Business Briefs
Boone Hospital Center to require flu vaccine for all employees
At the beginning of this year’s flu season, Boone Hospital Center will start requiring all employees to be vaccinated against the flu virus, according a hospital release. Immunizations for employees are scheduled to begin Oct. 15.
Nationally, 40 percent of health care workers are vaccinated against influenza each year. At Boone Hospital Center, the vaccination rate among employees and physicians was 83 percent in 2007, the release stated.
Influenza, commonly called the flu, infects the respiratory tract, including the nose, throat and lungs. Characterized by sudden onset, headache, high fever, body aches and a dry cough, influenza is much more severe and serious than other common viral illnesses. Healthy adults infected with influenza can spread the illness to others beginning a day before symptoms even develop and can continue to pass it to others for up to five days after symptoms appear. Children can pass the virus for up to 10 days.
The vaccine is available via injection or through a nasal spray.
Cherry Street Artisan opening kiosk at Parkade
The Cherry Street Artisan is branching out again. The café, on the southwest corner of Cherry and Ninth streets downtown, opened a kiosk café at Parkade Center on Oct. 1.
The café, located on the main floor next to the elevators, will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays.
Cherry Street Artisan also recently won a bid to manage the concessions and the catering at Missouri Theater, which reopened in June after renovations.
At Parkade, where about 500 people work, there is a Korean restaurant and a vending machine area but no place to get sandwiches and coffee.
“Parkade doesn’t have a lot of food options,” Artisan co-owner Susan Murray said.
Parkade manager Ben Gakinya approached her with the idea. Murray had both business and personal reasons for backing the branch opening – she is a psychologist and clinical director at Morning Star Counseling Center in the lower level of the Parkade Center.
Rocheport business owner opens B&B for women
The co-owner of an antiques shop and general store in Rocheport has opened an “un-hosted” bed & breakfast in Rocheport that caters to groups of women.
Girls Night Inn is a two-bedroom white cottage next to the Katy Trail and a short distance from the center of town.
Dianna Dunn, co-owner of Granny’s Antiques & Gifts in Rocheport, and a colleague from State Farm, Lisa Hare, bought the house, at 103 Central St., in August.
The house sleeps six to eight women, and the idea is for a group of women to rent the entire house and be able to make breakfast and other meals in the kitchen themselves.
“Women will be able to have the whole place to themselves and be able to come into the living room in their pajamas at night and feel comfortable,” Dunn said.
Dunn said a typical day for guests would be a shopping spree at the local antique stores in the morning, lunch at Abigail’s restaurant, dinner at Les Bourgeois winery and a visit to the general store in the evening to listen to live music.
FranNet and SCORE to release booklet on franchising
FranNet and Score, two small business-counseling companies, have joined forces to create a booklet for people looking to buy a franchise.
Road Map to Success is intended to be a concise primer on how franchises work, according to a release. The booklet, whose goal is to help entrepreneurs decide whether a franchise is right for them, would provide information and exercise.
FranNet and SCORE will be distributing the Road Map to Success booklets to all SCORE offices.