Here’s a second helping of updates on some of the many startup businesses we covered in 2012. (Check out the first installment if you missed it.)
Haashrooms
In July, BizSense covered Steve Haas, a staple at the local farmers markets who forages for wild mushrooms in the woods of Central Virginia. Last time we chatted, Haas was working on a salad dressing product to get on grocers shelves.
“Now that the farmers markets are done with, we’re going to focus on getting the dressings to the grocery stores,” Haas said.
In November, Haas went to Maui to pick mushrooms, and he’s ginning up plans to lead foraging forays on the Hawaiian island for tourists. He’s also in discussions with the Cooking Channel to shoot a pilot that follows him on mushroom forays.
As for his home on the Tuckahoe Plantation, which serves as Haashrooms headquarters, he recently purchased a 17-by-24-foot greenhouse to grow veggies to sell at off-season markets.
Anderson’s Neck Oyster Company
In September, we talked to Michael Hild, the head of the Midlothian-based Live Well Financial who spends almost every second of his free time running his other business: Anderson’s Neck Oyster Company, based in King and Queen County.
Hild was trying to get the myriad of permits required to sell oysters for human consumption. He was also trying to get permission from various regulators to create floating oyster nurseries called “oysterplexes” crucial to scaling up his business.
Today, Hild’s oysters are in restaurants all over town, including the Roosevelt, the Magpie, Mezzanine, 525 at the Berry Burke and Bistro Bobette. And, in December, Hild received approval from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to start building his floating nursery, although he still has a few more hoops to jump through.
“We hope to start constructing the oysterplexes come April 1,” he said.
Big Secret
Also in September, BizSense told you about Jason Lefton and his laser-etching business, Big Secret, which he had just moved to a storefront in Jackson Ward. Along with the bigger space, Lefton had ordered a much larger laser-engraving tool.
Lefton had his $50,000 laser tool delivered Nov. 30, and business has been blowing up like the Death Star at the end of Return of the Jedi.
“We’re booked through January 15,” he said. “We’ve got the holiday rush and some things we are working on for the ad agencies and art directors around town. It’s been great.”
Lefton said he is still working out the kinks with the new laser – it uses different software than his other, smaller laser – but overall, he’s thrilled with the results.
Impawsible Pups
In July, we got to know Valerie Paul, an Ashland native and dog trainer who had just signed a lease on a building off of West Broad Street for her business, Impawsible Pups.
Paul runs her training and dogsitting service out of the location, and business is growing about as fast as she had anticipated. She ran a Living Social deal but is trying to figure out how to turn coupon users into repeat customers.
“Obviously we’d like to be full every night, right from the get-go,” she said. “But we are about where I expected to be. I think if we continue to grow at this pace we’ll be where we need to be in six months.”
ZingerFit
It’s been about six months since former VCU field hockey coach Kelly McQuade hung up her whistle and launched ZingerFit, a personal training business aimed at women in the Tuckahoe Shopping Center off of Ridge Road in the West End.
She started the business in November out of another gym with two clients, and by the time she opened her location it had grown to 35.
McQuade said the business continues to grow. She now has more than 60 clients, mostly women from the neighborhood.
“I could always use an extra client or two,” she said. “But I’m happy with how it’s grown. I made a personal commitment that I wasn’t going to give myself a raise until I’ve saved up three months’ rent.”
Bright Life Toys
In February, we met Gail Baker, a mother of three who started Bright Life Toys out of her home. Baker sells toys she sews and stuffs online.
Business has skyrocketed this year for Baker, but it hasn’t come easily. She’s working 60 hours per week.
“When we talked last, I had done 220 sales,” she said. “I have increased since then to 1,777 sales. I’m doing about 130 sales per month”
Baker said her average sale is about $45. In January, she plans to bring on two part-time employees, but she’s not getting a storefront anytime soon.
“I’ve still got kids at home,” she said. “I have to keep it here.”
7 Hills
We chatted in October with a startup commercial real estate brokerage that only represents tenants in transactions. Andrew Gibb, one of the brokers at 7 Hills, said they wanted to focus exclusively on tenants to avoid the conflict of interest involved in representing both tenants and landlords.
At year’s end, they’ve conducted about 15 transactions, including some out-of-market moves in Greenville, N.C., and Oklahoma City. And despite decreasing office vacancy, the 7 Hills crew thinks there are still great deals for tenants out there.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a landlord’s market,” broker Christina Jefferies said. “If you position yourself the right way, you can get a good deal for your clients. But you have to challenge the market.”
Health Warrior
A local health food startup got a huge boost when in September when it announced its products would be on the shelves of every Whole Foods in the country.
Austin Harris, vice president of finance at Shockoe Bottom-based Health Warrior, said sales of the company’s chia seed bars have been solid.
“The sell-through has been strong,” Harris said. “It’s met our expectations in some places and exceeded in some areas. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast have been especially strong, because I think folks identify with a local product.”
Health Warrior’s chia products are distributed by UNFI, which serves both Whole Foods and smaller, local organic foods markets such as Elwood Thompson’s. Harris said that an exclusivity agreement with Whole Foods expired at the end of October and that the products are now appearing on small grocers’ shelves across the country as well.
Jumpology
We learned in October that Richmond was getting a giant indoor trampoline park to add to its list of things to do on a Saturday night.
Stephanie Marcus and Hyunmee Larkin signed on with a West Coast developer to build Jumpology at 10087 Brook Road in a former Mattress King building. The 20,000-square-foot temple of jump is slated to open in early February, Marcus said.
One piece that has changed is their plans for a cafe in the building, Marcus said.
“We’re not going to pursue that right off the bat,” she said. “We still have the area to do that in later. We will have WiFi for people to use while they wait, and we’ll have vending machines.”
Krissy’s Cars
Chesterfield native Krissy Sowers this fall launched a used-car consignment business priced to undercut local startup darling CarLotz.
Whereas CarLotz charges $800 to sell a car on consignment, Sowers charges $266.
Sowers said she’s sold 12 cars and has seven on her lot at 17605 Midlothian Turnpike. Sowers said getting inventory has been difficult.
“I don’t have any trouble selling cars,” she said. “I just have trouble getting them in here. I don’t do any advertising.”
Sowers said the next step would be advertising and changing the sign in front of the building.
“It will take off,” she said.
Here’s a second helping of updates on some of the many startup businesses we covered in 2012. (Check out the first installment if you missed it.)
Haashrooms
In July, BizSense covered Steve Haas, a staple at the local farmers markets who forages for wild mushrooms in the woods of Central Virginia. Last time we chatted, Haas was working on a salad dressing product to get on grocers shelves.
“Now that the farmers markets are done with, we’re going to focus on getting the dressings to the grocery stores,” Haas said.
In November, Haas went to Maui to pick mushrooms, and he’s ginning up plans to lead foraging forays on the Hawaiian island for tourists. He’s also in discussions with the Cooking Channel to shoot a pilot that follows him on mushroom forays.
As for his home on the Tuckahoe Plantation, which serves as Haashrooms headquarters, he recently purchased a 17-by-24-foot greenhouse to grow veggies to sell at off-season markets.
Anderson’s Neck Oyster Company
In September, we talked to Michael Hild, the head of the Midlothian-based Live Well Financial who spends almost every second of his free time running his other business: Anderson’s Neck Oyster Company, based in King and Queen County.
Hild was trying to get the myriad of permits required to sell oysters for human consumption. He was also trying to get permission from various regulators to create floating oyster nurseries called “oysterplexes” crucial to scaling up his business.
Today, Hild’s oysters are in restaurants all over town, including the Roosevelt, the Magpie, Mezzanine, 525 at the Berry Burke and Bistro Bobette. And, in December, Hild received approval from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to start building his floating nursery, although he still has a few more hoops to jump through.
“We hope to start constructing the oysterplexes come April 1,” he said.
Big Secret
Also in September, BizSense told you about Jason Lefton and his laser-etching business, Big Secret, which he had just moved to a storefront in Jackson Ward. Along with the bigger space, Lefton had ordered a much larger laser-engraving tool.
Lefton had his $50,000 laser tool delivered Nov. 30, and business has been blowing up like the Death Star at the end of Return of the Jedi.
“We’re booked through January 15,” he said. “We’ve got the holiday rush and some things we are working on for the ad agencies and art directors around town. It’s been great.”
Lefton said he is still working out the kinks with the new laser – it uses different software than his other, smaller laser – but overall, he’s thrilled with the results.
Impawsible Pups
In July, we got to know Valerie Paul, an Ashland native and dog trainer who had just signed a lease on a building off of West Broad Street for her business, Impawsible Pups.
Paul runs her training and dogsitting service out of the location, and business is growing about as fast as she had anticipated. She ran a Living Social deal but is trying to figure out how to turn coupon users into repeat customers.
“Obviously we’d like to be full every night, right from the get-go,” she said. “But we are about where I expected to be. I think if we continue to grow at this pace we’ll be where we need to be in six months.”
ZingerFit
It’s been about six months since former VCU field hockey coach Kelly McQuade hung up her whistle and launched ZingerFit, a personal training business aimed at women in the Tuckahoe Shopping Center off of Ridge Road in the West End.
She started the business in November out of another gym with two clients, and by the time she opened her location it had grown to 35.
McQuade said the business continues to grow. She now has more than 60 clients, mostly women from the neighborhood.
“I could always use an extra client or two,” she said. “But I’m happy with how it’s grown. I made a personal commitment that I wasn’t going to give myself a raise until I’ve saved up three months’ rent.”
Bright Life Toys
In February, we met Gail Baker, a mother of three who started Bright Life Toys out of her home. Baker sells toys she sews and stuffs online.
Business has skyrocketed this year for Baker, but it hasn’t come easily. She’s working 60 hours per week.
“When we talked last, I had done 220 sales,” she said. “I have increased since then to 1,777 sales. I’m doing about 130 sales per month”
Baker said her average sale is about $45. In January, she plans to bring on two part-time employees, but she’s not getting a storefront anytime soon.
“I’ve still got kids at home,” she said. “I have to keep it here.”
7 Hills
We chatted in October with a startup commercial real estate brokerage that only represents tenants in transactions. Andrew Gibb, one of the brokers at 7 Hills, said they wanted to focus exclusively on tenants to avoid the conflict of interest involved in representing both tenants and landlords.
At year’s end, they’ve conducted about 15 transactions, including some out-of-market moves in Greenville, N.C., and Oklahoma City. And despite decreasing office vacancy, the 7 Hills crew thinks there are still great deals for tenants out there.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a landlord’s market,” broker Christina Jefferies said. “If you position yourself the right way, you can get a good deal for your clients. But you have to challenge the market.”
Health Warrior
A local health food startup got a huge boost when in September when it announced its products would be on the shelves of every Whole Foods in the country.
Austin Harris, vice president of finance at Shockoe Bottom-based Health Warrior, said sales of the company’s chia seed bars have been solid.
“The sell-through has been strong,” Harris said. “It’s met our expectations in some places and exceeded in some areas. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast have been especially strong, because I think folks identify with a local product.”
Health Warrior’s chia products are distributed by UNFI, which serves both Whole Foods and smaller, local organic foods markets such as Elwood Thompson’s. Harris said that an exclusivity agreement with Whole Foods expired at the end of October and that the products are now appearing on small grocers’ shelves across the country as well.
Jumpology
We learned in October that Richmond was getting a giant indoor trampoline park to add to its list of things to do on a Saturday night.
Stephanie Marcus and Hyunmee Larkin signed on with a West Coast developer to build Jumpology at 10087 Brook Road in a former Mattress King building. The 20,000-square-foot temple of jump is slated to open in early February, Marcus said.
One piece that has changed is their plans for a cafe in the building, Marcus said.
“We’re not going to pursue that right off the bat,” she said. “We still have the area to do that in later. We will have WiFi for people to use while they wait, and we’ll have vending machines.”
Krissy’s Cars
Chesterfield native Krissy Sowers this fall launched a used-car consignment business priced to undercut local startup darling CarLotz.
Whereas CarLotz charges $800 to sell a car on consignment, Sowers charges $266.
Sowers said she’s sold 12 cars and has seven on her lot at 17605 Midlothian Turnpike. Sowers said getting inventory has been difficult.
“I don’t have any trouble selling cars,” she said. “I just have trouble getting them in here. I don’t do any advertising.”
Sowers said the next step would be advertising and changing the sign in front of the building.
“It will take off,” she said.