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As the transportation and logistics industry emerges from the global COVID-19 pandemic and the pain it inflicted on the supply chain, we now face new challenges and an uncertain economy in the coming year.
Following are six trends we can expect to see in 2023.
Merger and acquisition activity will continue into the new year. During the pandemic, logistics companies grew by size and revenues as never before, gaining attention from private equity firms looking to invest in fast-growing firms, as well as owners looking to exit when valuations were at all-time highs. But other factors came into play as well, including the state of the economy, to drive merger and acquisition activity.
According to a mid-2022 report by PwC, “The high level of M&A activity in the transportation and logistics sector is expected to continue in FY 2022 as companies address a number of challenges. Due to uncertainties related to new COVID-19 variants, the war in Ukraine, material and equipment shortages and overall supply chain disruptions, many companies are considering near-shoring opportunities and attempting to gain more control over their supply chain.”
“While M&A is slowing down, there are still many businesses looking to acquire or be acquired,” says Peter Rentschler, chief executive officer of Metafora, a consulting and technology company that specializes in the transportation and logistics space. “We’re seeing private equity firms that aren’t already invested in logistics back away, which will lead to a higher number of strategic acquisitions where a larger company will buy a smaller one that brings a new customer footprint or service offerings.
“With M&A activity comes workforce optimization,” Rentschler continues, “which is the ideal time to examine overall people strategy and could include outsourcing.”
Logistics companies are expanding offerings and investing in smart implementations. To gain competitive edge and provide more value to customers, logistics companies are increasingly expanding the services they offer — and they’re investing more to ensure proper implementations.
According to an Accenture research survey of logistics executives, the most important driver of change in the industry today is evolving customer expectations. The report states that logistics companies believe their customers want them to offer a broader set of logistics services, “either extending their service portfolios to include upstream and/or downstream solutions, or expanding their existing services across more geographies, industries, or modes of transport.”
“We’re seeing a lot of companies looking to expand services to better support their customers and as new avenues to growth,” Rentschler says. “This is an ideal time to consider alternative or creative business models that may include outsourcing labor to reduce the investment for the new service and reduce capital outlay and risk.”
From an implementation standpoint, Rentschler says, organizations are becoming smarter and more mature, while looking to consultants to make sure that the implementation goes well. “We’ve seen businesses spend money on new technology or move roles offshore, and they get 5% of the potential ROI out of it because they didn't properly invest in implementation. A trucking company will buy a truck and know exactly how much money it will make, but they overlook investments such as technology or outsourcing where they can gain a 10% efficiency across the entire business.”
Carrier cycles are normalizing. During the pandemic, it was oftentimes a mad scramble to find a carrier — any carrier — to transport a load, and the cycles were abnormal and difficult to predict. Despite the current economy, expect a return to more normal cycles, and the ability to be more selective in choice of carriers.
During the pandemic, a carrier shortage resulted in an influx of new and small players, which brokers and shippers were forced to hire regardless of quality, says Cassandra Gaines, chief executive officer of Carrier Assure. “The brokers and shippers who came into the industry during COVID-19 do not understand the normal cycles of our industry and are beginning to experience how it really works. Capacity is stabilizing, so brokers and shippers can be more selective in finding the right carrier for the load.”
“The industry is very cyclical and very volatile,” says Brandon Bay, vice president of corporate strategy and marketing for Logistics Group International. “One week, your volume and margins are up; the next week, the bottom can fall out. You have to adjust very quickly. Finding vendors and clients to keep your business consistent is key.”
Companies will continue to embrace remote-work options. Demand for logistics and transportation talent is at an all-time high. It was an issue before the pandemic or great resignation, and has only gotten worse. Companies are deploying multiple tactics, including improvements to benefits and workplace culture, to attract and retain talent. Remote work was one of the most important options during the pandemic, and might still be essential to luring a workforce that expects it.
“The pandemic changed how people work,” Bay says. “It forced our company and others to learn how to work remote. But it also created a problem, in that we now have a highly mobile workforce that brings a sense that employees can easily change jobs without relocating — they just get a new laptop and continue working wherever they are. This, in turn, leads to further investment in compensation, incentives and benefits. You invest a lot in training and want to advance your employees’ careers. But the mobile workforce also puts pressure on retention and growing and scaling teams, and I think that's where offshoring becomes an option for many companies.”
Outsourced consultancy and IT talent will grow to implement new technologies. Beyond the dire need for higher skilled, more tech-savvy workers in the office, automation, digital transformation and data analytics are key priorities for company leaders today. But with it comes the need to attract more skilled workers who are adept at extracting the value from these newly implemented technologies. After all, a computer can’t have a meaningful conversation with a customer to solve a delivery issue.
The industry is seeing an increase in the hiring of consultancy firms to guide strategy, implementation and deployment of these technologies. Additionally, due to the serious lack of IT development talent in the U.S., such engagements often include drawing on outsourced IT talent, particularly for customizing and onboarding platforms.
Companies will increasingly adopt advanced technologies for employee training. Artificial intelligence is among the fastest-growing data-driven technologies transforming business. According to a NewVantage report, nine out of 10 businesses have ongoing investments in AI.
One business area that has seen process optimization is employee training and development. AI is crucial in any organization’s hiring, onboarding and professional development process. According to a Gartner report, 20% of business content (including training content) will be written by AI by 2025.
More companies are looking at microtraining technologies, which generate significant efficiencies and reduce overall onboarding times, allowing employees to start their work tasks sooner. For busy companies, it can be hard finding time for additional training and upskilling. With its low cost and proven effectiveness, microtraining can help employees boost productivity and stay engaged in their roles.
The logistics and transportation industries have always evolved, and 2023 will be no different as we move into an uncertain economy and the threat of recession. The goals remain the same: resilience, efficiency, reliability, speed and quality. COVID-19 tested our industry, forcing the adoption of new technologies and business models. But no matter what you hope to achieve, it takes talented people to get there. Building the right teams is mission-critical to reaching your 2023 goals.
Robert Cadena is co-founder and chief executive officer of Lean Solutions Group.
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text: All indications point to global inflation of consumer prices in 2022 that will be higher than anything seen in the past 30 years. With consumer prices up 5.8% from a year ago already, and another 2.3% (at least) expected in 2022, our industry needs to focus on efficiency to avoid another industry slow-down/disruption following COVID. The questions all brands should be asking is what is the new value for consumers brands can create? What can this look like long term? How do we create NEW value that is seen as valuable by consumers? (for example CPG brands providing refillable glass jars and subscriptions to low-waste refills).

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Will Groupon Execs Get Out While They Can?
Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) top executives will not sell company stock after a trading lock-up period ends on June 1. The company’s founders, including chief executive Andrew Mason are planning to keep their shares even after the expiration of the lock-up that will allow some pre-initial-public-offering investors to sell shares.
Investing Insights: Will Facebook Measure Up to These Internet Titan IPOs?
“We have no intention to sell,” Mason said during a webcast of an investor meeting on Thursday. “We see this as a long-term business.”
The approach of the expiration had put Groupon’s troubled stock under additional pressure, and Mason’s comments received a positive reaction from industry experts. “To hear that a third of the shares are not going to be sold is somewhat encouraging,” Benchmark analyst Clayton Moran told Reuters.
Mason added that he was hoping two new board members would provide “additional financial firepower” to help Groupon fulfill its responsibilities as a public company. Groupon had been under fire from analysts and investors after announcing there had been accounting errors in its earnings report from the fourth quarter of last year and changed an earlier profit to a loss. It had said then that it had set aside inadequate amounts in reserve for customer refunds and that there was a “material weakness” in its financial controls.
But late last month, Groupon named Daniel Henry, the chief financial officer of American Express (NYSE:AXP), and Deloitte’s Robert Bass as new members of its board of directors. Both will serve on the audit committee along with Ted Leonsis. Henry will replace Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) chief executive Howard Schultz, who left the board.
Mason also said that the company was hoping to cut marketing spending, partly by automating its return-on-investment calculations. “Most of our innovation has been delivered on merchant and customer value. Now we are turning our technological innovation inward,” he said.
Don’t Miss: Starbucks Tries Out New Executive Blend.


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Butcher bids for best bangers in Britain award
BRIDPORT based RJ Balson and Son will aim to prove it still has the best bangers in Britain at a competition in Bristol next week.
The butchers in West Allington is the oldest in the country, having opened in 1515, and will go up against other butchers from all over the south West in a bid to prove it still produces the best sizzling sausages.
Love Pork will be hosting the event in Bristol on November 7 as part of a national tour to discover the land’s greatest sausage as part of British Sausage Week 2013.
There were more than 300 entries for the competition and they were whittled down to 11 butchers, with all of them providing their prized porkers in the New Sausage Development or Traditional Sausage categories.
They will all cook their sausages at the same time, before celebrity chef Simon Rimmer will taste the bangers and then crown the south West winner of the British Banger Award.
RJ Balson and Son submitted their Farmhouse Pork Sausage and Pork Sweet Chilli sausage to the competition earlier in the year.
Richard Balson, owner of the butchers, said: “We have been selling the pork and sweet chilli sausage for two or three years now and they are really popular.
“Since we have started selling them they have gone down really well and every food fair we have been to they have gone down very well so we are very pleased with it.”
The traditional farmhouse pork sausage is made by the butchers using the same recipe and methods since the butchers first opened.
Mr Balson said: “It’s a good quality sausage, using local pork.
“It is and has been the cornerstone of this business since the start and it is our best seller.
“All the local bed and breakfasts have them and they always keep coming back for more, because there is nothing worse when you are in a hotel and you have a cheap supermarket sausage for breakfast, and customers remember that.”
Balson’s is no stranger to receiving trophies and winning competitions, and has just won two gold awards at the recent Taste of the West awards.
The business will also be featuring in an hour long documentary for the BBC in early 2014, to mark its status as the oldest butchers in Britain.


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Navy lace is the new orange for Teresa Giudice!
She was also rather classy in a deep blue mini dress with lace panels along the bodice and skirt, and her hair was super bouncy that now she's able to go back to using expensive shampoo. We guess.
Imagine how sweet freedom must taste to her right now!
Anyway, thank goodness she's out and you should totally buy her book.
[Image via Pacific Coast News Online.]


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North-East India has a historical connection with the South-East Asian countries. The second North-East India Festival is going to be organised on February 21, 22 and 23 in Bangkok, Thailand to promote trade, tourism and culture among both regions.
North-East India is known for its exotic destinations and the festival will help boost the region’s tourism.
The event is the biggest ever Indian program outside and is presented by the North-Eastern Council and Embassy of India, Thailand.
It is organised by Trend MMS, the organiser of North-East Festival Initiatives with support from North-East India Asociation, Thailand, and various State Governments of the North East, Spicejet among others.
The chief organiser of the North-East India Festival, Shyamkanu Mahanta said: “A team of around 500 people are travelling from the North-East to Thailand for 2nd North-East India Festival. After the successful first edition, we are very enthusiastic for the festival which, for the first time, is trying to promote North-East India’s trade, tourism and culture in Thailand in a methodical way.”
“The event is actually an extension of the Act East Policy of India and we are grateful to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for mentioning our efforts in his recent visit to Thailand last year,” he added.
The festival at Central World will have an exhibition from Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal, Tripura, and Nagaland showcasing tourism and trade potential of these States.
Spicejet will be showcasing organic fruits and vegetables from the North East. A presentation of cane and bamboo, tea exhibition, textiles exhibition, and high-quality cuisines, etc., will also be there.
Spectacular cultural performances of various folk dances of the North-East, for example, Mask Dance of Arunachal, Bihu dance of Assam, Raas Leela from Manipur, Cheraw dance, Naga Warrior dance, etc., will be presented along with Thai dance form Khon dance, which will be performed at the festival supported by Culture Ministry, Thailand. Fourteen designers of the region will present spectacular fashion presenting the best of North Eastern fabric.
Famous Indian singers and bands, Papon, Naga Band Trance Effect, David Angu and Tribes, Arunachal, Soulmate, and some of the most popular Thai Rock bands such as Slot Machine will perform at the festival. North-East Indian community in Thailand will perform a unity dance.
(With ANI Inputs)


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After opening Jack & Ginger’s Irish Pub, the dance club Rose Room and two others last year, Jeff and Darren Van Delden — through their company the Union Venture Group — have extensively renovated the former Dallas Nightclub space, transforming it into a neighborhood pub they’re calling the Local Post.
Tomorrow, the Local Post debuts at 7113 Burnet Rd. in North Austin.
It’ll bring a relaxed good time to the Crestview neighborhood with Texas comfort food, happy hour specials, plenty of parking, indoor arcade games and big-screen TVs. By day, the Local Post aims to be a family-friendly restaurant — with menu options like smoked brisket sliders and 10 lb. Can Nachos that come three different ways — but by night, starting around 5 p.m., the pub will transition to more of a 21-and-older space.
Happy hour is from 4 to 7 p.m. on weekdays and offers $2.50 domestic pints, $3 wells and daily drink specials for $3 or $4. You’ll be able to order drinks at any of the three full bars within the pub.
The Dallas Nightclub closed in September 2015 after 35 years in business slinging cheap drinks near a large dance floor, and the Union Venture Group scooped up the space last summer, deciding to completely gut it for their vision of a neighborhood bar.
“Someone was going to put a bar there, so we figured why not us?” Jeffrey Van Delden said in a Statesman story about the purchase. “We feel like Burnet Road has grown into a hot spot in the last few years. We want to make something very friendly for the neighborhood, very casual with lunch and dinner, a bar and a nice-sized patio.”
America’s beloved bourbon often steals the spotlight here, but one Rainey Street bar hasn’t forgotten about one of the oldest whiskeys of the world. The Blackheart is devoting an entire week to Scotch whisky starting Sunday and will have drink specials, happy hour events, tastings, Scotch 101 classes and more.
Each day, the Blackheart will have two featured Scotch whiskies available neat, on the rocks or in a classic cocktail like the Blood and Sand and the Rob Roy. One of the whiskies will be “a mid-price, everyman kind of Scotch,” while the other is more of a harder-to-find top-shelf brand, according to the Blackheart.
Don’t know much about Scotch? That’s OK. The bar will teach you with two workshops: a Scotch 101 tasting featuring Lagavulin at 7 p.m. on Jan. 18 and another one featuring Glenkinchie, Clynelish and Talisker Storm at 7 p.m. on Jan. 19. Peat Week is also kicking off at 6 p.m. Sunday with a screening of Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart” — which, while not entirely related to the subject, is certainly an epic way to debut a boozy week.
“Some Scotch whisky distilleries slowly dry the malted barley (from which Scotch is made) using fires made from peat, a special kind of turf,” the Blackheart noted in a press release. “The 30-hour drying process gives the whisky a distinctive smoky flavor, often referred to as ‘peatiness.’”
Here’s the schedule of whiskies going on special each day:
Sunday, Jan. 15
Bruichladdich Port Charlotte
Monday, Jan. 16
Glen Scotia Samaroli
Auchentoshan Single Malt Whisky 12 Year
In 2013, Texas laws changed to allow breweries to sell their beers for on-site consumption — a step in the right direction — although brewers in the state are hoping that this year proves to be an even bigger boon for them.
Now that the 85th Texas legislature is in session, the lobbyists for the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, the organization that advances the interests of the state’s craft brewers, are going to push for more. Namely, they want breweries to be able to sell beer to-go from their taprooms.
“Having off-premise sales in breweries is our number one priority,” Charles Vallhonrat, director of the guild, said.
Currently, Texas law permits brewpubs, but not production breweries, to sell beer in bottles, cans and growlers to-go from their facility. Brewpubs can also offer beers from other breweries on-site, but they are limited in the amount of beer they can produce each year: no more than 10,000 barrels.
Introducing and then passing a bill that would give breweries more of the same freedoms as brewpubs — not to mention wineries and distilleries, which can similarly sell their products for off-site enjoyment — might not be so easy.
“We’ve been speaking with the distributor lobbies,” Vallhonrat said. “There’s certainly opposition to it, but we’re working through it. We’re also closely watching the Deep Ellum lawsuit. But we will bring a bill about off-premise sales to the legislature.”
Distributors, he said, are opposed to the idea because allowing consumers to buy beer to take home directly from the breweries could, theoretically, take away some of their business. That’s not how the guild sees it, however.
“We don’t see it as an alternative to retail sales,” Vallhonrat said. “People aren’t going to start buying their beer at the brewery all the time. They’ll go for special occasions, when there’s a big release or they have friends in town. Off-premise sales can drive beer tourism. It’s a great way to promote Texas beer.”
The guild is lobbying for breweries to sell growlers as well as their packaged products to-go, for “breweries to have the same flexibility that brewpubs, as retail licensees, have,” he said.
Tito’s Vodka has always been in the spirit of giving — but the local vodka company is taking its charitable pursuits a step further now by donating all of the proceeds from its online store to designated nonprofits.
The philanthropic initiative, according to the company, will go on indefinitely.
When you purchase an item from the store, you’ll be able to choose which of six charities you want your money to go toward. For the first quarter of this year, those nonprofits include Emancipet, Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, Grammy Foundation, American Red Cross, Operation Homefront and CORE.
All of the funds from the dog-related items in the Tito’s store will automatically be given to Emancipet.
“Philanthropy has always been something we are extremely passionate about at Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and there is no better way to express this than having 100% of our online store proceeds donated to charities from now on,” Bert “Tito” Beveridge, the founder of the company, said in a press release.
The juice bar empire is expanding once again by opening today at 6301 W. Parmer Lane #104, in the Jollyville neighborhood. In celebration of the opening, the new JuiceLand location is offering half-off all drinks throughout the day, limited to one per customer in attendance.
Those include what you’d find at the other JuiceLand locations, such as the Originator with apple juice, banana, blueberry, cherry, peanut butter, rice protein, spirulina and flax oil; Bam Bam with pineapple juice, banana, mango, hemp protein, coconut oil, spirulina and raw almonds; and Vegetable Kingdom with apple juice, carrot, beet, spinach, lemon, mango, cherry and spirulina.
“The new Parmer-McNeil location is part of JuiceLand’s goal to increase product accessibility across Austin to reduce the need for extraneous travel and ultimately cut back on carbon emissions,” according to a press release.
JuiceLand is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays. For more information, visit juiceland.com.
“The bolstered sales will help Black Star Co-op maintain the values we have championed since we began,” Black Star said in a press release. “Moving forward, it is now our responsibility to preserve and cultivate all of the goodwill we have received from this experience. In the coming months we hope to earn your continued support and business as we make improvements to the co-op.”
In addition to the member-owners, Black Star acknowledged a slew of businesses and organizations that reached out in their time of need. The list included Project Transitions, Whip In, Craft Beer Austin, Jester King Brewery, Emancipet, High Brew Coffee, Vessel Coworking, Hopfield’s, Craft Pride, Blacklands Malt, Modo Yoga, Emmer & Rye, The Brewtorium, Austin Zealots, SHADE TX Craft Beer, The Beer Diaries, Red Horn Coffee, 4th Tap Brewing Co-op and more.
Although the temperature is heating back up to the low-80s this week, it’s still the season for dark beers — and Austin brewpubs and breweries are responding with an array of porters, stouts, barrel-aged brews and beers with winter flavors.
Here are some of the local beers to look out for this month and the next, too.
Austin Beerworks Sputnik:The one-time cans of the seasonal beer might be long gone, but you can still find Austin Beerworks’ beloved Russian imperial oatmeal stout on draft at bars around town, including at the Brass Tap Domain.
Tonight at 7 p.m., the beer bar is offering Sputnik, Sputniko, Battle Axe and Pearl Snap as part of an Austin Beerworks tap takeover.
In it, according to Zilker, “expect everything you love about the original: the caramelized sugar, the creamy texture, and of course the locally roasted coffee (thanks, Wild Gift Coffee), just more of it.”
Independence Brewing’s Illustrated Man Dark Sour: Although this beer won’t be ready for full-scale release in cans until next month, there will be a pilot brew version of it in the Independence taproom. The Illustrated Man is tart, with blackberries, raspberries and boysenberries adding extra flavor to the dark-hued ale.
Black Star Co-op Moebius: The brewpub put out a call to action at the end of last week, asking for customers to stop in and prevent a possible closure. A good time to be there is on Jan. 17, when the house beer Moebius is tapping as a Woodford Reserve Whiskey barrel-aged imperial stout.
According to Black Star, the rich and viscous “Moebius is a decadent beast of a beer” that clocks in at a robust 10 percent alcohol by volume. It taps at 5 p.m. next Tuesday.
Blue Owl Brewing’s Lord Admiral Gravitas: Remember Blue Owl’s Admiral Gravitas, a sour imperial oatmeal stout? This wood-aged version, which spent time in Balcones Brimstone barrels, takes the Admiral Gravitas up a boozy notch and has additional notes of oak, smoke and complexity.
The barrel-aged brew will only be found at the brewery taproom starting at 3 p.m. on Jan. 18, although the Admiral Gravitas is more widely available around town.
Uncle Billy’s Shakolad Chocolate Imperial Stout: This full-bodied stout full of cocoa nibs from Srsly Chocolate is Uncle Billy’s winter seasonal, and it certainly lives up to its name — Shakolad is Russian for ‘chocolate.’ The sweet addition has imbued the dark brew, at 9.5 percent ABV, with plum, dark cherry and cocoa characteristics and will have you yearning for those chilly winter temperatures again.
Red Horn Coffee House & Brewing Co.’s S.O.N. Double Stout with Coconut:The Son of Ninja series is just another example of the skill at the Cedar Park brewpub, which makes these rotating dark beers using an underutilized brewing technique called Parti Gyle.
This version is a double stout with a dash of lactose sugar to give it a smooth, sweet body. Don’t miss out on getting a pour of the 8 percent ABV brew because it won’t be around for long.
Pinthouse Pizza’s Fully Adrift Double IPA with Coffee: The beer might not be a seasonal porter or stout, but it’s got the coffee we like to have this time of year.
Stop into the Burnet Road brewpub on Jan. 21 for the second edition of the Pinthouse Pizza Fully Adrift Double IPA “Lost at Sea” series, which added a coffee infusion this go round. Starting at 11 a.m. that day, bottles of the beer will go on sale, and it’ll also be available on draft. Bottles are $14.99.
A pair of local bar owners are hoping day drinkers and late-night crowds alike will flock to their second concept in North Austin — a cozy neighborhood bar called Night Owl, opening soon in the Wooten area of Austin.
At 8315 Burnet Rd., Night Owl will have classic and original cocktails, bottled and canned beer, and a small selection of wine. It’s a drinks program that co-owners Danny Parrott and Jonathan Insley hope will be regularly enjoyed by residents in the neighborhood as well as other locals.
“We want to create a cool place for people in the area to walk to that’s nice and friendly. The kind of place where you’ll know the person behind the bar,” Parrott said.
He and Insley also own the Old School Bar and Grill on Sixth Street, a multi-story restaurant, bar and live music venue that opened in 2011. Though it’s much larger and draws big crowds, it operates now as a well-oiled machine — which means that the entrepreneurs got the itch to find a new, very different bar project in another part of town.
They wanted something smaller and more low-key, for starters, and found it when Parrott came across a tiny shopping complex on Burnet Road, just south of Highway 183, that seemed to be the perfect location. As soon as he’d seen it, he said, he envisioned one of the spaces as a hangout for Wooten residents. The neighborhood is bounded by the highway, Burnet Road and West Anderson Lane, and Night Owl is right on the border of it.
“When my business partner and I started talking about the concept and the philosophy behind it, it morphed into this idea of a neighborhood bar with craft beer and a slightly higher-end cocktail menu,” he said.
Cocktails are going to be a mix of classics like a Manhattan and a French 75 and more original options all named after surrounding neighborhoods and streets, such as Burnet, Crestview, Allandale and Brentwood. These drinks didn’t draw inspiration for their ingredients from each place but instead represent Night Owl’s embrace of the area, Parrott said.
They’re also going to be relatively simple, with “three or four high-quality ingredients,” he said. “We’re not wanting to have seven-adjective drinks with smoke coming out of them. We just want to offer a nice solid drink for someone, or they can get a Lone Star with a shot of whiskey if they want. We want people to know they can find what they’re looking for when they come here.”
That includes good beer. Night Owl is focusing primarily on local and regional brews, all in bottles or cans and not on draft because of the bar’s small size. Parrott is also hoping that food trucks will be able to park nearby so that dinner and drinks will be available all in one place.
“Neighbors have been popping in and say, ‘Hey, it looks great; when does it open?'” he said. “We’re hoping to engage people to come over and have a good time with us. Once a month, maybe we’ll do a cookout outside with burgers. Or have a crawfish boil…. Being so close to a neighborhood, that lends itself to day drinking. People no longer have to go downtown or up to the Domain to do that. But we’ll have a night crowd, too, as the name suggests.”
There isn’t a set opening date for the bar yet, although Parrott hopes that construction will be done by the end of next week.
Once it’s finished, Night Owl will have a “vintage warehouse feel,” with exposed brick, reclaimed wood, concrete floors, exposed Edison bulbs, vintage sconces and a long tufted booth running the length of one wall.
It’s a look nothing like the one Old School Bar and Grill has. And it will probably be very different from the next place that Parrott and Insley open together — another bar on the opposite side of town.
“That’s our goal as well. To have one bar south, one downtown and one north,” Parrott said.
Night Owl’s hours are tentatively set for 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. or noon to 2 a.m. on weekends. Keep an eye on the bar’s social media for a more solid opening date.
Facing “historically slow sales” in a marketplace flooded with competition, the cooperatively owned Black Star Co-Op yesterday sent out a letter to its member-owners asking for their increased patronage to help keep the North Austin brewpub afloat.
Black Star suffered a 14-percent decline in beer sales over the last year, which co-op co-founder and kitchen team leader Johnny Livesay partially attributes to the increased competition and new craft beer options in recent years. When Black Star opened in 2010, they were one of only a handful of craft beer options in town. In recent years, brewpubs and breweries with tasting rooms have sprouted up across the city.
And, in terms of the kitchen, when Black Star opened, they were a vocal champion of the nascent trend of farm-to-table restaurants, showing a strong commitment to sourcing all of their food locally.
“Now, that doesn’t mean anything because everyone says they do that or does that,” Livesay said.
“We’ve spent a lot more money on labor by not letting our front-of-house workers subsidize our restaurant,” Livesay said. But he acknowledged that Black Star’s pay structure, which includes a no-tipping policy, doesn’t give them much competitive advantage “when nobody else has to do that”
“It’s not easy to do the right thing,” Livesay said.
Black Star has made efforts to trim costs in recent months, cutting and freezing wages, paring back health benefits and performing layoffs. But the cooperative finally “reached a breaking point.” While Black Star has made some changes to try and stay afloat, they don’t intend to change their core mission or pay structure.
“That’s not what the co-op is trying to do,” Livesay said of Black Star, which has about 3500 member-owners.
Livesay knows that his brewpub is not the only local business struggling in the current over-saturated market.
“I’d be cautious if I was anyone looking to open a restaurant. It seems the Austin market can’t support certain types of restaurants and businesses anymore,” said Livesay, adding that one of Black Star’s fellow founding members is slated to open his own brewpub in the area this year.
Despite the slow first week of what should be the co-op’s busiest quarter of the year, Livesay said there is still hope that Black Star remains open. He recognizes that having a large member-owner base gives the co-op an advantage over many restaurants. That’s why Black Star’s 9-person board decided to put out the call for help from member-owners, a group the business says currently only accounts for six percent of monthly sales.
“We just need to have a normal month of sales, which would be like back to last year or even 2015 sales,” Livesay said.
Although the Austin area’s newest brewery has gotten its core beers into the market, serving them on draft at bars north of the city starting last month, Idle Vine Brewing‘s taproom wasn’t completely ready for visitors — until now.
Come this weekend, Idle Vine will open its doors for the first time, giving locals the chance to drink the brewery’s four core beers right from the source in advance of a grand opening celebration on Jan. 28. For head brewer Scott Ciampa, who has worked almost from the start with the co-owners on crafting a vision for the space, the opening has been a long time coming.
“Since we stood the tanks up last year, people have been poking their heads in asking, ‘Got beer ready? Got beer ready?'” he said. “People in this warehouse district have been excited to have a brewery right next door. And we’re excited to start serving.”
He was recruited away from his position as head brewer at Evil Czech Brewery in Indiana to take on the lead brewing role at Idle Vine when the co-owners, Todd Wink and Brian Bristow, reached out to him online.
Wink, in particular, already knows the beer industry north of Austin very well — he is also the owner of a Cedar Park beer bar called the Dig Pub. He and fellow businessman Bristow, a friend ever since Wink opened the Dig Pub in 2007, decided they want to take their love of beer to the next level by opening a brewery. But they needed someone like Ciampa, with six years of professional brewing experience on his résumé, to make the beers.
“The wheels started turning about two years ago, when they brought me on board, and the three of us kind of gave Idle Vine a real identity,” he said.
That identity includes the four beers that Idle Vine will make year-round, all from Ciampa’s recipe arsenal: the No Hitter Session Ale, the Idle Mind Pale Ale, the Idle Vine IPA and the Trackdown Pre-Prohibition Porter. Idle Vine will also make a roster of seasonals — including a hefeweizen in the spring, a pilsner in the summer and a hoppy red ale in the fall — and one-off brews available only at the brewery.
Although it’s located in a cluster of warehouses in a relatively quiet section of Pflugerville, Idle Vine Brewing won’t feel entirely industrial once you walk in, thanks to the homey taproom to the left. There, bench seating is brightened with string lights above, and a sleek bar area of black and brown (partially made with reclaimed wood from the Bastrop wildfires) catches the eye. On the right hand side is a 30-barrel brewhouse featuring five 60-barrel fermenters.
Those are in full view from the taproom, Ciampa said, as a neat reminder to visitors that Idle Vine’s brews are made just yards from the draft wall.
As much as he, Wink and Bristow are hoping to attract regulars to their brewery, they also have begun making a big push to get Idle Vine beers into bars, starting with Wink’s own Dig Pub in late December. Bars north of the city, the only part of town where the two co-owners considered opening a brewery, get first dibs.
“The distribution radius is 100 miles from the brewery, so we’re already in bars up in Waco and Temple,” Ciampa said. “The plan is to go south of Austin once we’ve gotten to places we want to here. There are a lot of good craft beer bars in those small towns that we want to be a part of, but Austin is still a priority for us.”
And in six months or so — just in time for another hot Texas summer — Idle Vine will start releasing cans of its core beers.
One of those, the Trackdown Porter, is particularly notable as an homage to dark beers made before Prohibition, when they tended to be on the lighter side and not as robust as today’s porters and stouts are. At only 5.5 percent alcohol by volume, the Trackdown is positioned to become a crossover beer for people still leery of dark-colored ales.
Ciampa also has something else pretty special in the works: the monthly bottle release of one style of beer, made a little differently each time, over the course of a year. The following year, he’ll choose another style and tweak that one each month.
“I’m starting with a Cascadian dark ale,” he said. “It’ll be the same base beer but, each month, released in a different way. Dry-hopped differently or aged on cherries, stuff like that.”
The beer itself isn’t even the coolest part of the project, Ciampa said. The bottle labels are going to be created by a local artist and will feature snippets of a comic strip that won’t make sense until all of the bottles are lined up together.
“Having the full 12 will reveal the comic,” he said.
To get the vertical of bottles, you’ll have to go to the taproom. Idle Vine is able to sell bottles to go, of vital importance to the co-founders, because it has a brewpub license. Eventual growth, however, might switch it to a production brewery. By then, Idle Vine’s brewer is hoping that Texas laws will have changed to allow breweries to sell their beer to-go, a major point of contention for beer makers in the state.
“If we reach the point of making over 10,000 barrels a year, we’d still like to be able to sell our beer from here,” Ciampa said.
Idle Vine, at 16920 Joe Barbee Dr., is planning a grand opening party from noon to 10 p.m. on Jan. 28 with live music, food trucks, and more. In the meantime, visit the brewery from 3 to 10 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and noon to 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Jan. 26. The schedule might expand after that to include more weekdays once the kinks have been worked out. That’s also when Idle Vine will start introducing food trucks, Ciampa said.


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PQube announces today that they would be bringing Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters: Daybreak Special Gigs to Steam in less than 2 weeks.
The game is an extended release of the original which was released a year ago on the PS3 & PS Vita. It includes a new scenario and an improved battle system.
Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters revolves around a transfer student who joins a school magazine that turns out to be a front for a ghost hunting organization.
Game is expected to be released on March 17th.


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BEDFORD, Va. (WDBJ) – A new family-owned business in Bedford is taking two unique passions and bringing them together as the perfect recipe for success.
”It’s just like a dream come true,” Barbara Mays said standing in a room full of wigs and hair extensions.
This dream is located behind the AutoZone and Little Caesar’s Pizza in Bedford, right off the Lynchburg Salem Turnpike.
But Mays didn’t think her 10-year-old dream to own a hair supply shop would also include a carry-out restaurant.
“No, I didn’t envision a cafeteria or carry-out but it all worked out,” she laughed.
The idea came to Mays’ brother, C.Jay Jones, last year when he saw the perfect building for sale.
“When stuff hits my head, I just go with it,” he said. “I don’t really think too much on it; it just comes to me.”
After years of envisioning a traditional soul food restaurant full of his family’s recipes, he and his sisters took a leap of faith to bring their passions together under one roof.
“We just like trick them up a little bit,” he said describing the food.
Sooul Food carry-out on one side and Hair Wear Beauty Supply on the other.
“They think it’s very weird,” Mays said when asked what people’s first reaction is to their unique business. “Until they come in to see, actually see it, then they’re like, ‘oh, we get it now!’”
Wednesday through Saturday, family members like their cousin Natasha Parker whip up deliciousness like family-style mac and cheese. Extra emphasis on the cheese.
“I think we’re the first ones that actually got a soul food Black-owned business around here,” Jones said.
It’s also the only hair supply store in Bedford. Before Hair Wear people had to drive to Roanoke or Lynchburg to get many of their beauty supplies.
“We don’t just do this for ourselves,” Jones said. “We do this because it’s needed.”
Jones, Mays and the rest of the family wanted to bring something different to Bedford. And they give credit to God for opening the doors they needed to walk through.
“We’re excited to be here. And everyday we just pray that the Lord do something different,” Mays laughed. “Bring in the customers!”
Hair Wear opened in November 2020 and Soul Food opened in January 2021. The family continues to have big dreams to grow both sides of the business. Click here for operating hours, location and other information.
Copyright 2021 WDBJ. All rights reserved.


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Facebook Reels Like Instagram and TikTok Launched Globally in 150 Countries
Feb 23, 2022
Facebook is launching its short video feature Reels to more than 150 countries, its owner Meta Platforms said on Tuesday, in a move to expand its fastest growing content format.
The social media giant, which recently lost a third of its market value after a dismal earnings report, has highlighted Reels as a key priority.
Meta launched Reels on Instagram in 2020 and on Facebook in 2021 as its answer to the explosively popular short-video app TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance.
Get Fwd App
"Reels is already our fastest growing content format by far, and today we're making it available to everyone on Facebook globally," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
The company, which says video now accounts for half of the time people spend on Facebook, also announced new ways for creators to make money through the Reels feature.
It said it was expanding its programme to pay creators bonuses to more countries and was testing overlay ads using banners and stickers for creators to earn ad revenue.
It would roll out full-screen ads between Reels soon.


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The Centre informed Delhi High Court on Friday about the press note it had issued in March this year. The note made it clear that 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) via automatic route will be allowed in online retail which are operating under ‘marketplace model’.
The documents were tabled before Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain. He said that after taking the press note of March 29 into consideration, the plea of All India Footwear Manufacturers and Retailers Association against FDI in e-commerce was “infructuous”.
The petitioner association, however, confronted that the norms of FDI, despite release of the press note, were still being violated. The body has asked for more time from the court to plan out further course of action.
The bench, thereafter, has presented a list of matters for hearing on May 23. During this hearing, the association will decide whether they would want to further challenge the press note by amending the current petition or file an new one.
As per the press note, although 100 per cent FDI has been permitted in e-commerce following a marketplace model, online retailers under this category will also be restricted from discounting more than 25 per cent from a single vendor.
The high court had previously directed the Government to put an inquiry on 21 e-commerce websites who were reported for alleged violation of FDI norms.


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Two people were arrested last week after authorities found what appeared to be stolen merchandise in their vehicle.
Lisa R. Dukes, 41, of Duluth and Marshall Lamon Stewart, 43, of Norcross were charged Oct. 20 by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office with one count each of shoplifting and giving false information.
They were also both charged with two counts of removing or affixing a license plate with intent to conceal.
Bond has not been set for Dukes, and Stewart is being held at the request of Gwinnett County authorities, a jail spokeswoman said.
According to a sheriff’s report, the couple was pulled over on Ga. 400 after a deputy noticed the purple 1995 Jeep they were driving had an invalid temporary tag.
They also matched the description of suspects authorities were searching for in connection with a theft reported that day by employees at Belk in Lakeland Plaza, the report shows.
Also according to the report, Stewart attempted to hide his identification because he was wanted in Gwinnett County.
Dukes, who admitted to taking four Polo shirts from the store, gave deputies permission to search the vehicle.
Authorities found a pack of new plastic shopping bags and several bags of merchandise from different stores with no receipts in the Jeep.
Both suspects were taken to the Forsyth County Detention Center.


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CC image courtesy of [email protected]
Worldwide smartphone shipments will slow to 8.3 per cent annual growth in 2017 and 6.2 per cent in 2018, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, down from 39.2 per cent growth last year, when smartphone volume surpassed one billion units for the first time.
IDC said it expects mature markets like North America and Europe to drop to single digit growth this year, while Japan might also contract slightly.
“Despite the high growth expected in many emerging markets, 2014 will mark the year smartphone growth drops more significantly than ever before. 2014 volumes are expected to be 1.2 billion, up from one billion in 2013, representing 19.3% year-over-year growth,” IDC said.
“In North America we see more than 200 million smartphones in active use, not to mention the number of feature phones still being used,” said Ryan Reith, programme director with the Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
“2014 will be an enormous transition year for the smartphone market. Not only will growth decline more than ever before, but the driving forces behind smartphone adoption are changing. New markets for growth bring different rules to play by and ‘premium’ will not be a major factor in the regions driving overall market growth.”
The report said as mature markets become saturated and worldwide growth slows, service providers and device manufacturers are seeking opportunities to move hardware wherever they can.
“The result is rapidly declining price points, creating challenging environments in which to turn a profit. Worldwide smartphone average selling price (ASP) was US$335 in 2013, and is expected to drop to US$260 by 2018,” IDC said.
“In order to reach the untapped demand within emerging markets, carriers and OEMs will need to work together to bring prices down,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team.
“Last year we saw a total of 322.5 million smartphone units ship for under US$150 and that number will continue to grow going forward. We’ve already seen numerous smartphone announcements targeting this priceband this year, with some as low as US$25.
“Just as the dynamics have changed for overall smartphone growth, so have the dynamics for smartphone pricing in the markets where continued growth is expected. Not all vendors will want to get into this space, but those that do must make deliberate choices about their strategies in order to succeed.”
IDC also said Android will maintain its position as the leading operating system (OS), due to its strong presence within emerging markets and attainable price points for both vendors and customers, with iOS remaining in second place.
“Windows Phone stands to grow the fastest among the leading smartphone operating systems, with continued support from Nokia as well as the addition of nine new Windows Phone partners. Most of these new vendors come from emerging markets and could help bring the Windows Phone experience to customers there,” IDC said, though it took a “conservative stance” on BlackBerry.


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Bitcoin Going Strong
According to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), the price of bitcoin has
shot up again, surpassing $3,200 for the first time. Market data indicates this latest surge started after 1:00 UTC on August 5, when the price of bitcoin surged past $2,900. By about 3:12 UTC, the price breached the $3,000 mark. Screenshot, bitcoin price 8-5-2017 at 4:20pm MST, Coindesk At the time of this writing, the BPI shows that markets hit a high of $3,360.87, and are now trading at an average of $3,266.81. The last time the price of bitcoin broke $3,000 was June 12, based on the BPI.The market push also boosted the collective market capitalization of bitcoin beyond the $50 billion mark for the first time. The BPI showed bitcoin’s market cap at around $54.13 billion at the time of this writing. Screenshot, bitcoin trading volume, 8-5-2017, 4:19pm MST, Bitcoinity Data from Bitcoinity reveals the jump in trade volume you would expect to accompany the swing in price, with market volumes rising alongside the value of bitcoin. The data shows a peak in trade volume at around 20:00 on August 4, with more volume overall from August 4 to August 5 than at any time during the week.
many predicted bitcoin would not fare well after the fork, these numbers seem to indicate otherwise. In fact, as Redditors have been discussing, Bitcoin is now worth more than $1 for each day it has existed. Senior Goldman Sachs technician Sheba Jafari's prediction about bitcoin starting a wave V — during which its value could reach almost $3,700 — is looking on point. Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.


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OnePlus will launch OnePlus Nord 2 and OnePlus Buds Pro smartwatches on July 22. Earlier, tech publication Pricebaba and Twitter leaker Ishan Agarwal released the suspected OnePlus Nord 2 5G official renderings online. These included grey Sierra and blue Haze, showing the front, back and side photos of this upcoming phone.
Now, we have the latest news from popular leaker Evan Blass wherein he has released another colour matching rendering of the smartphone, which is a very eye-catching red. It is not known what the specific name of this colour variant is.
According to previous leaks and breaking news, OnePlus Nord 2 will be equipped with a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED display. It will support a 90Hz refresh rate and will come equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 1200-AI chipset, with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space. It will come with OxygenOS 11.3 series based on Android 11.
In addition, the phone will have a built-in 4500mAh battery that supports 65W fast charging. The rear three cameras include a 50MP Sony IMX766 main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2MP depth-of-field camera, and a front 32MP IMX616 sensor.
We also learned that according to Twitter user @Yogesh, Nord 2 will be available in 8GB + 128GB and 12GB + 256GB versions, priced at 31,999 Indian rupees and 34,999 Indian rupees.
So guys, are you excited about the upcoming OnePlus Nord 2 smartphone? Do let us know your thoughts in the comments section below! Feel free to subscribe to our newsletter and push notifications for more awesome leaks and content!
Keep visiting for more such awesome posts, internet tips, gadget reviews, and remember we cover,
“Everything under the Sun!”


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Lumia 1030 spotted with Verizon branding
Remember the rumored Lumia 1030? It’s been a while since we heard anything about the mythical beast, but today a part appeared that shows the Lumia 1030 may be headed to Big Red.
It’s been almost two years since the Lumia 1020 came to town, and it left quite the impression. The Lumia 1030 is the rumored follow-up to that device, and we heard it was a lock…before hearing it was only a prototype that wouldn’t see the light of day. The handset was said to feature top-tier specs along with a 3D touch hover interface as well, but we never saw it.
Today a report from a French site has shown us that the handset may still be in the works. The front panel to a device said to be the Lumia 1030 was shown, and while it didn’t tell us much, it does have Microsoft and Verizon branding. It’s not the first rumor to appear about a potential Lumia 1030 Verizon release either, and we hope it’s not the last… or an exclusive as Big Red has deep pockets.
Will we ever see the Lumia 1030? It’s anyone’s guess at this point, but if Microsoft likes money we will eventually see a successor to the Lumia 1020. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know a high-end Lumia 1030 would sell in droves, we just have to keep our fingers crossed someone at Microsoft realizes that as well.
Do you think the Lumia 1030 will ever get released?


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…Record-Setting Patent Year, Robust Rovers and More.
Cool Concept Cars from Detroit Auto Show
With all the woes of the global automotive industry, a number of automakers skipped out on this year’s North American International Auto Show. For those who did make it, “green” was the color to be.
Autoblog compiled a list of the top 10 green cars at the show, picking the following for its top three:
Coming in at No. 3, this mid-sized sedan is powered by an extended range electric vehicle powertrain. Chrysler claims it has a 40-mile plug-in range.
Fisker Karma Sunset Concept Car
Getting the No. 2 slot for design, there are doubts about how well the Karma’s ER-EV powertrain will work. That and whether the company can be financially viable both leave some wondering if it can go from concept to production. Jalopik gives it an 85 percent likelihood of production.
Ford Focus EV “mule”
Although it did not appear at the show as a complete car, the Ford EV earned the top spot on the list because “will actually be available for outright sale to real retail customers in Ford dealerships.” Ford announced it would build the battery-powered car beginning in 2011.
In the meantime, Ford stated that all its vehicles will get auto-stop capability — a system that shuts down the engine to prevent idling. In the U.S., only hybrids have that capability. The system will be implemented on manual cars first (only 5 percent of the U.S. market) and then on automatic transmission cars because an electro-hydraulic pump must be added to the system that will automatically shift the transmission back to first gear before starting. Though a multi-year project, Autoblog predicts the first set of auto-stop systems go commercial as early as next year.
All images via Autoblog
Rovers Turn 5
To the surprise of most, twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity this month celebrate their fifth year exploring the Red Planet. Spirit landed on Mars on Jan. 3, 2004, and twin Opportunity touched down 21 days later. Scientists thought they would work for only 90 days.
“Together, the rovers have driven more than 20km, and returned more than 36 gigabytes of data. This has included a quarter of a million images,” BBC News reports. “Spirit is exploring a 150km-wide bowl-shaped depression known as Gusev Crater where it has found an abundance of rocks and soil showing extensive exposure to water. Opportunity is on the other side of the planet, in a flat region known as Meridiani Planum.”
The rovers are just now showing serious signs of wear and tear. To celebrate their missions, Rover team members conducted a lecture series that was held yesterday and today. Yesterday’s lecture will be available for viewing here.
See Earth from Space
See the Earth from a different angle through NASA’s Earth Observatory, which brings together imagery from various satellites and astronaut missions. The Boston Globe has gathered 23 standout images from the site over the past several years.
Today’s image from Earth Observatory shows dust plumes that blew off the coast of Saudi Arabia and over the Red Sea.
NASA image courtesy of MODIS Rapid Response, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
IBM Wins More Than 4,000 U.S. Patents
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) set the record for garnering the most U.S. patents in a single year, earning 4,186 in 2008. That’s more than triple the number earned by competitor Hewitt-Packard.
Among the patents won by IBM scientists: a wireless system that detects a child’s presence in a car seat; a radio frequency identification method for blind people to find their way around; and a cheaper way to build nanotechnology for making chips.
Bird Nappies, Dog Treadmills and Remote Feeders
Simplifying the lives of bird and dog owners everywhere, here are a few wacky inventions that make cleaning up after your bird, and walking, watching and feeding your dog a breeze.
Avian Fashions has invented the FlightSuits™ Bird Diapers for bird owners who want to have their feathered friend fly around the house but not have to clean up after it. The diapers are made out of a soft stretchy fabric that is reusable and can be custom-fit for birds, from tiny budgies to giant macaws.
Too cold to go outside but Fido wants a run? Hammacher Schlemmer is selling a dog treadmill that “allows owners to exercise their pets despite inclement weather conditions, time and space constraints, or hectic schedules.” Makers say the treadmill has a top speed of 5 mph.
Prefer to build a pet gadget rather than buy one? Stephen Myers, a Ph.D student in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida, has devised a way to check up on his dog and feed it treats via the Internet, an Apple I-Phone, a servo smart board and other random parts. For instructions on making your own feeder, visit his Cygnet Engineering blog. Below is a video of the finished project.
Stuck on the Runway on Purpose
Most travellers despise killing time on the runway, but not those “flying” in the Jumbo Hostel, a Boeing 747 that was converted into a hostel. The grounded plane took off this week, with more than 200 people already booking a stay on the jumbo jet-turned-hostel.
The former Singapore Airlines and Pan Am jet is now a 25-room hostel that sleeps 74 people, reports news:lite. It is parked at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm. Prices range from $220 and go all the way up to $590 per night for the bridal suite.


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American Express released its report The economy of shopping small: The future of small business as part of its annual Shop Small campaign, which found that a significant number of business owners don’t see themselves still in their business in three years’ time.
The findings were compiled by a poll of 856 small business owners nationally and 15 more in-depth interviews.
According to the report, one in four (24 per cent) cited the personal impacts of running a business as their main reason for wanting to get out. A further 20 per cent cited the long working hours as their prime motivator.
Retirement is also a major motivator (for 21 per cent), reflecting Australia’s ageing population as a higher proportion of business owners reach retirement age.
Yet despite these dreams of exiting their business, only 27 per cent admitted they have a detailed succession plan in place covering the next five years. The majority either have no plan at all (41 per cent) or only a very loose idea (31 per cent).
“While the future of Australia’s small business sector is still to be written, we can’t take these businesses for granted. Whether they be online or physical stores, we need to ensure there is adequate support in place to help businesses navigate these changes and ultimately thrive,” the report said.
‘It’s not talked about’
Kerry Boulton, of The Exit Strategy Group, said that such a lack of formalised succession plans is hardly surprising.
“It’s not talked about a lot,” she told My Business.
“I’ve been working in this area now for about eight years. It came as no surprise whatsoever that people haven’t really thought about it.
“[Thinking of] getting out of a small business is understandable, because it’s usually very tough — small businesses are tough.”
Ms Boulton said that, while there are likely various reasons for this, the main one tends to be that owners are “flying by the seat of their pants” in the day-to-day running of the business, leaving little time for forward planning for the business and, importantly, their role within it.
“My understanding is [that] they don’t know where to start,” she said.
“They’re going on with the day-to-day and then don’t even think about it, and until there is some sort of wake-up call — whether that be a health event or something to do with the family or all of a sudden getting too tired — unless there is a wake-up call, it’s just something they don’t turn their mind to.”
‘Really important’ to plan ahead
As Ms Boulton noted, making plans well ahead of time is crucial for business owners, given what is at stake.
“It’s really important — most of the time, probably 80 or 90 per cent of their net worth is tied up in their business,” she said.
“It is a little bit hard, but all people need to start thinking about is seeing how ready their business is to be passing on to somebody else. Can it transition?
“Then they need to think about their own personal readiness, and their financial readiness. And if people can do that and give themselves sort of three to five years to get some planning and thinking and planning in place, then the likelihood is that they’ll have a really positive outcome.”
Ms Boulton’s advice comes not just from professional experience, but also as someone who has previously owned and exited multiple businesses herself.
“I have three of my own businesses, so I know what it’s like,” she said.
“Of those three businesses, one had a planned exit strategy (a management buyout)... the second one I decided not to worry about selling it; I wanted to spend more time with the family, so I just graciously exited, so didn’t really do anything with it.
“And the third one sold for a motza. It was a bit like the Kerry Packer/Alan Bond situation, where someone came along and just made us an offer too good to refuse, so we said ‘thank you very much’.”
But in all three cases, the succession planning specialist said that “the business was ready”.
“I think it’s a little bit to do with the mindset that business owners could really adopt, and that is not to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to exit my business in three years’, but ‘If I’m going to exit it, how am I going to exit it?’.”


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The country’s top retailers are looking at 2023 with mixed emotions. Two years of record sales growth during a pandemic, and above average growth this year despite inflationary pressure, have them feeling optimistic about their ability to handle any challenge.
But they’re also worried about the clear signals that consumers are putting the brakes on spending.
Some 35,000 retail executives and retail vendors gathered in New York in January for an annual trade show hosted by the National Retail Federation, amid reports of growing economic headwinds. “It is undeniable that growth is going to slow down this year,” Sarah Wolfe, an economist at Morgan Stanley, said in a session at the show. While Morgan Stanley isn’t yet forecasting a recession, it expects growth to slow dramatically, Wolfe said.
Kenneth Kim, Senior Economist at KPMG, said the global advisory firm believes the country will enter a recession in the first half of this year, but recover in the second half.
The silver lining for retailers, and the economy, Wolfe and Kim agree, is the continued strength of the U.S. consumer, thanks to a strong labor market, high levels of home equity and savings built up during the pandemic. However, they noted, inflation has eaten away much of the income gains of recent years.
The country’s top retailers realize in a time of slow growth, they must be both creative and efficient to win over consumers and stay profitable. Jeff Gennette, Chairman and CEO of Macy’s, said in a keynote address to retailers that his plan for 2023 is to “be cautious but be ready to pounce when opportunities and signals present themselves.”
Here are four strategies retailers will be relying on in order to pounce on opportunities this year:
Emphasize value, with store brands to resale products
Retailers are hoping to appeal to 2023’s budget-conscious consumers by spotlighting ways customers can save money in their stores, and how they can earn discounts and rewards through loyalty programs.
Target executives at the show talked about how they plan to promote their private label brands, particularly in grocery, as a way for consumers to find “affordable joy,” such as actress and social media phenom Tabitha Brown’s new kitchenware and vegan food collection. The collection ranges from $2.99 to $90, with most items selling for under $10.
Retailers like Saks Off 5th are leaning into resale as a way to connect with budget-conscious customers. Last year, they partnered with Rent the Runway to increase luxury resale offerings. Paige Thomas, President and CEO of Saks Off 5th, said the off-price industry is well-positioned when consumers are scaling back spending. The off-price industry has shown over the years that it out-performs in a volatile economic climate, she said.
Walmart last year launched a cash-back-on-purchases rewards program for its Walmart+ members as another way to win over value-conscious shoppers.
Embrace tech that nixes the wait in line and tracks what shoppers buy to serve up highly targeted ads
Despite being cautious about the economic forecast, retailers came to their annual trade show in the mood to spend on tech.
More than two-thirds of U.S.-based retailers plan to increase their technology spending over the next three years, according to a report by Coresight Research.
Retailers learned during the pandemic that the companies with the right tech were able to pivot faster and offer crucial services such as curbside pickup, home delivery and in-store appointments.
Fast-fashion retailer H&M is using a hologram display created by tech firm Proto in the windows of its Williamsburg store in Brooklyn to show images of fitness instructors dancing and exercising in H&M athletic clothing.
Tanya Moryoussef, a manager at the Kearney Consumer Institute, an internal think tank at global management consulting firm Kearney, said some of the most exciting technology she saw at the show included mobile checkout technology that lets employees better engage with consumers. Moryoussef said she also was impressed by “queuing tech that empowers consumers to spend their time more freely versus waiting in line,” and ad-targeting tech that uses first-party data to track what consumers look at, touch, or put in their cart to provide better recommendations to shoppers.
Investing in tech is essential, Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner said, because “loyalty in retail is the absence of something better. If you’re not offering the best customer experience,” the consumer will “move on to someone else who is.”
Engage with the customer in new ways, via livestream video to voice-assisted commerce
Retailers increasingly are turning to livestreaming, voice-assisted commerce, virtual experiences in the metaverse, and tech-enabled personalization of offers and recommendations to engage with shoppers.
The three biggest retailers, Walmart, Target, and Amazon have invested in livestream shopping as a way to drive sales, and to make online shopping feel more like an in-person experience.
“Imagine me as your new best friend,” Instagram influencer Joy Green said as she began a livestreaming shopping session in January for Target, featuring home and wellness items that shoppers could add to their digital shopping cart while watching the video.
Buywith, one of the startups featured in the Innovation Lab at the show, offers retailers a way to add livestream video to their existing e-commerce sites, and even will supply and train influencer hosts to be effective sellers. “Our platform makes it very easy for retailers to go live quickly,” said Adi Ronen Almagor, CEO and Co-founder of Buywith. Walmart and brands such as Steve Madden and MAC cosmetics are using the Buywith platform. When it announced a $9.5 million funding round last year, Buywith said its videos are driving an eight-times increase in e-commerce conversion rates, roughly a 40% increase in engagement, and a tenfold return on investment.
Retailers are also adding voice-assisted shopping options and making them available not just on smart speakers, but on their mobile apps.
In addition, the retail show featured more than a dozen companies selling tech to help brands create metaverse experiences, or to give consumers ways to interact with products using augmented reality and virtual reality.
Invest in a smarter supply chain with real-time inventory tracking
Shortages during the first years of the pandemic and overstocks this past holiday season have made investing in supply chain tech top of mind for retailers.
“With sales slipping and on-hand inventories remaining high, retailers heading into 2023 will need to keep stock levels [SKU] closer to actual demand to avoid further pileups that lead to price margin erosion,” said Inna Kuznetsova, CEO of ToolsGroup, a supply chain planning and optimization firm. The complexity of omnichannel commerce “makes maintaining product availability while keeping stock at a minimum especially challenging for retailers serving both online and in-store consumers,” Kuznetsova said.
Solutions offered at the show by ToolsGroup and other vendors included real-time inventory tracking, data-enhanced forecasting, and platforms that allow various parts of the supply chain to share information about stock level and demand.


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Biogen advises athletes not to use product found to contain banned steroid
The manufacturers of Biogen‚ a supplement that markets itself as a sports brand‚ now says athletes should not use its over-the-counter sport products.
This after Biogen was found to contain testosterone‚ a steroid that is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The SA Institute for Drug Free Sport said on Thursday that a doping control laboratory at the University of the Free State picked up various forms of banned testosterone in the product.
Biogen denied "Testoforte" had testosterone inside‚ but said it was sending samples to UK labs as a "precautionary measure".
Biogen's contamination was discovered by its ambassador‚ Angolan Demarte Pena‚ a mixed martial arts professor who was given the product for free by Biogen and who then tested positive for steroid use.
In South Africa‚ even school boy rugby players are tested for such banned steroids‚ meaning using this product could land a top teen rugby player in trouble.
But Biogen's defence is that athletes are not to use their general products‚ but only use their "Informed Choice" product range.
However‚ Biogen promotes itself as a sports brand with slogans such "muscle motivator"‚ "endless endurance" and "refreshing recovery".
The company sponsors cycle‚ race and mountain bike clubs in South Africa as well as former 2013 comrades winner Claude Moshiywa.
Biogen said: "The product in question‚ Testoforte‚ is not a sports supplement and does not form part of Biogen’s sports supplement range. It should be noted that this product is a complex herbal and is designed to support healthy‚ natural testosterone levels.
"We believe that all competitive athletes should only use Informed Sport and Informed Choice tested sports products and avoid complex botanicals. To this end we have made every effort to inform tested athletes of the potential risks when using complex botanicals via our website‚ on in-store signage as well as within warnings on product labels."
Dis-Chem‚ which stocks the product‚ said the herbal ingredients may have created traces of testosterone.


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In 1998, Netflix launched as a DVD rental service before establishing itself as a leader in streaming. The television industry was transformed by original series like Emily in Paris, Stranger Things, and Mindhunter.
The business has experienced financial difficulties recently, and Disney+ has supplanted it as the most widely used streaming service globally. Following Netflix's decision to stop encouraging password sharing online, many of its longtime subscribers canceled their subscriptions.
The renowned DVD-by-mail rentals through DVD.com have been discontinued by Netflix as part of its cost-cutting efforts after the company announced layoffs in March.
On September 29, its final DVDs will be delivered. As the business continues to contract, Netflix stated, "Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but that's going to become increasingly difficult."
"Those recognizable red envelopes revolutionized home entertainment and helped make the transition to streaming possible. The huge variety of titles and the option to binge watch entire series were two things that our members immediately embraced about direct-to-consumer entertainment.
Also thanks to DVDs, we made our first venture into original programming with Sherrybaby and Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion, both from Red Envelope Entertainment.
"We feel so fortunate to have shared movie nights with our DVD members for so long, so proud of what our employees accomplished, and excited to continue entertaining fans for many more decades to come," the statement continued.
Statistics from the previous 25 years were published by Netflix to mark the service's anniversary. On March 10, 1998, Beetlejuice (1988) was the first DVD rented, while The Blind Side (2009) was the most often requested title. The business sent more than 5.2 billion DVDs to 40 million different subscribers over the course of over three decades.
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"The combination of slower growth in US demand, solid growth in overseas economies, and a declining dollar has been pulling the trade deficit lower as exports have outstripped imports," said Nigel Gault, a US economist at Global Insight.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson elevated the safety of imported goods to the top of his agenda in Beijing as he tries to convince Americans of the benefits of trade with China. He may also find the issue an easier sell to China than a stronger yuan,
In reality, so-called "protective tarrifs protects no one. They actually harm the domestic industries that they are intended to help. Indeed, in the long run, everybody loses when the free market is restricted and when individuals and companie
At last--A children's toy from China without lead. --DIYers also at risk.
What would Mao do? Ground-breaking ceremonies were held in Mexico a few days ago for North America's first Chinese car plant.
With such mal-distribution of wealth around the world and so many individuals starving and/or living in squalor while others live in opulence beyond imagination, one might concede that capitalism and the free market is all about one wins and one lose
We hear about the evil of "Big Oil". But one industry has a much higher profit margin than Big Oil: Big Sugar. U.S. consumers pay much higher prices for sugar--and every food item that takes processed sugar--than they would have to if Big S
In a country filled with complacent and apathetic citizens, it’s easy to look past one of the greatest issues of unconstitutionality and pseudo-conservative hypocrisy thatEntered By: No One
(So much for free enterprise) By a nearly two-to-one margin, Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the US economy. Also, 60% of respondents said they want the next president and Congress to continue cutting taxes, 32% said it's time f
The White House was not amused by the antics of an Australian comedy group that breached President Bush’s security in Sydney. 11 members had been charged with entering a restricted area in a fake motorcade decked out with Canadian flags.
According to Webster’s Dictionary an entrepreneur is one who organizes, manages, and undertakes the risk of a business enterprise. The significance of the entrepreneur cannot be overstated. If it were not for entrepreneurs every single 21st century
Some Mexican trucks will be allowed to carry cargo anywhere in the United States as soon as a federal inspector general certifies safety and inspection plans, the Bush administration announced.
In a first for an online travel company, Travelocity.com has been fined by federal regulators for booking trips between the U.S. and Cuba in violation of a 45-year-old embargo. Travelocity.com earlier this month paid $182,750 to settle a complain
U.S. congressional rejection of a free trade agreement with South Korea would deliver a severe blow to U.S. standing in Asia, a top U.S. trade official said. "If we succumb to protectionism within our own borders and allow KORUS (Korea-U.S free
Globalists often label those of us who resist their schemes as “isolationist.” Yet it is the globalists themselves who promote policies that isolate our nation from the rest of the world.
Because some people who vocally oppose amnesty are supportive of the war, the ideological connection between support of the war and amnesty is often masked. If there is a single word explaining the reasons why we continue to fight unpopular wars and
Called "splash and dash," "touch and go," or an unfair trade practice, it features biofuels traders who exploit a US tax credit, European drivers who get cheaper diesel fuel, and American taxpayers, who are footing the bill.
North Korean-made soju liquor is about to go on sale in the United States for the first time despite Washington's trade restrictions with the communist state, a news report said.
World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy urged the US Congress to extend special presidential trade powers to advance the stalled Doha Round of global trade talks.
(Unintended govt consequences. You can't fool Mother Nature or the Free Market) "In a bid to solve one problem, we risk creating another, and making things worse. Rainforest destruction is a major contributory factor in global warming and
A spurt of US trade sanctions on China has raised the prospect of an all-out trade war but experts believe cool heads will prevail as the stakes are simply too high for the two powers.
Si no entendemos la agresiva transición que vive el mundo hoy día, es porque realmente no queremos. Hace miles de años, nadie imaginó las consecuencias de la Revolución de la agricultura, pero las últimas 500 generaciones nos heredaron capacidades y
TONY BLAIR is to make a dramatic, last-minute intervention in the row over a new transatlantic aviation pact. He is expected to ask George Bush for special concessions for Britain ahead of a European vote on the “open-skies” agreement.
Pemex is in trouble. Its production and proven reserves are falling, and it has no money to reverse the slide. Mexico is the second-largest supplier of imported oil to the US, after Canada, but its total exports are slipping. Mexico may have trouble
[and he is so happy to be in Latinia] Taunted by leftist President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, President Bush on Friday insisted the United States is not neglecting Latin America and celebrated an alternative-fuels pact with Brazil as proof.
South Korea's foreign ministry on Sunday expressed regret over US lawmakers' push for opening the local car market in ongoing free trade agreement negotiations.
The failure of Edsel and the new Coke demonstrate that private individuals and companies cannot make the public do whatever it wants. The continued existence of the Post Office, foreign aid, and corporate welfare prove that government officials thro
Worries about the dark side of free trade are surfacing in the US in ways that could affect the course of globalization worldwide. Don't expect an outright retreat from global commerce just yet, but it is becoming more likely that the US will act
Japan has confirmed it will join in a US complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation over Beijing's industrial subsidies. "We are planning to participate in the complaint as a third-party country," trade minister Akira A
President Bush will urge Congress to renew his "fast track" authority to negotiate trade deals, that allows Bush to negotiate trade agreements that Congress must approve or reject within a short period of time without making any changes.


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Is the Black Friday frenzy losing its grip? That's what it felt like at one Target in a New Jersey shopping plaza early Friday morning.
Hundreds of customers had already lined up for the store's 6 p.m. open on Thursday. Discounted Beats headphones, XBox Ones and PlayStation 4s were the first to fly from the shelves.
And by dawn on Black Friday, the shelves were restocked for the next wave.
But the shoppers only trickled in.
It's impossible to project a trend from one shopping mall and one of Target's 1,800 U.S. stores.
That same Target a few hours later was in the regular swing of holiday weekend shopping. The parking lot was full and aisles busy. Employees carried off cardboard bins once full of $6 DVD movies, now empty.
But more retailers are opening on Thanksgiving and starting sales even earlier in the week, and of course more customers are buying online. All that lessens some of the early-morning surge.
Target indicated that business was strong leading up to Black Friday. Online sales boomed on Wednesday, and Thursday was the company's best-ever for cyber business.
On Friday, some shoppers at the New Jersey Target said they had gotten started the night before by using Target's shopping app. Not to make purchases but to select the items they'd look for the next morning.
One young mother, who preferred to go by Rachel J., hoped that keeping to her pre-selected, 20-item list made her a more disciplined and frugal shopper. Still, she expected to spend $250 and instead ended up dropping $337.40.
In-store Starbucks baristas recalled the long lines of shoppers who had refueled with caffeine for midnight shopping. The usual one-person team was bulked up to three employees. But by 7 a.m. Friday, it was just business as usual.
Not everyone was lured in on Thursday.
Outside in the snow covered parking lot on Friday, Dawn Fisher packed away a handful of items in her trunk: pajamas for her teenage daughter, pots and pans for a holiday charity drive at work.
Fisher said the slightly lower prices hadn't been enticing enough to ditch Thanksgiving dinner the day before.
Among the things Fisher and the family were thankful for this year: The fact that none of them work in retail and have to work during the holiday.
"It's a family day," she said. "If they want to open up and take that away from their employees, that's their problem."


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The first batch comprising 30 units of the Mini Cooper SE has been sold out; deliveries to commence in April
BMW Group unveiled the brand Mini’s first electric hatchback, the Cooper SE, in July 2019 and over the last two and half years, it has been well received in the global markets. The Cooper SE will finally be launched in India on February 24. The electric hatch received a facelift in May 2021 with updated looks, new features and technologies globally and it is coming to India.
A while ago, the bookings for the Cooper SE began locally and the first batch comprising 30 units has been sold out with the deliveries scheduled to commence in April 2022. It is brought into the country via CBU (Completely Built-Up) route and offered in a single trim. With the unmistakable Mini styling, the 2022 Cooper SE comes with a closed-off front grille, yellow accents and bulbous LED headlamps.
Other exterior highlights are prominent LED tail lamps with Union Jack inserts, a dual-tone roof with black finish to the pillars, a roof-integrated spoiler, futuristic 17-inch wheels looking like British plug socket and yellow accents on the ORVM caps. Compared to the regular ICE model, the Mini Cooper SE gains different front and rear bumpers.
In India, the electric hatchback will be sold in White Silver, Midnight Black, Moonwalk Grey and British Racing Green colour schemes. The interior is instantly recognisable and boasts a new digital instrument cluster, toggle switch on the centre console for regen braking, yellow accents, an 8.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system, automatic climate control, and so on.
The equipment list also gains power-folding mirrors, panoramic moonroof, rain-sensing wipers, leather-wrapped steering wheel, Harman Kardon audio, heated front seats and leather seat upholstery amongst others. Upon launch, it won’t have any direct rivals and will be uniquely positioned as the most affordable luxury electric car in India.
As for the performance, a 32.6 kWh Li-ion battery pack and an electric motor help in achieving 184 hp and 270 Nm. The Cooper SE is claimed to do zero to 100 kmph in 7.3 seconds and has a top speed of 150 kmph. It also gets four drive modes and has a range of up to 270 km in the WLTP cycle. Using a 50 kW fast charger, it can replenish back to 80 per cent in just 35 minutes. An 11 kW wall box charger does zero to 100 per cent in three and a half hours.


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Thomas Cook in £750m rescue deal talks
Troubled travel company Thomas Cook is in £750m rescue talks with banks and its largest shareholder, Fosun.
The measures, which have not been finalised, would see the Chinese investor buy the firm’s tour business. Thomas Cook’s chief executive, Peter Fankhauser, said the proposal was “not the outcome any of us wanted” but insisted it was “pragmatic”.
He told the BBC that customers did not need to worry because their holiday bookings were “secure”. “They can book with us without worries,” Mr Fankhauser said. “We have enough resources to operate our business so they can enjoy their holidays with us.”
And this cash injection would give the group enough money to trade through to the end of next year and invest for the future, Thomas Cook said.
When store closures and cost-cutting measures were announced at the firm earlier this year, Thomas Cook said holidaymakers could have “complete confidence” because it is an ATOL-protected business.
Protection under the ATOL – or Air Travel Organiser’s Licence – scheme means UK travellers on an air package holidays do not lose their money or become stranded abroad if a travel agent collapses.
It also covers many charter flights and means that, if the operator collapses while people are away, they can finish their holiday and be flown home at no extra cost.
The travel agent has found it difficult to maintain a presence on the High Street in the face of increased online competition. Last year, it also issued a number of profit warnings blaming a heatwave for a dip in summer holiday bookings.
It launched a strategic review in February, but since then, dwindling bookings and uncertainty surrounding Brexit have contributed to a deterioration in the market. In March, the firm announced plans to close 21 stores, costing more than 300 jobs, and in May, it revealed a £1.5bn half-year loss.
Thomas Cook said it was trying to combat those challenges with a “rigorous focus on cost” and by “delivering a stronger holiday offering to customers through high quality, higher-margin hotels”.
The travel firm – which has 9,000 employees in the UK – had already announced plans to slash costs, axing 150 roles from its head office in Peterborough, in the face of tough trading conditions and higher fuel expenses.
On Friday, Thomas Cook said the European travel market had become “progressively more challenging” as it painted a bleak picture for the second half of the year, blaming an “uncertain customer environment” for “intense competition”.
That has hit the firm’s finances and made it difficult to sell its airline or tour business to generate some cash.
As a result, the group has been forced to enter into talks with its banks and Fosun, which will own a significant majority of the travel company’s tour operator and a large minority stake in its airline if the deal goes ahead.
Mr Fankhauser told the BBC’s Today programme that “considering all options we had on the table”, the deal was the “best available” choice.
Responding to a suggestion that the proposed deal was a last resort, he said: “This is a very good option to secure the business and to put the business on a solid financial foot for the future.”
Earlier, in a statement issued by Thomas Cook, Mr Fankhauser said: “While this is not the outcome any of us wanted for our shareholders, this proposal is a pragmatic and responsible solution which provides the means to secure the future of the Thomas Cook business for our customers, our suppliers and our employees.”
Thomas Cook said people who currently hold shares in the firm would see the value of their investment “significantly diluted” as a result of the proposed deal.
“Basically, it’s wipe out time” for shareholders, according to Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.
But Thomas Cook said existing shareholders may be given the option to reinvest in the firm, alongside Fosun, to become creditors.
The proposed rescue deal may even indicate a potential retreat from the stock market for Thomas Cook, in a move that would see the world’s oldest package holiday firm become a private company.
Shares were trading down by about a third on Friday, at just under 9p apiece. The company’s stock price has shed more than 90% of its value in the past year.
Fosun is a £74.4bn Chinese investment giant that is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The firm already has an 18% stake in Thomas Cook, but if this deal goes ahead, it would gain a “significant majority” of the firm.
Fosun’s portfolio of companies runs the gamut from insurers to football clubs. It says it operates in three major segments: “health, happiness and wealth”.
The investor said it had “extensive experience” in the global travel industry.
“We are committed investors, with a proven track record of turning around iconic brands, including Club Med and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC,” it said.


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FISH fryers in Scarborough had batter get ready – the search for this year’s chippy champion is underway.
The public are now being asked to nominate their favourite fish and chip shop in Scarborough and its surrounding areas.
Reigning champion Dean Rodgers, who last year ran North Bay Fisheries and is currently in charge of Seamer Fisheries, said yesterday that he is hoping to complete a historic hat-trick, after also winning the Evening News Fish and Chip Shop of the Year title in 2008.
“It would be really nice to do it again,” he said. “To win it for a third time would be amazing.
“The public do take the competition seriously - it’s not to be sniffed at.
“When we first won it at North Bay the response was phenomenal. We trebled our takings and the shop never looked back.
“It’s a great competition to win because the standard of fish and chips in Scarborough is very high.”
The five shops which receive the highest number of nominations will then be visited by our panel of judges, who are tasked with choosing the best plaice in town after carrying out a secret visit.
Last year’s runners-up, Silks of Castle Road, will be hoping to go one better and win the title outright.
A new challenge will come this year from Ramshill Fisheries, which opened in November and has proved popular with locals.
Part-owner Nigel Hodgkins, who has run fish and chip shops in Scarborough for 30 years, said: “It’s been going really well.
“Of course we’ll be trying to win the competition. I think we’ve got a reasonable chance.
“We’re always trying to serve decent fish and chips and our customers have been very happy.”
Ian Warwick won the title in 2009 when he ran Seamer Fisheries.
Ian owns both North Bay and Seamer Fisheries, although his brother Dean Rodgers ran North Bay Fisheries until recently when the brothers switched stores. Ian is now in charge at North Bay and Dean is in charge at Seamer.
Ian said: “I’ll be going full out to win it back.
“Between the two of us we’ve won it three years running, and every time it has brought in a lot of extra trade.
“In terms of boosting sales it’s the best thing that can happen. If you do things right the new customers return again and again.”
Only traditional takeaway fish and chip shops, rather than cafes or restaurants, are eligible to be entered.
The winners of the competition will be able to display the coveted Evening News shield for a year and will keep a certificate. The runners up will also receive a certificate.
Send or drop off your nominations, along with a note explaining your reasons for nominating the fish and chip shop, to Daniel Sanderson at the Evening News, 17-23 Aberdeen Walk, Scarborough, YO11 1BB.
Alternatively email the information to firstname.lastname@example.org.
Previous Evening News Fish and Chip Shop of the Year winners
2010 - North Bay Fisheries
2009 - Seamer Fisheries
2008 - North Bay Fisheries
2007 - Jack Codys, Newby
2006 - Silks, Crossgates
2005 - Silks, Crossgates


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The previous wave of digital disruption, triggered by mobile technology, caught most CIOs and organizations off guard. 10 years ago, hardly anyone owned a smartphone. Today, there are around 2 billion in circulation. What’s more, we use them every day to access Uber, WhatsApp, Instagram and many other services that didn’t exist when the first iPhone was released in 2007.
Yet we are only at the start of a digital technology revolution that will profoundly change how we live and work in the next five years. With artificial intelligence, FinTech (especially blockchain) and the Internet of Things coming of age, we can expect digital disruption to accelerate in the years to come.
The previous wave of digital disruption, triggered by mobile technology, caught most CIOs and organizations off guard. Many industry incumbents lost market share to new-age technology companies or experienced declines in brand value and customer satisfaction because they couldn’t keep pace with the demands of a changing customer and employee.
This time, CIOs should ensure that they’re better prepared. The difficulty is that we don’t really know where the technology will take us. We have a vague sense of the direction, but no clear view of the destination.
Thriving in a world of unrelenting change
Against this backdrop of unrelenting change, the only way to survive is to embrace a culture of innovation. Rather than encouraging teams to ‘stick to the rules’, organizations should be ready to experiment, to fail fast, and be able to recover quickly from failure. As futurist Graeme Codrington put it in a recent Sage podcast “The single most important thing you can do to be responsive to change is to experiment – leaders need to create a mindset and a structure that makes constant experimentation possible”
CIOs are now expected to guide the entire business through new ways of working. After all, an IDC Survey reveals that more than 40% of line-of-business executives view the CIO as the Chief Innovation Officer.
As the people with their fingers on technology’s pulse, they should embrace their role of championing innovation and agility in the business. It’s not as easy as it seems. Aside from the actual technology, they need to start creating an open, collaborative culture where digital natives can grow well. For constant change to work, it also means using today’s open business management solutions and the power of the cloud to quickly and cost-effectively build out new apps and services. And of course, continual upskilling of the entire team will be needed to keep up – this should happen on a daily basis and should be part of the culture – waiting for annual training seminars simply won’t cut it anymore.
We’re lucky to live in a time where huge technical infrastructures and a massive IT team are no longer necessary to access world-class technology. Deployment is also fast, provided companies are running an open platform that allows them to easily plug in other services and apps via an API.
IoT on tap
Do you want to digitize your factory floor processes and machines to increase automation? Well, today, Internet of Things sensors are cheap and open, and it’s easy to provision a software solution from the cloud using nothing more than a credit card. If it doesn’t work out, it’s not the end of the world because you have made no heavy infrastructure investments.
Today, testing new technologies is easier, faster and less risky than ever before. In fact, the risk today is not experimenting, not trying new things and not failing fast. Companies that are not keeping up with the pace of change could find themselves left behind by a changing world—just think about what happened to Kodak after digital cameras and DVD stores after Netflix.
This article was written by By Keith Fenner. Keith is the Vice President: Sage Enterprise Africa & Middle East