Pizza Ranch could be in lakes area's future
BIZ BUZZ
Pizza Ranch, the restaurant in Little Falls that opened last fall, could be expanding to the Brainerd area.
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Owners Sarah and Trent Carr, who live near the Business Highway 371 exit south of Brainerd, first gained the franchise rights to Brainerd before going to Little Falls. Pizza Ranch, on LeMieur Street, is just off Highway 371 in Little Falls. Sarah Carr said they couldn't find the right spot in Brainerd last year but they still plan to expand here, perhaps within the next year.
"We are definitely at some point planning to come to Brainerd," Carr said.
The Little Falls restaurant employs 20 to 30 people now with expectations for 60 to 70 people in the spring and summer.
Carr said as they look at the Brainerd-Baxter area, they want to be close to the Highway 371 and 210 corridor in Baxter so that workers in Brainerd at the courthouse complex or St. Joseph's Medical Center would still be able to drive there easily for lunch.
The J.C. Penney Co. Inc.'s new 84,000-square-foot store, off Highway 371 and Glory Road, is taking shape. The retail store is expected to open in August. Stahl Construction Co. is the general contractor for the project.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
Sarah Carr is from the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle area. Trent Carr is from Verndale and served in Iraq. This is the first time the couple has owned a restaurant business, although Sarah has restaurant experience and has a business degree from Minnesota State University Mankato.
"It's been a learning experience," Sarah Carr said of owning the restaurant. "You have no idea until you are actually the one in charge of everything."
Working with a lot of family involved in the business has made it easier, she said.
The Deli Station, on South Eighth and Washington streets was purchased by Bill Matthies at the Minnesota School of Diving, which is next door to the restaurant. Matthies said they purchased the restaurant because they needed the parking space for participation in the fun dives and other activities and for the martial arts classes in the building.
Matthies said he has no plans for the Deli Station building and would like to rent it. The restaurant was purchased with its full complement of equipment and furnishings right down to aprons and caps.
Long John Silver's and A&W closed in December along with the adjacent Sundance Shell convenience store and DeliMax. The restaurants and Sundance Shell are owned by Sartell-based Sundance Inc. In the summer of 2006, Stuart Swenson, Sundance Inc. president based in St. Cloud, said the company hoped to draw 500 restaurant customers a day and increase to 1,000 a day. The restaurants and convenience store business opened next to Brainerd International Raceway that spring. Thursday, Swenson said the customer volume didn't materialize and summers came and went quickly. By mid-December, Swenson said he waited to see a glimmer of hope, but decided to close when it didn't happen.
"We definitely weren't pulling in enough to keep it open," he said. "We opened in the spring of '06 and built it up and were disappointed to see how quickly the summer peak passed and the winter was so tough. You can't run a business like that on 60 days of good business. ... It had a lot of potential."
Swenson said Suncom Real Estate in St. Cloud is looking for someone who may be interested in the site - 5 acres of land and more than 7,000 square feet of space with equipment. Other ventures also have come and gone at the site. Swenson said there was enough traffic on Highway 371 but they were going too fast and the area to the businesses was not well marked. Turn lanes are particularly hard to negotiate at night, he said.
Work continues on the ALCO discount retail store in Pine River. The 26,000-square-foot retail store is expected to bring in 20 to 30 jobs. The site is just off Highway 371 North on Barclay Avenue West near the Pine River Chamber of Commerce and Pine River State Bank.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Renee Richardson
Area businesses, about 1,300 of them in Crow Wing County, should have received their 2007 Economic Census forms in the mail. Forms were mailed in December and are due Feb. 12.
Right now, more than 4 million American businesses, including 1,300 businesses in Crow Wing County, have their 2007 Economic Census forms in front of them. The forms, mailed in December, are due Feb. 12. The U.S. Census Bureau reports many very small businesses were not sent a form, those businesses that did get a form are required by law to complete and return it but many may not realize how important the information is. The business census data is collected once every five years and is used to support public policy and business decisions on a national and local level, the Census Bureau reported.
J.C. Penney Co. Inc.'s new store in Baxter is 84,000-square-feet. The store is being constructed off Highway 371 and Glory Road, and is expected to open in August. Stahl Construction Co. is the general contractor for the project. The one-story store is expected to include a salon, retail sales area, offices and stock rooms.
Going green is a growing trend in the region. Toward the end of last year, attorney Ed Shaw added solar panels to generate energy for his business on South Sixth Street in Brainerd. Shaw said there are rebates and tax advantages for business owners interested in adding renewable energy such as solar panels.
RENEE RICHARDSON, senior reporter, may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.