March 2013 • VOLUME 5, ISSUE 6 PUBLISHER James P. Santori EXECUTIVE Joe Spear EDITOR ASSOCIATE Tim Krohn EDITOR CONTRIBUTING Jack M. Geller WRITERS Tim Krohn Pete Steiner Peter Olson Charlie Weaver Kent Thiesse Marie Wood PHOTOGRAPHERS Pat Christman John Cross COVER PHOTO John Cross GRAPHIC Jenny Malmanger DESIGNER PAGE DESIGNER Christina Sankey ADVERTISING David Habrat MANAGER ADVERTISING Karla Marshall sales ADVERTISING Barb Wass ASSISTANT ADVERTISING Sue Hammar DESIGNERS Christina Sankey CIRCULATION Denise Zernechel DIRECTOR
For editorial inquiries, call Tim Krohn at 507-344-6383. For advertising, call 344-6336, or e-mail kmarshall@mankatofreepress.com. MN Valley Business is published 12 times a year at 418 South 2nd Street Mankato, MN 56001.
People behind the numbers add up for a region
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t seems a growing number of reports suggest the Mankato/North Mankato region is performing like the quintessential Minnesotan made famous by humorist Garrison Keillor. We’re above average. To note: A report on job growth comparing the Mankato/North Mankato Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) shows Mankato job growth at a robust 7.5 percent from 2002 to 2012, far ahead of our regional center competitors. St. Cloud was second in the state with 6.1 percent job growth while Rochester had 1.9 percent job growth, Minneapolis 1.6 percent and Duluth was down 1.5 percent. Greater Mankato Growth, in its 2012 annual accounting of some basic economic indicators, reported gains in areas from the number of businesses, total payroll and average weekly wage. Those indicators were up 1.6 percent, 6.2 percent and 2.6 percent. GMG also reported other softer ranking measures. Forbes ranked the area 11th in Best Small Places for Business and Careers of all places with populations under 250,000. (The Mankato/North Mankato MSA currently includes about 97,000 people). Forbes measures job growth, cost of doing business and cost of living as well as income growth, educational attainment and quality of life. With so many kudos, it’s useful to ask, quoting a famous Talking Heads tune: “How did we get here.” The usual answers make sense and have been oft cited. We have a diverse economic base with growth engines like health care, higher education and a solid manufacturing as well as a regional retail center and service hub. But I like to think it’s also nononsense business people including a few showing up in this month’s Minnesota Valley Business that help drive the area’s success. Take people like Kevin Bores, a guy who didn’t go to a real fancy college (Bowling Green State) and a guy who doesn’t appear to shy away from hard work, calculated risk and has no romantic notions about the business of business. This month’s feature on franchising is
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By Joe Spear a fascinating business story. It’s part a dissection of the American dream, part lesson of the harsh realities of doing business in the year 2013. Bores might be called the godfather of Mankato’s franchise businesses. He was the first to bring Domino’s pizza franchise to Mankato, the first Subway, the first BW3 (now called Buffalo Wild Wings) and the first Jersey Mike’s. So, far it doesn’t look like he ever fell on the negative side of those statistics for business startup failures. Tim Krohn writes that Bores is “quick to dispel any romantic notions about owning a restaurant and is blunt about the limits of what a franchise will do for you.” Says Bores: “If you don’t have the management skills and business skills, you won’t make it whether it’s a franchise or not. People romanticize owning a restaurant. There’s nothing romantic about it — you keep your nose in spreadsheets all the time,” Bores said. “There’s a myth the franchise is going to train you and prop you up and be there for you. I’ve never seen that. They want your money, and if you fail, they have a guy down the road who’ll buy it for 20 cents on the dollar who will run it right.” So, in a way, a solid entrepreneurial culture can do just as much for an area’s economy as highly educated people and a good quality of life. MV Joe Spear is executive editor of Minnesota Valley Business. Contact him at 344-6382 or jspear@mankatofreepress.com