San Francisco Business Times articles from February 1997

San Francisco Business Times archives from February 1997

Talent on tap. (Pete's Brewing Co. recruits new senior executives)
February 7, 1997... Pete's adds execs, marketing fizz to step up microbrew war With sales growth frothy but market share flat, Palo Alto's Pete's Brewing Co. has added three new senior managers to help it compete more aggressively in the turbulent craft beer...

Wrapping up health to go. (High Tech Burrito Corp.)
February 7, 1997... The next time you eat a wrap, thank Greg Maples. Eleven years ago, Maples came up with the idea of dressing healthy gourmet food in burrito clothing and turned the concept into High Tech Burrito Corp. of San Rafael, now a 13-store restaurant...

High-flying SFO bound to exceed capacity. (San Francisco International Airport)
February 7, 1997... 'The new international terminal won't be enough' The swarm of flyers through San Francisco International Airport is growing so fast that a huge new terminal will barely meet demand when it opens in three years. The problem is that traffic at...

No reservations. (hotel and restaurant operator Kimpton Group)
February 7, 1997... Kimpton opens door to Midwest hotel market Having transformed San Francisco's hotel market and penetrated other West Coast cities, the Kimpton Group has targeted the Midwest as its next battleground. The San Francisco-based hotel and...

Big squeeze puts doctors groups on critical list. (San Francisco, CA, physician groups)
February 7, 1997... Managed care's financial stranglehold is threatening to choke many of the Bay Area's medical groups to death. "Half the medical groups and IPAs (individual practice associations) in Northern California are bankrupt and the other half are...

Building boom hits Foster City. (California)
February 7, 1997... Office space to double amid rising rents A spate of new office projects planned for Foster City may prompt planners to name the construction crane as the city's official bird. Five commercial real estate developments in various stages of...

Investors add to their worth while they add to their mirth.
February 7, 1997... Sure, Wall Street's returns have been stunning, but how much sizzle does owning 200 shares of GE offer, compared with owning a bottle of Cheval-Blanc 1982, an Andy Warhol original or a piece of the next Secretariat? Despite a stock market that...

Talent on tap. (microbreweries)
February 7, 1997... Pete's adds execs, marketing fizz to step up microbrew war With sales growth frothy but market share flat, Palo Alto's Pete's Brewing Co. has added three new senior managers to help it compete more aggressively in the turbulent craft beer...

Chevys hopes for overhaul, new fuel from sale. (Chevys Mexican Restaurants)
February 7, 1997... More than three years after selling out to beverage giant Pepsico, San Francisco's 78-unit Chevys Mexican Restaurants is headed for new ownership and a return to expansion mode. Sources close to the company say Chevys management is likely to...

Mutual funds mate, produce new breed of investment.
February 7, 1997... Two San Francisco-based mutual funds companies are offering a new wrinkle on an old concept: the so-called fund of funds, or multifund. Charles Schwab & Co. and Montgomery Securities' Montgomery Asset Management affiliate have launched such...

This old bull may not have much kick left in it. (bullish stock market)
February 7, 1997... Money managers now targeting real estate, foreign stocks, bonds instead of Dow After a 68 percent rise over the last two years, what do the stock market - and more importantly, its investors - do for an encore? As small investors pile into...

No let-up for money managers' cash flood.
February 7, 1997... Money from institutional and mutual fund investors continues to flood into the coffers of Bay Area money managers this year. More than $937 billion in assets are currently under management by the 25 firms on the Business Times' List of the...

Mimicking phone companies' marketing leads to hang-up.
February 7, 1997... Like pit bulls in full fury, long-distance phone companies have engaged themselves in displays of wanton and senseless marketing savagery. Devoid of logic, they battle toward an ending where no player is left standing, no participant left alive....

When to pitch for PR and pay for advertising. (public relations)
February 7, 1997... Too many entrepreneurs use a scattered-approach to marketing, advertising and public relations, because they don't understand the differences between the three. But knowing which to use, and when, can save you time and money. Marketing...

Transportation funding faces bumps in the road.
February 7, 1997... The San Francisco Bay Area's transportation network is as complex as its geography, with some 1,400 miles of state highways, 100 miles of carpool lanes, eight toll bridges, 18,000 miles of local streets and roads, 7,000 miles of transit routes,...

Travel information company uses the Internet to take off. (Worldview Systems Corp.)(Profiting on the Internet)
February 14, 1997... Unlike Internet startups that began as a technology in search of a market, Worldview Systems Corp. was a market in need of a technology. The San Francisco travel information company was founded 10 years ago with strong venture capital backing...

Internet bears fruit for web-savvy wine merchant. (Virtual Vineyards)(Profiting on the Internet)
February 14, 1997... Virtual Vineyards is making a case - or cases - that the vast potential of cyberspace can be harnessed to sell consumer goods. The 3-year-old Palo Alto company sells wine and gourmet food products at its "virtual store" on the World Wide Web....

Online store would rather sale than surf on Internet.(Profiting on the Internet)
February 14, 1997... Internet Shopping Network is not the only company trying to sell computers and software via the World Wide Web - but it's the only one with the advantage of being backed by media megamogul Barry Diller. Palo Alto-based ISN, which bills itself...

Winning at the 18th hole. (Orlimar Golf Co.'s marketing strategy)(Small Business Growth Strategies)
February 14, 1997... Faced with a change-or-die market, Orlimar Golf Co. found a way to survive in an industry transformed by megabucks marketing and high-tech golf clubs. Luciano "Lou" Ortiz, trained as a tool-and-die maker in Europe, launched Hayward-based...

Community spirit fading rapidly from banking. (California banks)
February 28, 1997... 'Fundamentals are such that there will be many small banks that do not survive' At first glance, Jot Mangat's diner in San Leandro is an unlikely candidate to be courted by California's biggest bank. For 14 years, Mangat banked across the...

Westamerica still sold on community banks. (Westamerica Bancorp.)
February 28, 1997... Westamerica Bancorporation's culture of sales and service wins applause from customers and shareholders, but derision from competitors. In an era when large banks are automating delivery of banking services, Westamerica relies on staff in its...

Bull market kept Bay Area IPOs charging last year. (San Francisco Bay Area, initial public offering)
February 28, 1997... The $1.4 billion raised by the region's 26 largest initial public offerings last year is another sign of the torrent of capital flowing into the Bay Area's entrepreneurial companies. That money is the lifeblood of the Bay Area economy. The...

Saying no to big names, yes to you. (Gary Frings launched Systems Solutions Group)(Starting Solo)
February 28, 1997... With a degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, Gary Frings had a couple of obvious career choices. He could go the techie route, but he didn't like the long-range...