individuals and tailor a message to reach them.
 
As a result of strong growth and expanded services, GSN has been hiring and expanding, Andolshek says. "We have milestones we want to hit, and we're excited to keep growing."
 
Source: Albin Andolshek, Grocery Shopping Network
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Although online deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial boast plenty of fans, the model can be challenging for consumers and businesses alike. Those who change their minds about a product or service will lose money because they paid upfront, and for companies, demand can be so intense that more than one business has been shuttered by a Groupon deal.
 
Minneapolis-based startup lumaNEAR believes there's a better way.
 
The idea for the deal site has roots at the University of Minnesota, where co-founders Scott Sailer and Kyle Ries were roommates while attending the Carlson School of Management. Sharing a passion for business efficiency, the pair tried a number of different startup ideas, but none felt large enough for eventual expansion.
 
Then, they started listening to complaints about the online group-buying model, and like the lightbulb in their logo, something clicked on. "We wondered what would happen if we removed the friction and hassle from both sides," says Sailer. "People could still get deals and companies could still get business, but without the headaches."
 
Their venture, developed with creative guru Teresa Facciotto, went into beta on April 6th. The platform lets users navigate a map with posted deals, but doesn't require pre-buying to take advantage of them. Unlike other online deal sites, lumaNEAR lets vendors tweak a deal at any time, or even remove them if they choose.
 
Best of all for both sides, the service is free. As a bootstrapped venture, lumaNEAR will likely add fee-based premium features for businesses in the future in order to begin turning a profit, but the co-founders are adamant that basic functionality will always be free.
 
"Our mission is to connect these two groups together, easily and with low cost," says Sailer. "We have lofty goals for expansion, and we're excited to see where this takes us."
 
Source: Scott Sailer, lumaNEAR
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Wildly popular with consumers, sites like LivingSocial and Groupon aren't always relevant for young adults, believes entrepreneur Chad Olsen.
 
"There are so many crazy good deals, but it felt like there wasn't much for college students," he says. To change the situation, he created ByME, an app that focuses on that demographic, and also puts a different spin on the online coupon model.
 
Unlike Groupon, those using ByME don't need to buy ahead for their deals. They can just bring a smartphone into a participating retailer or service provider and present the e-coupon on the spot. That's an advantage, because it doesn't create a deluge of orders for a small business, and it doesn't lock users into a certain deal before they start shopping.
 
Olsen got the idea for the company while running a web development agency. One of his clients called, in tears, because a Groupon deal had overloaded the company, and eventually drove it into bankruptcy.
 
"When I heard that, I thought there must be a way to start with good deals for students, and drive traffic for these businesses, without overwhelming them," he says.
 
The app does create a bit of a frenzy, however. A recent deal at Noodles & Co. was so popular that the restaurant ran out of food. Olsen jokes that the company's new tagline is "We made Noodles run out of noodles."
 
As the company approaches its one-year mark, Olsen and his business partner Alec Bronston are already working on the next version, incorporating tweaks that will make ByME even more useful. He says, "We're able to learn from our mistakes to become more agile and lean."
 
Source: Chad Olsen, ByME
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

Let's say you've been looking for the perfect pair of boots for the last few months — classic but fashion-forward, dressy but office-appropriate — and finally, you find them and put a photo up on social media to show off your prize. How would it feel if a group of your friends then dashed out to buy the exact same boots?
 
More interestingly, would that feeling change if you got a "reward" every time a pair got purchased based on your recommendation?
 
It's the answer to the second question that drove the creation of StuffDOT, an online platform that allows users to post items like books, movies, clothes, and housewares, and then earn rewards if those postings lead to purchases by others.
 
Created by AOI Marketing, a Minneapolis-based loyalty marketing firm, StuffDOT is still in beta testing, but is likely to be widely released soon, according to Amanda Axvig, the company's vice president of marketing.
 
"Basically, it's just a smarter way to share," she says. "It rewards users for sharing what they like."
 
Like other referral programs, StuffDOT compensates users through a point system than can be redeemed for cash or gift cards from retailers like Target and Amazon.com, or even Punch Pizza. In look, the site is similar to Pinterest, but tying posts to rewards makes it even more compelling than those types of "inspiration sites," Axvig says.
 
Currently, StuffDOT is working with over 18,000 retailers, and Axvig notes that nearly every prominent online retailer has signed on as a partner. With that kind of beta, it's likely that the site's popularity (and AOI Marketing's staff numbers) will continue to grow.
 
Source: Amanda Axvig, AOI Marketing
Writer: Elizabeth Millard

For parents who want to find toys made in the United States, the search can be challenging, believes Patrick Magnusson, co-founder of a new online retail venture, HomeGrown Kid.
 
"We have a young daughter, and we became aware of how difficult it could be to find toys and other products made here," he says. "Many were made in countries where the safety standards aren't as rigorous as those of the United States, and that was a concern for us."
 
He started the venture with his wife, Nousha, and her brother, with the trio bringing on family friend Bobbi Bohnsack to handle marketing. In addition to offering American-made goods, many of the products on the website are eco-friendly as well. For example, a dump truck from Green Toys, a manufacturer in California, is made from recycled plastic milk containers and is BPA-free. Even the packaging for shipping is constructed of recycled materials.
 
Beyond safety issues, Magnusson and his co-founders have a larger goal of increasing access to American-made products. He says, "We feel that consumers can positively influence the economy by buying products made here. It moves us toward a better future."
 
The site launched in June, and is finding initial traction through word of mouth, he notes. They plan to do a larger marketing push soon, and by next year, hope to have a steady base of sales and predictable growth. Magnusson says that the step after that will be to expand into other areas, like product development.
 
"At the end of the day, we're seeing that the 'Made in the USA' options aren't that numerous, but that's one of the main reasons we started this, to begin the process of doing something about that," he notes. 

Loyalty and reward programs have always relied on tried-and-true products that appeal to a wide variety of people: vacations, large TVs, and swanky home goods. But the popularity of digital media like e-books and games points to a new direction for these programs, and PointTunes is leading the way.
 
Started in 2010, the company takes digital assets and prices them in a way that's customized for a specific reward program. For example, an airline might assign a penny-and-a-half value to each of its miles. PointTunes works with that point value amount and determines how assets like online games can be awarded to customers with an appropriate level of points.
 
The company works with rewards administrators, and even handles the shopping experience, notes Bill Cunningham, PointTunes founder and CEO. His deep roots and experience in the rewards industry go all the way back to age 16, when he started working for Carlson Marketing Group.
 
"In 20 years in the business, I was seeing that not much had changed," he says. "Rewards administrators were still tied to physical rewards, while the rest of the world had gone digital. That pushed me toward founding PointTunes."
 
The rewards and loyalty industry is poised to explode in the next year or so, he notes, and the Millenials who are now getting jobs and starting families are expecting more digital options when they sign up for these types of programs.
 
"They want to be able to download immediately, and be engaged with those brands," says Cunningham. "At the same time, retiring Boomers are downloading more books and movies, and they have those same expectations of being able to take advantage of their reward points immediately."
 
That shift should bring more robust growth to Minneapolis-based PointTunes, Cunningham notes.
 
Source: Bill Cunningham, PointTunes
Writer: Elizabeth Millard