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SRQ DAILY Dec 28, 2015

Monday Business Edition

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Monday Business Edition

"We had to make the feel different but work within the same sort of constraints"

- Carlos Molnar, Sol Design Group
 

[Retail]  The Season for Fraud

The season for giving may have closed, but retailers now must deal with a major business threat: return fraud. According to the National Retail Federation, holiday return fraud is expected to cost retailers a combined $2.2 billion this year, up from $1.9 billion in 2014. The good news, though, is that a survey of retailers shows in-person fraud is down, even as retailers struggle to deal wth fraud related to online transactions. This graph shows the percentage of retailers surveyed by the Federation who have reported instances of various methods of return fraud. 

[Expansion]  Restaurants Share Design Elements, Future

The opening of sister restaurants Fresh Kitchen and Daily Eats represents the first major entry into the Sarasota market for the Ciccio Restaurant Group, but it also demonstrates the strong relationship between the Tampa company and Ybor City-based Sol Design Studio, which did the architecture and design work for both new eateries in University Park.

The Sarasota location for Fresh Kitchen opened on Black Friday, with Daily Eats following shortly after on Dec. 7. The restaurants, which share a structure on Cooper Creek Boulevard, have similar but distinct aesthetics, the former with raw cypress lining the walls and clear windows offering guests a glimpse at the fresh food collected daily, the latter with finished cypress hand-burned to surround diners with a homey feel as they chow on comfort food.

Steve Lanza, the member of the Ciccio group running the Sarasota locations, said the two restaurants have different concepts. Fresh Kitchen, a fast casual restaurant, serves patrons at a countertop, where they point to freshly cooked ingredients to be served in a custom bowl. “We have bowls in most of our concepts; we really love them,” Lanza notes. “For us it’s a great meal. Salads get boring. A bowl is a salad on steroids.” At Daily Eats, guests are waited on at tables and served up more traditional diner fare, including the Ciccio take on macaroni ’n’ cheese or fried chicken. But in both places, a signature emphasis on healthy food with flavor drives decisions.

Carlos Molnar and Michael Renaud, both principals at Sol Design, designed the restaurants in a way that brings the concepts to life. Working in a shell built by Benderson Development, the restaurants mirror each other in footprint but share no inside facilities. In addition to the use of cypress, the restaurants share the look of a floating ceiling and clean lines that seemingly expand the spaces for guests. “The layouts were pushed into a similar organization,” Molnar said. “We had to make the feel different but work within the same sort of constraints.”

Now the pair of restaurants is serving almost as a model for future growth. “What made this crazy was taking two restaurants and putting them into one building,” Renaud said. “Now we’re doing another the same way.” When a third Fresh Kitchen opens in St. Petersburg on Feb. 15, it will open a week apart from the next Daily Eats, and again, the two restaurants will open side-by-side.  

[Exec Moves]  PEMCO Promotes Bush

Progressive Employer Management Company, a Sarasota-based professional employer organization company for small and mid-sized companies, promoted Kat Bush to vice president of payroll operations. Bush has more than 20 years of experience within the PEO industry and has been serving PEMCO’s operations team for more than 15 years.  Bush started her career at an accounting firm where she enjoyed working with certain aspects of payroll and taxes. PEMCO initially hired her as payroll manager, after which she was promoted to director of customer solutions before moving into her current role. In her new position, the Sarasota/Bradenton native will continue to work out of the company’s headquarters in the same city. 

Progressive Employer Management Company

[Launch]  MindSpa's Coleman Announces Radio Show

Darlene Coleman, a certified health coach at MindSpa Integrative Wellness Center, has launched a new radio show with Lisa Stuart called The Inner View. The show airs every Saturday at 11am on WSLR 96.5 FM in Sarasota and WBPV 100.1 FM in Bradenton. Recent guests have included Ben Vereen, Tom Campbell, Dr. George Rozelle, Dr. Jessica Lipham and Ruth Kent. Upcoming guests include investigative mythologist William Henry, local animal communicator Wendy Copper and Michael Tamez sharing his story of losing a significant amount of weight. Coleman is also a Reiki master teacher, and instructor specializing in neuro-linguistics, hypnosis, Emotional Freedom technique and energy balancing healing. She supports patients in Sarasota and around the U.S. 

[Real Estate]  Homework Check-In Leases Space

Homework Check-In has recently leased a 2,336-square-foot office/retail space on Honore Avenue in Sarasota. The tenant was represented by Adam Seidel with American Property Group. The landlord was represented by Linda Emery, an advisor with the downtown Sarasota office of Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group. 

Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group

SRQ Media Group

SRQ DAILY is produced by SRQ | The Magazine. Note: The views and opinions expressed in the Saturday Perspectives Edition and in the Letters department of SRQ DAILY are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by SRQ Media. Senior Editor Jacob Ogles edits the Saturday Perspective Edition, Letters and Guest Contributor columns.In the CocoTele department, SRQ DAILY is providing excerpts from news releases as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by SRQ DAILY. The views expressed by individuals are their own and their appearance in this section does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. For rates on SRQ DAILY banner advertising and sponsored content opportunities, please contact Ashley Ryan Cannon at 941-365-7702 x211 or via email

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