The Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Saratoga County are partnering to provide expertise and guidance to support entrepreneurs seeking to pursue growing business opportunities in the nation’s $6 trillion food industry.
“Recipe for Success: A Workshop for Food Entrepreneurs” will be presented on Thursday, April 11, at Cornell Cooperative Extension’s offices at 50 West High St. in Ballston Spa. The daylong program will provide important information on licensing, processing, packaging, marketing, pricing, and selling food products.
The workshop also includes the basics of successful small business management.
Plug Power Makes List Of Most Innovative Companies For Its Hydrogen Fuel Cell Work
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Plug Power Inc., a provider of energy solutionswith an office in Clifton Park, has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019.
The 2019 Most Innovative Companies (MIC) list honors 50 businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today’s volatile world. Half of the companies on this year’s MIC 50 list are appearing for the first time.
‘On The Spot Photos’ Blossomed From Small Company To One That Operates Nationwide
By Maureen Werther
Johnny Miller’s professional event photography company is called On the Spot Photos for a good reason.
Miller’s company, which has been operating since 2009, provides professional photography and printing services for a wide assortment of sporting events across the country, free of charge to the attendees.
Anyone who is a skier has had the experience of getting off a chairlift and being approached by a photographer. They take skiers’ photos and give them a retrieval ticket in the hopes that, at the end of the day, the skier will go to the photo booth in the lodge and purchase that photo.
Business Report: What About Last-Minute Schedule Pay?
By Michael Billok
You just started your own small business. Congratulations. Maybe it’s a delivery service, a retail store or a carwash. Regardless of what it is, you’ve learned the hard way how difficult it is to be an employer.
You’ve arranged for workers compensation insurance, unemployment insurance, payroll tax withholding, work authorization verification, and a host of other regulatory requirements. Well, get ready for one more: scheduling requirements for employees that, if not met, will significantly impact your payroll.
Clifton Park Braces And Adirondack Orthodonics Steadily Expanded Over Time
By Susan E. Campbell
Clifton Park Braces and Adirondack Orthodontics is celebrating five years in the Capital District. During that time, Dr. Sergey Berenshteyn, owner and founder, has expanded from his first office near Shenendehowa Central School District to, now, Albany and Latham.
The flagship Clifton Park office was recently expanded.
“This past summer, we took over the adjacent office at 931 Route 146 and increased our space by one-third,” he said. “Local contractors and suppliers provided the renovations. A.B.P. Builders out of Albany was recommended by someone who had used that firm to build his medical office.”
Business Report: Bank Resources For Entrepreneurs
By Jerome Mastrianni
With spring at hand, now is a great time to start thinking about new opportunities. As entrepreneurs think about starting or growing their businesses, often the first task that needs to be addressed is funding—whether it’s for new office space, investment in equipment, operating cash, payroll, marketing, or any other aspect of running a business.
Here is some guidance:
1. Use the area’s great resources for entrepreneurs. Banks work closely with and refer many small business customers to work with economic development corporations in the Saratoga region, including the New York Business Development Corp., Empire State Certified Development Corp., and SCORE.
Evans Family Builds Company That Provides Businesses With Renewable Energy Solutions
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By Maureen Werther
There are a lot of reasons why people decide to open a business. For the Evans brothers and their father, ReWire Energy Group is the result of a strong love of family combined with a commitment to develop renewable and sustainable energy solutions for homes, businesses and municipalities.
In 2012, Milton Evans, a former technology and product-development professional, lost his wife, Corella Brown Evans, and his five sons lost their mother. The lessons she taught about the importance of family stuck with them.
“We vowed to support each other and stay in touch,” said son Lee Evans. They started holding weekly phone calls and during one of them the idea of starting a business together began to form.
Each brother had already amassed an impressive business portfolio, working for companies such as GE, Albany Nanotech, Deutsche Bank, YMCA, Motorola, Glaxo Smith-Kline and others. They brought their combined skill sets to each phone conference, discussing how best to leverage their talents and incorporate them into a viable business model.
By 2015, their business model was ready and ReWire Energy opened for business.
Business Grows From Making Insulation For Homes To Important Maritime Industry Uses
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By Maureen Werther
Tom and Cynthia Eletto’s company, Empire Foam Solutions, gives new meaning to the phrase, “a rising tide lifts all boats.”
Founded in 2008, the company began manufacturing and installing polyurethane foam as insulation in commercial buildings and residences.
However, as an entrepreneur Tom soon began “tweaking” his manufacturing formulations and developed an ultra-high density foam that is resistant to water, making it a valuable product for the maritime industry.
Large boats and barges—many of them up to 300 feet in length—can’t simply be lifted out of the water and re-welded when they begin to rust and deteriorate from age. By analyzing each problem as it arises, Eletto develops solutions that will keep large boats and barges afloat, he said.
Today, Empire Foam Solutions is busy installing high density foam as flotation on barges in several locations, said Eletto. Winning a bid to install foam as flotation on barges working on the Erie and Champlain systems for the state Division of Canals back in 2012 launched the company into the maritime market. They have stabilized vessels in Boston, Rhode Island, Peoria and St. Louis and opportunities are percolating across the country.
‘The Perfect Noodle’ In Mechanicville Serves Up Homemade Pasta, Sandwiches And More
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By Margaret MacDonald
The husband-and-wife team Tami and John Demers celebrated the two-year anniversary of their business, the Perfect Noodle, in May.
Located at 205 Park Ave., Mechanicville, between Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s the store offers homemade pasta and a sense of community as well.
Growing up in Mechanicville before relocating to Stillwater, Tami remembers an Italian corner store “on every corner,” family-owned operations where larger grocery chains have now taken over.
As a child, her grandmother and mother made fresh homemade pasta – something Demers did for her kids, too.
Having wanted to open a business for some time (being a stay-at-home mom), she sought to recreate that sense of community that nourished her as a child.
She proposed the idea to her husband, who conceded with a challenge: If Tami bought pasta from Arthur Avenue in New York City to compare to her own—and he couldn’t tell the difference—they would open the store.
Love Of Good Food, Desire To Please People Drives Angelo Mazzone's Restaurant 'Empire'
Angelo Mazzone is owner of Mazzone Hospitality based in Clifton Park.Courtesy Mazzone Hospitality
By Sarah Jean Worden
The tri-county area is well decorated with the names Mazzone Hospitality and Prime Business Dining, companies owned by restaurant mogul Angelo Mazzone.
Many area residents, business people and tourists of the area enjoy meals and meetings prepared by teams of his 1,000 employees.
In Saratoga County, his ventures include Angelo’s Prime Bar + Grill in Clifton Park; Prime at Saratoga National at the renowned Saratoga Springs golf club; and the dining facility at the historic Hall of Springs in Spa State Park. Soon, he will run the restaurant at Pavilion Grand Hotel in Saratoga Springs.
Mazzone’s name became established in and around the area long before he invested in the Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia in 1988. In the early 1970s, he attended Hudson Valley Community College and then transferred to Schenectady County Community College to complete the hotel and restaurant management program. He “met a girl” who later became his wife and the mother of his children. The couple left New York briefly but ultimately came back to the area for work and to open Peggy’s Restaurant on State Street in Schenectady at a time when that city was starting to rebuild its downtown.
“I was part of the redevelopment,” Mazzone said. At that time, Peggy’s was expanding its catering. While he was developing that project, he saw an opportunity at the Glen Sanders Mansion.
“This is the place,” he said. And the decision was made to purchase the property on the Mohawk River. He added two ballrooms and a dining hall to the smaller historic house.