GULF COAST
July 22 - July 28, 2011
Business Review
TWO DollarS
Review Business
ST GULF COA
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In this issue:
A nonprofit trains workers for jobs that need filled now.
guide
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Companies • Trends • Entrepreneurs • CEOs
COFFEE TALK
G MEETINERS’ N N A L P guide 2011
STORY ON PAGE 12
Good Growth
Low taxes help local governments grow their tax base in Florida.
The Weekly Newspaper for Gulf Coast Business Leaders
A technology consulting firm giant plans to double its work force in Fort Myers. It provides a lesson in attracting companies for other cities.
GULF COAST BUSINESS BUZZ
+ Surf versus turf: the battle for a fresh slogan A corporate food fight has erupted between a Naples seafood-restaurant chain and burger giant Wendy’s International. Phelan Holdings, which owns the Pincher’s Crab Shack restaurants on the Gulf Coast, is suing Wendy’s in federal court for illegal use of its registered trademark slogan: “You can’t fake fresh.” The lawsuit by Phelan, which seeks unspecified damages, charges Wendy’s used the slogan and others that were nearly identical in its restaurant promotions. Still, despite the litigation, we’ll bet you a steaming tray of blue crabs this gets resolved before going to trial. They’ll be freshly caught.
+ Firm that finds others work finds going good
With unemployment high statewide, Karen Rehn, who runs a staffing and job placement business, is an odd candidate to report sales growth of 200% over the past 18 months. But Rehn has done just that with Bradenton-based HH Staffing. After an overhaul of the business model, revenues have grown 200% since 2009, even in the face of double-digit unemployment. The firm’s total annual revenues are less than $5 million. “There are jobs out there,” says Rehn, despite the daily barrage of news that says otherwise. “They are not coming all at the same time, but they didn’t all go down at the same time, either.” Rehn bought the firm, then called Helping Hands Staffing Services, in 2009. She had been in the job placement business for 10 years in her native Wisconsin and sought two new dynamics in her life: An ability to have more control than the stock market provides for her retirement savings and warmer weather. The firm, founded in 1988, mostly provided day laborers for
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