The Business Side – Brooklyn Artisan

Bill Jones to Jeffrey Krusinki: What were you thinking (with)?

May 13, 2013 by Anne Mollegen Smith Leave a Comment

As has widely been reported, less than two weeks ago Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, head of the Air Force’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, was arrested and charged for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in a suburban parking lot in Virginia.

The fictional Bill Jones was the voice of career advice in the 1920s and 30s posters put out by a British printing company. Though the advice here was meant in another context, it’s not hard to imagine what Bill Jones would have thought about sexual assault or harassment, or derailing one’s career in this way.

Filed Under: best practices, Brain Candy, Look, The Business Side, Think

Rhetorical Rhinos and Flights of Inspiration

May 11, 2013 by Anne Mollegen Smith Leave a Comment

(Mather Company, posters from 1920s and 30s)

(Mather Company and Bill Jones posters from 1920s and 30s)

A GREAT GRAPHIC, BUT A DOUBTFUL METAPHOR. Unlike the rhetorical rhinoceros in the closet. this rhino in the bush probably isn’t going to be just stared down successfully. Arming yourself with appropriate resources seems like a much better idea. “Facing troubles” is Step One; “turning worry into effective action” would be Step Two. And thanks to Bill Jones, here — still in “Out of Africa” mode — is inspiration for making the effort.

Filed Under: best practices, Look, The Business Side

Getting Your Message Across?

May 9, 2013 by Anne Mollegen Smith 2 Comments

IT’S A 140 CHARACTER WORLD NOW, and what used to be called a magazine article is now “long-form journalism.” But this Mather poster advocates not only brevity but “snap.” Brooklyn Artisan long ago offered thoughts on quotability, but here snap means directness, too.

Some examples of this are in the Brooklyn Artisan photo pool. A favorite:

Filed Under: Chalkboard, Look, The Business Side, Think

Business Lessons from a Master

May 4, 2013 by Anne Mollegen Smith Leave a Comment

Where Park Place meets Flatbush, looking out through the front window.

WHATEVER WE MAY THINK OF STARBUCKS COFFEE, THEIR PRICES OR UBIQUITY, we can all take a lesson from the new Starbucks location on Park Place at Flatbush/Seventh Avenue, where the oversized and under-busy 5 Guys burger place recently failed. The premises reportedly rents for $20,000 a month. Can even Starbucks bring in enough to do business there profitably? Time will tell, of course, but certainly the managers are trying to make a go of it.

Let’s infer some items for our checklist: Yes, Starbucks put out the welcome sign, literally, in chalkboard vernacular.

Yes, the Seventh Avenue Q/B subway stop is right there, and Starbucks has put in the pedestrian equivalent of a drive-by window: the long bar-height shallow counter right in front for commuters and other muffineers. There is enough open floor space for a long line at 8:40am, even allowing for a four-wheeler or two en route to Eladia’s Kids, near the 2/3 station.

Yes, the setup is neighborhood-savvy. Although the ramp at the entrance is wheelchair-friendly, the greater traffic is sure to come from the stroller-moms and -dads. Traffic control is smart: there’s stroller parking for the stay-awhile or coffee-date set.

The community bulletin board is right by the entrance, with a small mural in the style of the Starbucks-on-Seventh location (we hear the artist there is one of the partners).

There are more chalkboards in the back, toddler height, near the low table and small chairs, that signal little guys are welcome and allowed to roam free (relatively). There’s a play shelf with crayons and other amusements.

The half-dozen deep leather chairs welcome long-term loungers: those who want to read the Times thoroughly, say, or polish off the review copy of a new book. Easy-to-pull-up stools in a skateboard aesthetic allow kibitzers to interrupt them, but if the kibitizers really want to engage long enough to make their point, there are a few leather-cushioned stools around as well.

And blogger heaven: wi-fi and a huge, two-sided laptop-friendly work table. While the hard metal chairs might discourage you from settling in to finish your thesis here, they are a good sit for long enough to post a blog entry or handle email away from the kids.

We didn’t forget to check for the critical amenity! Yes, it’s here, the changing station in the bathroom. At this juncture of Park Slope/Prospect Heights, the diaper table really says, “Welcome, families.” Starbucks shows it knows.

Filed Under: best practices, Chalkboard, Food/Drink, The Business Side, Uncategorized

Shoptalk for Artisans

March 13, 2013 by Basia Hellwig Leave a Comment

Start-up selling savvy, restaurant license bootcamp, legal advice for trademarking

March 13 (tonight!), 8–10 pm
Learn How to Sell Your Product
Are you ready to share that artisanal product that your friends are raving about with the wider world? Wondering how to sell it? Edible Brooklyn and Brooklyn Brewery are presenting a workshop with a panel of successful artisans who’ve already done it. Hear from the folks behind such companies as Saucy by Nature, Salty Road and Sweet Deliverance NYC, who will share stories and how-tos. Tickets $5; doors open at 7:30. At Brooklyn Brewery, Williamsburg.

March 19, 2–5 pm
Restaurant Management Bootcamp
For budding restaurateurs, this seminar from New York Business Solutions, a city agency program, will fill you in on all the rules and regs for employing staff and getting the licenses and permits for operating a restaurant in NYC, including how to use the new online licensing system Business Express—and avoid fines! Registration required for this free seminar. At 9 Bond Street, 5th floor.

March 26, 10 am–12:30 pm
Fare Trade NYC Trademark Workshop
Trademarking your brand can be confusing and expensive. And yet after all the work you’ve put into your business, you want to protect what’s yours, right? Fare Trade NYC, a community of food entrepreneurs who share information and pool resources, is hosting a half-day course to fill the gap between generic online trademark services and costly trademark attorneys. Fare Trade NYC has partnered with attorney Jason Foscolo, whose practice focuses on food businesses, to cover everything from different types of trademarks, doing a trademark search, the application process, troubleshooting and more. Fare Trade NYC’s intention is to leave you ready to file your application at the end of the workshop; Foscolo will be also available to answer follow-up questions from seminar attendees as you work through your trademark registration. Registration required; $200 (Fare Trade members), $250 (nonmembers). At 61 Local, 61 Bergen St.

Filed Under: Food/Drink, The Business Side, Uncategorized Tagged With: Brooklyn brewery, Business Express, Edible Brooklyn, Fare Trade NYC, Jason Foscolo, Learn How to Sell Your Product, licensing, New York Business Solutions, Restaurant Management Bootcamp, restaurant permits, Salty Road, Saucy by Nature, Sweet Deilverance NYC, The Food Law Firm, trademark

Joy’s Best of Brooklyn for the 2nd weekend of February

February 7, 2013 by Joy Makon Leave a Comment

Under construction: UrbanGlass’s renovation and expansion in the
1918 Strand Theater on Fulton Street is as fascinating as their exhibits.
Above, A Fuller Translation, by Aric Snee, M.F.A., Alfred University, blown glass.

Thursday Feb. 7 Opening reception for UrbanGlass M.F.A. Exhibition Competition, a juried show of recent M.F.A. graduates from glass programs across the country. Four emerging glass artists, Alli Hoag, Benjamin Johnson, Jessi A. Moore and Aric Snee, are showing work at gallery space 111 Front Street in DUMBO. Tonight’s reception is from 6pm-9pm, and the show runs through March 1. At the conclusion of this exhibition, one of the four will be selected for a solo exhibition at the UrbanGlass gallery. Founded in 1977, UrbanGlass is dedicated to aspiring and established artists wishing to create with glass as a creative medium. Their permanent home is undergoing an extensive renovation and expansion as part of a multi-million dollar investment in the 1918-built Strand Theater by the City of New York and the Borough of Brooklyn. The finished building, a LEED Silver facility, will be a cornerstone of the Brooklyn Cultural District. Meanwhile, classes, studio space and other programming is being offered in temporary space in the Gowanus area.

Deadline alerts

Art House co-founders Steven Peterman
and Shane Zucker, at the Brooklyn Art Library.
(photograph, Blue Window Creative)

The Brooklyn Art Library first came on the scene for The Sketchbook Project, a library of over 18,000 artists’ books on display in a storefront exhibition space in Williamsburg. The Sketchbook Project was created by Art House, an independent company that organizes global, collaborative art projects that anyone can participate in. Most projects include a digital component, as Art House strives to combine hands-on art making with new technology. Current project stats indicate that over 52,000 artists from 128 countries have participated in an Art House project; 5,771 sketchbooks are archived in the Digital Library, and 37 worldwide projects have been organized. Several projects are open for participation now: Five Minutes | Buildings, with a sign-up deadline of Thursday, February 7, asks participants to take five minutes to draw the tallest building in your town. Other intriguing projects you can participate in: Memoir Project (500 handwritten books), The Meal 2013 (documenting a global snack on February 22), and The Print Exchange (a print swap), along with the original Sketchbook Project.

Etsy: “We hope to show
that business does not have
to be brutal to be successful
and fulfilling.”

This event will sell out fast. Hello Etsy at Pratt: Reimagine the Marketplace, March 22-24 at Pratt Brooklyn. This is an annual conference of creativity and ideas as only the entrepreneurs of Etsy can present. The aims of this event are to explore new methods of production, new patterns of consumption, and more lasting and purposeful ways of working. Etsy’s take on building the creative economy of the future as connected, human-scaled and joyful will be discussed. Over 14 high-profile speakers include Chris Anderson, 3DRobotics and WIRED, Rachel Chong, Catchafire, Chad Dickerson, Etsy, along with workshops. Register now.

BOOKMARK THIS:
A shout out to
redesigned site downtownbrooklyn.com.
The events page is
a snap to navigate,
colorful and clear.
This month, there’s
even a chance to win
a ticket to fly a friend
to Brooklyn.

JumpStart NYC 13.0 is a three-month educational program to help unemployed or underemployed professionals explore opportunities at small entrepreneurial companies. Applications for the next session, starting on March 4 is due by February 11. The backstory: I attended the premiere session of JumpStartNYC in 2010 at SUNY’s Levin Institute. As a traditional-media print art director, I knew that my career choices were becoming limited and less interesting. JumpStart NYC provided me with incentive to explore work in alternative media with entrepreneurial companies. Starting with a five-day intensive boot camp, my sessions included lectures from Wharton and Harvard professors; next came a 10-week consultancy at a start up that provided video-collaboration business services. Regular networking events with peers, mentors and local businesses led me to Apple, where I continue to work while pursuing other media projects, such as Brooklyn Artisan. Sponsored by the NYC Economic Development Corporation and SUNY Levin Institute. Companies wishing to participate as consultancy project sponsors can get information on the Levin site. The program is free and limited to New York City residents.

Back to fun

Be an online cookbook judge: This is a new event to me but sounds like fun: The 2013 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks. Every day for the next week or so, the colorful site Food52 is hosting an NCAA-style competition to determine the best among 16 cookbooks published in the past year. Expert judges include Kurt Andersen, Studio 260, Wylie Dufresne, wd-50, and actor and cookbook author Stanley Tucci. Books in the competition include A Girl and Her Pig: Recipes and Stories, by April Bloomfield, Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream Book, by Jake Godby, Sean Vahey and Paolo Lucchesi, Bouchon Bakery Cookbook, by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel, and Japanese Farm Food, by Nancy Singleton Hachisu. Four rounds of judging lead to a final, and you get to weigh in along the way.

Making me hungry: The Brooklyn Sandwich Society, a farm-to-table restaurant with seasonal sandwiches and an attractive website peppered with ephemera and hunger-inducing menu descriptions: The Clermont, roasted maitake mushroom, black ledge blue, lacinato kale, parsley aioli on ciabatta, The Grand, pan-fried squid, baby bok choy, cilantro, hot & sour glaze on ciabatta, and Celeriac Soup with crispy oxtail and chive oil. That’s just some of the lunch menu. House-made soda too. From a chef-and-designer team that started out as the Brooklyn Edible Social Club, but has morphed into a true brick-and-mortar place. Fort Greene.

Sweet tooth or Valentine’s idea: Help Red Hook-based Fany Gerson of My Sweet Mexico and La Newyorkina get back on her business feet—knocked out from under her by Sandy—by purchasing Fany Brownies from Robicelli’s. Robicelli’s once shared a kitchen with Fany and her paletas (Mexican-style frozen ice pops) and they have pledged to donate a chunk of profits from online sales of these brownies—swirled with Mexican cinnamon and cajeta—through the end of February. Other BKLYN-based food purveyers have signed on to help out too: Brooklyn Cured, Liddabit Sweets, Whimsy & Spice, see the site for more. Friends indeed.

Joy Makon curates Brooklyn Artisan’s Craft & Design coverage and creates the weekly Best of Brooklyn lists. Send items for listings to brooklynartisan@joymakondesign.com

Filed Under: Architecture, best practices, Brain Candy, Community, Coworking, Craft/Design, Galleries, Guilds/Fairs, Handmade, Innovation, Joy's Best of Brooklyn Weekend Listings, Method/Materials, Outer Brooklyn, The Business Side, Think, Uncategorized, urban planning Tagged With: 3DRobotics, Art House, Borough of Brooklyn, Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn Cultural District, Brooklyn Cured, cajeta, Catchafire, Chad Dickerson, Chris Anderson, City of New York, downtownbrooklyn.com, Etsy, Fany Gerson, Food52, Fulton Street, Gowanus, Hello Etsy, JumpStart NYC, La Newyorkina, LEED, Liddabit Sweets, Memoir Project, NYC Economic Development Corporation, Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks, Pratt, Rachel Chong, Robicelli's, Strand Theater, SUNY Levin Institute, The Brooklyn Sandwich Society, The Sketchbook Project, UrbanGlass, Whimsy & Spice, Williamsburg

Joy’s Best of Brooklyn for the beginning of February

January 31, 2013 by Joy Makon 1 Comment

A mixed-bag of talks, rides, exhibits and Valentines for the shortest, but often sweetest, month.

1922 meets 2013 with an amazing view at Jane’s Carousel. See Friday, Feb. 1.

Thursday, Jan. 31 Artists’ Responses to Sandy, a panel discussion on relief efforts presented at School of Visual Arts. Five panelists will showcase work and discuss the impact the storm has had on the wider community as well as the art world: John Mattiuzzi, video artist; Jessica Rionero and Chelsea Marino, BeGracious.org; Kathy Shorr, The Summer in the City Project; Dena Muller, New York Foundation for the Arts. At SVA’s Amphitheater in Outer Brooklyn, Manhattan. 7pm-9pm.

The Carousel was originally installed in Idora Park in
Youngstown, Ohio. Restoration began in 1984, and
the magnificent Carousel opened to the public in 2011.

Friday, Feb. 1 February Celebration at Jane’s Carousel. If you need an excuse for a treat this month, go for a two-for-one ride ($2) on Jane’s Carousel. Damage from you-know-who has been repaired, and the restored merry-go-round is in full splendor and ready for play—and it’s heated too. Made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1922, this carousel has 48 exquisitely carved horses and two chariots along with original scenic panels. The carousel is on the National Register of Historic Places and is housed in a see-through minimalist pavilion designed in 2011 by Atelier Jean Nouvel. Brooklyn Bridge Park. DUMBO.

Bees in the city: maybe not as scary as this looks. (Photograph from HoneybeeLives.)

Saturday, Feb. 2 and Sunday, Feb. 3 Organic Beekeeping Workshop, led by HoneybeeLives beekeeper/bee doctor Chris Harp, and beekeeper Grai Rice. This is a hands-on one- or two-day workshop to learn about Chris and Grai’s gentle approach to organic beekeeping. Saturday: Plan a new hive this spring by learning about bee communities and instincts, as well as beekeeper responsibilities. Sunday: How to care for bees through hive design, health and disease management, seasonal concerns. Pre-registration advised. The Commons, Boerum Hill. 10am-6pm each day.

Part of Brooklyn Museum’s permanent collection, this Kachina looks ready to party.

Saturday, Feb. 2 Target First Saturday at Brooklyn Museum. If you’ve attended in the past, you know that from 5pm until 11pm, happy crowds of families, neighborhood types, and fun-seekers descend upon the museum (admission is free) to partake in programs of art and entertainment. The Dance Party, alas, has been put on hold, but there’s still plenty to explore. This month’s First Saturday is themed African Innovations and includes music, dance, hands-on activities, and a fashion showcase/performance by New York-based designers with music by Ethiopian DJ Sirak.

Saturday, Feb. 2 A Patchwork Story: Myrtle Windows Gallery. Opening this evening, A Patchwork Story is on view in eight storefronts along Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. Over nine artists (Melissa Godoy Nieto’s work is at left) have contributed works to this month-long, curated exhibit that draws inspiration from African American quilts as part of personal identity and cultural heritage. Part of Black Artstory Month on Myrtle, in honor of Black History Month. Reception at Sans Souci Restaurant. 6:30pm-9pm.

Sesame Letterpress will pass
along their love of letterpress
on a Vandercook at Etsy Labs.

Monday, Feb. 3 Etsy Hands-On: Letterpress Valentines, a printing workshop from font-loving Sesame Letterpress. Here’s a chance to get an introduction to letterpress printing using the Etsy Labs’s Vandercook press. After learning about the process and printing a Valentine’s Day card, students will get to personalize their work using colored pencils, ephemera, and other collage materials. The typography class at my college, Tyler School of Art, included a semester’s worth of handset type printed on a Vandercook. Pre-digital, totally bespoke—it was hard work but a lot of fun. DUMBO. 5pm-8pm.

Tuesday, Feb. 4 How to Make It: Implementing Green Practices in Your Designs. Brooklyn-based online marketplace UncommonGoods is sponsoring a panel discussion about the whys and ways to incorporate eco-friendly practices in your business. Guests can present their designs and ideas for feedback by emailing in advance—or tweet #howtomakeitUG. Following the talk, there will be a networking happy hour (free Brooklyn Brewery beer) to mingle and meet panelists Tiffany Threadgould, chief design junkie at TerraCycle, Rebecca Krauss, EcoBizNYC, and Yuka Yoneda, editor of inhabitat.com. At Powerhouse Arena, DUMBO. 6:30pm-9pm.

Joy Makon curates Brooklyn Artisan’s Craft & Design coverage and creates the weekly Best of Brooklyn lists. Send items for listings to brooklynartisan@joymakondesign.com

Filed Under: Architecture, best practices, Community, Craft/Design, Galleries, Guilds/Fairs, Handmade, Innovation, Joy's Best of Brooklyn Weekend Listings, Manufacturing, Method/Materials, museums, Outer Brooklyn, The Business Side, Uncategorized, urban planning Tagged With: Black Artstory Month on Myrtle, BoerumHill, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Museum, Clinton Hill, DUMBO, EcoBizNYC, Etsy, Etsy Labs, Fort Greene, HoneybeeLives, inhabitat.com, Jane Walentas, Jane's Carousel, Myrtle Windows Gallery, New York Foundation for the Arts, Powerhouse Arena, School of Visual Arts, Sesame Letterpress, Target First Saturday, TerraCycle, The Commons, Uncommon Goods, Vandercook Press

Help for Businesses Still Struggling to Rebuild After Sandy

January 24, 2013 by Basia Hellwig Leave a Comment

New NYC grants program, and a deadline for SBA loan applications

The NYC Department of Small Business Services has announced a new $1 million grant program for small businesses hit by Hurricane Sandy. Funded by Barclays, Citi and UBS, the program will award grants of up to $5,000 for businesses to make physical repairs or replace damaged equipment. “Small Business Assistance Grants will now be available to help businesses that may not qualify for the [city’s emergency] loan [fund],” said Rob Walsh, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services. To apply for a grant, call 311 or go to www.nyc.gov/nycbusiness.

Meanwhile, this Monday, January 28, is the deadline for NY businesses to apply for a U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loan. (That’s also the filing deadline for FEMA disaster assistance for individuals.)

The SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance offers businesses low-interest physical disaster loans up to $2 million to cover repair or replacement of uninsured or under-insured property, equipment, inventory and fixtures and economic injury loans to meet expenses like rent that the business would normally have have been able to cover. Less well known is that the SBA also offers assistance to individuals: Renters and homeowners may borrow up to $40,000 to repair or replace clothing, furniture, cars, appliances, etc. damaged or destroyed in the disaster. Homeowners may apply for up to $200,000 to repair or replace their primary residence to its pre-disaster condition. You can apply for the SBA loans online at sba.gov/disaster, or by calling 800-659-2955. Or e-mail disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for assistance.

Even if you’re missing some information that’s needed on the application form, be sure to send in the application by the deadline, recommends attorney Yisroel Schulman, founder of nonprofit New York Legal Assistance Group, who answered questions about SBA and FEMA applications on The Brian Lehrer Show this week. If the application is rejected for missing info you can always appeal, but the initial application must be in by the deadline.

Filed Under: The Business Side, Uncategorized Tagged With: business, emergency loan fund, fema disaster assistance, New York Legal Assistance Group, NYC Department of Small Business Services, sba loan applications, SBA Office of Disaster Assistance, small business assistance, Small Business Assistance Grants, The Brian Lehrer Show

Cuzin’s Duzin Mini Donuts Aiming to Raise the Dough

January 21, 2013 by Phil Scott 6 Comments

BROOKLYNITE TODD JONES CALLS HIMSELF A “DONUTOLOGIST.” You know, just as archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann studied archaeology, namely the archaeology of ancient Troy, donutologist Jones studies donuts, namely sweet, sticky, delicious mini donuts, each a deep-fried doughy circle. Not Dunkin’ Donut donuts, or Starbucks donuts, but hot, fresh mini donuts. “Glaze will come out of my skin if you cut me,” he says.

He’s not only mini-donuts, either, but popcorn, cookies, custom drinks, etc., etc., etc. While you’re munching on one of his highly addictive donuts, then a second and then a third, you’ll have time to see that he’s one of the most upbeat characters you’ll ever meet. “That’s the only way to be—upbeat,” he tells me. Not too long ago he catered his first million-dollar wedding, put together by famed wedding planner Mindy Weiss at the Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pennsylvania. She loved his donuts so much that she tweeted her 46,000 followers, he says. From that tweet he has two more affairs to cater, and he’s approaching Puffy. And maybe Oprah. Why not?

But at times his luck has bordered on hellish. He had a 12-year stint going in Brooklyn’s Albee Square Mall until a developer sold the mall for $125 million. The developer took home $100 million and Jones was evicted immediately. He did some street festivals and catered a few weddings and bar mitzvahs until he was offered a place at Dekalb Market. He signed a contract for five years—“I knew it was temporary,” he says—and invested $30,000 in his shop. More developers arrived, and he was evicted again only a year and a half later —not long enough to recoup his investment. So he started working out of his bakery van again, and soon he was offered yet another location. But before he could move in, Superstorm Sandy hit, and the following Monday his van was stolen, along with $60,000 worth of equipment. Oh yeah: He had no insurance.

Sigh.

But now with his recent catering success, Jones is searching for another shop and he also wants to start franchises across the country. He’s started meeting with investors. “That’s what’s on the table. If I can get $250,000 I can put a Cuzin’s Duzin in every Walmart across the country,” he says. “It’s a billion-dollar industry, and we can carve out a niche.

“Once you eat a donut you’re a Cuzin for life.”

Executive Editor Phil Scott is the author of seven books and numerous magazine articles.