Scraps of paper cover the top of Mike Brooks’ U-shaped desk. Regulation books and bright folders of notes and presentations peek out from underneath the mass. Two books rest on the metal bookcase: Jump Start your Business Brain and Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. Sitting in the windowsill is a foam core board that […]
Billy Goat Chips: St. Louis Originally a product of the kitchen at Billy Goat Restaurant & Bar, these chips’ demand was so great that owners Rob Lyons and Brian Roth decided to start an independent business to sell them. Opened in February 2009, the Billy Goat Chip Co. hand-selects russet potatoes from Idaho, fries them
They say that if you choose a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Perhaps that’s the secret to Amy and Mike Monahan’s success as franchise owners of Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches. Since they took over Columbia’s downtown store, sales there have quadrupled. During the past decade, they’ve opened five more
When Columbia’s first McDonald’s opened at 205 Business Loop, customers would walk up to the storefront and order their burgers and fries under the golden arches. At that point in history, the restaurant only employed men, and there was no inside seating. “Our customers can still remember [Leonard] peeling potatoes in the basement,” says Mike
Jumping in ahead of the craze, Dustin and Austin Stanton have carved out their corner as the nation’s largest producer of free-range eggs Driving to the Stanton Brothers Farm, little broods of hens collect at the sides of the roads, around Dustin Stanton’s black ‘96 mustang and the family’s mailbox. Whenever brothers Dustin and Austin
For a downtown surrounded by a state university and two colleges, it’s puzzling that Columbia’s centrally located bookstores keep going under again and again. Get Lost! Bookshop has defied that ugly reality since April 2008. Amy Stephenson labors every day to keep it that way. Stephenson is a risk taker. She had to be to
Have you ever said something on a sales call that sounded a lot better in your sales meeting than it did in front of the prospect? Sometimes what seems like a good idea from a sales perspective ends up crashing and burning in the real world. Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes, and ask, “Would
Name: Matt McCormick, IOM, CCE Title and company/organization: Columbia Chamber of Commerce Age: 37 Job description: I execute the day-to-day operation of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce to further the achievement of the mission, goals and objectives. Years lived in Columbia: This will be my first time to live in Columbia, and we are excited
