Business First-Columbus articles from September 1993

Business First-Columbus archives from September 1993

The quest: Wendy's researchers seek formula for ultimate burger. (Wendy's International Inc.)
September 27, 1993... Karen Mayberry wants to know if the general public has reached Dave burnout. R. David Thomas burnout, that is, founder and senior chairman of Wendy's International Inc. Since 1989, Thomas, with the help of Backer Spielvogel Bates advertising...

Donatos eyes Short North. (Donato's Pizza Inc.)
September 27, 1993... The menus haven't been printed, but mushrooming Donatos Pizza is considering another downtown location, probably along the northern fringe near the Short North. CEO Jim Grote's 51-restaurant chain has a full plate with its expansions into...

Health reform won't cut costs, businesses believe.
September 27, 1993... Most Greater Columbus companies surveyed about proposed national health care reform believe it won't cut medical costs. They have their own ideas of what to do instead, ranging from health IRAs to foreign models of health care. When asked,...

Airport shelves expansion. (Columbus Municipal Airport)
September 27, 1993... 4-gate project hinged on America West The Columbus Municipal Airport Authority has decided to mothball its $20 million, four-gate expansion and renovation plan for Port Columbus International Airport. The decision to shelve the North...

Office tower plan sprang from efficiency task force. (Operations Improvement Task Force)
September 27, 1993... There is some irony in Gov. George V. Voinovich's decision to hold up an $89.5 million state office building in downtown Columbus. It was Voinovich's own Operations Improvement Task Force, formed to help increase government efficiency, that...

Coldwell buys Cam Taylor office. (Coldwell Banker Tradition; Cam Taylor Co. Realtors)
September 27, 1993... Coldwell Banker Tradition continues to satisfy its appetite for acquisition. Last week, the residential real estate firm acquired the Bexley area office of Cam Taylor Co. Realtors. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, is the company's...

Cincinnati firm plans 180-unit condo project. (Hills Community Inc.)
September 27, 1993... One of the region's larger developers of condominiums is muscling its way into Columbus's hot condo market with a $14 million project that it hopes will be the first of many here. Privately held Hills Communities Inc. of Cincinnati plans to...

Court backs Beulah Park in banning of jockey agent. (jockey agent Edward Bresnik)
September 27, 1993... The Ohio Supreme Court has said racetracks have the right to exclude anyone they want from their premises, even professionals licensed by the State Racing Commission. "This is a landmark decision on a national scale," said attorney James M....

Trade pact would revitalize U.S. leadership. (North American Free Trade Agreement)
September 27, 1993... The international events of the last three years suggest the new world is anything but ordered. The upcoming vote on the North American Free Trade Agreement, or Nafta, is important beyond its economic implications. More broadly, the Nafta...

For workers, Nafta's promises won't hold up. (North American Free Trade Agreement)
September 27, 1993... U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor was testifying before Congress about the North American Free Trade Agreement the other day when he made a remark that challenged a basic notion of mine about the continental drift of American capital....

They do windows. (domestic service)
September 27, 1993... Domestic service enlists reinforcements to help harried executives on homefront Suzanne Erickson owns a computer services company with her husband, a hectic job that leaves little time for grocery shopping, laundry and house maintenance....

Flooding insurance is needed more than taken. (Inside Report)
September 27, 1993... A deluge of debate is now swirling around this country's flood insurance program, in the wake of the recent flooding along the Mississippi River. At the center of that controversy: relatively few people living in the areas with the highest...

Insurance gene tests face restriction. (genetic testing bill, H.B. 71) (Inside Report)
September 27, 1993... Your genes don't just determine eye color or whether you get Uncle Jethro's nose. Your genetic code can determine whether you qualify for disability and life insurance. Ohio lawmakers will probably prohibit insurance companies from denying...

Fraud: an $18 billion business. (property-casualty insurance fraud) (Inside Report)
September 27, 1993... Co-workers at Nationwide Insurance Cos. know Eldon Ziegler as a vice president of industry affairs. But Ziegler also has another identity: fraud fighter. Ziegler is on a crusade against insurance fraud in his role as a member and immediate...

Doctor's HIV insurance provides payout upon diagnosis. (Inside Report)
September 27, 1993... Dentists and physicians now have additional income protection if they test positive for the human immunodeficiency virus. Effective Sept. 1, American Physicians Life Insurance Co. introduced its critical illness insurance policy. Under this...

Pounds of prevention help Prudential cope with childhood illness. (Prudential Health Care System) (Inside Report)
September 27, 1993... The statistics are startling. Almost 50 percent of all American children under age 2 have not been vaccinated, according to recent federal immunization studies. The Ohio Department of Health reports 60 percent of 2-year-olds in Columbus...

Traditional care: costs overcome nostalgia.
September 27, 1993... Health care tops the list of many employers' worries these days. Superior Die Tool and Machine Co. is no exception. The shop, which makes mostly auto parts for Ford, Honda and other automakers, employs 75 workers on Columbus's south side. Its...

IRS frees captive insurers from some tax onus. (Internal Revenue Service)
September 27, 1993... Recent Internal Revenue Service and court rulings suggest that employers with captive insurance companies may receive favorable tax treatment. A captive insurance company is one that is part of the employer's controlled group of companies...

Franchising can help small businesses grow. (Small Business Success)
September 27, 1993... Small business owners, especially those with a unique system to deliver goods or services, dream of the opportunity to expand their businesses so that one day their small business is a big one. But business expansion involves a certain amount...

Discount air fares spark revolt of travel agencies.
September 20, 1993... With the deep discount air fares now available, it costs less to travel by air from Columbus to Chicago than it does by car or bus. That's bad news for Columbus travel agencies, which depend on commissions from airline ticket sales. On a...

Truckers ask PUCO for rate hikes; Taxes, clean air act increase fuel costs. (Public Utilities Commission of Ohio)
September 20, 1993... The Ohio Trucking Association has asked the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to allow trucking companies to increase intrastate rates because fuel costs are going up. On Oct. 1, the trucking industry and everyone else across the...

State plans $90 million building.
September 20, 1993... One of Columbus's largest commercial construction projects got off the ground last week as the state of Ohio announced plans to build an $89.5 million office building downtown. The planned 12- to 16-story building at 180 Engler St. will...

Mead scouts for sites in Rickenbacker area.
September 20, 1993... Mead Corp., one of the nation's largest manufacturers and distributors of paper products, is planning an $8 million, 350,000-square-foot warehouse facility that could land at Rickenbacker Air Industrial Park. Real estate sources said...

M/I homes expands board as it goes public. (M-I Schottenstein Homes Inc.)
September 20, 1993... Although Melvin L. Schottenstein was one of the two key players at M/I Schottenstein Homes Inc., the company says his recent death will have little effect on its ability to move forward. Melvin, who was 61 when he died of cancer earlier...

Airport weather system's sales go sky high. (Global Marketplace)
September 20, 1993... There are some 6,000 airports in the United States that could use an automated weather observing system, and Artais Weather Check of Columbus has about 80 percent of that market. "It's a good business domestically for us, but it's not...

Outplacement: a bonus you don't want to use. (Inside Report)
September 20, 1993... Ron Loos, general manager of Columbus-based Sears Logistics Services, spent 31 years as a Sears Roebuck & Co. employee. SLS was the largest Sears catalog distribution center in the nation until last January when Loos received orders to...

Stock answer? Companies try stock as director motivation.
September 20, 1993... Curtis A. Loveland has noticed a trend that has begun to sweep through the boardrooms of Columbus. Larger public companies are beginning to offer directors what their smaller counterparts have always provided -- stock options instead of, or...

Fighting fires and turf wars.
September 13, 1993... 21 fire-chiefs try to end costly duplications Looking out the window of his office, past the shiny red trucks with their mirror-like chrome, Franklin Township Fire Chief Richard B. Jahn reflects on a curious fact - his Sullivant Avenue...

Retailer tries to soothe franchisees. (Drug Emporium Inc.)
September 13, 1993... Two franchisees operating 23 Drug Emporium stores in Texas have sued the parent company, claiming Drug Emporium Inc. of Powell has not lived up to its responsibilities. It is not the first such lawsuit - a Colorado franchisee filed a...

Startec acquisition to lift refuse-to-energy system.
September 13, 1993... The planned acquisition of Power Maintenance Inc. later this month will give Startec Inc. the fourth piece it needs in an energy conversion puzzle it has been putting together for a year. Startec, an industrial technology company, is...

Two projects to add 422 units by Tuttle. (Tuttle Crossing)
September 13, 1993... Hot demand is prompting Tuttle Crossing's multifamily housing supply to multiply. Tuttle developer Peter H. Edwards and architect-developer George Kontogiannis are preparing to break ground on a $12 million, 222-unit apartment project at...

Broker seeks $7.3 million for bank stocks. (Bradley T. Smith)
September 13, 1993... The man who wants to bring Columbus a stock exchange for banks now wants the public's support for a related business venture. Bradley T. Smith is trying to raise up to $7.3 million from investors in eight states to beef up a holding...

New insurance pays for critical illnesses.
September 13, 1993... Although it's still true that you can't take it with you, a new life insurance policy lets you spend it before you go. Referred to as critical illness insurance, the concept makes life insurance seem like "death insurance" because life...

Symix profits from nitty gritty industry. (Symix Systems Inc.) (Inside Report: Computers Software/Hardware)
September 13, 1993... Symix Systems Inc., a Columbus-based software maker, isn't exactly a household name like such industry giants as Microsoft Corp. and Lotus Development Corp. However, Symix is well known within its target market, which consists of small-...

High-tech crossroads: technology, information firms flock to Tuttle Crossing. (Inside Report: Computers Software/Hardware)
September 13, 1993... Tuttle Crossing has emerged as one of the area's technology centers, at least if you consider the companies that have located to the northwest Franklin County development. The 401-acre mixed-use development, most recently the subject of a...

User groups take on air of professional associations. (Inside Report: Computer Software/Hardware)
September 13, 1993... Computer user groups have gone corporate. In the infancy of the computer era, many user groups were dominated by hobbyists and hard-core techies. But now, the membership rolls of most such organizations consist mainly of people who use...

Mega-machines expand in-house publishing. (Inside Report: Computer Software/Hardware)
September 13, 1993... At least two companies now sell or lease computerized copiers that can run desktop publishing jobs, including scanned-in pictures, at about 100 pages per minute, collate and bind them, then store the jobs for future printing-on-demand. ...

COSI's image at stake on CEO contract issue. (Ohio's Center for Science and Industry)
September 6, 1993... Two local corporate attorneys say Ohio's Center of Science and Industry probably acted within the law when seven directors permitted President Roy L. Shafer to sell $1.06 million of educational materials to the museum. However, they...

Southern's buyers keep tax break. (Great Southern Hotel)
September 6, 1993... The new owners of the Great Southern Hotel have bought the $9 million property with the city's blessings, and will benefit from an existing tax abatement. Owner GS Holdings Corp. of West Palm Beach, Fla., will get about $181,000 in property...

Dull product looks exciting to foreigners. (concrete batch control systems)
September 6, 1993... Batch control systems sell in developing nations Alkon Corp., an unglamorous company on Columbus's west side, has been making batch control systems for the concrete and asphalt industries for more than 20 years. "We're not a very big...

Big Bear drops Coach Cooper. (Big Bear Stores; football coach John Cooper)
September 6, 1993... Big Bear Stores has ended its hug with Ohio State football coach John Cooper. "John Cooper is no longer under contract with Big Bear," company spokeswoman Karen Bennett said last week. "We have no further comment at this time." Cooper had...

Five artists develop novel business arrangement.
September 6, 1993... In a time when arts organizations are struggling to survive because of state and federal budget cuts, one Columbus organization has found what it thinks is a novel way of doing business. Appropriately called 5 Minds Inc., because of the...

Arlington broker's victims unlikely to get their millions. (Wesley A.D. Campbell)
September 6, 1993... A pair of judgment liens for more than $3.5 million have been filed against Wesley A.D. Campbell, the former securities broker now serving time for theft, forgery and securities fraud. Attorneys said Campbell's victims are not likely to see...

Chinese eye Columbus as place to do business. (Columbus, Ohio)
September 6, 1993... The global business climate continues to rapidly evolve, yet old-fashioned networking hasn't gone out of style. That's true for a privately held Columbus-based company, Sino/Ohio Center, founded in 1989 to bridge the gap between American and...

Court revives rehab hospital.
September 6, 1993... Continental Medical Systems' on-again, off-again plans to build a rehabilitation hospital in Columbus are on again, thanks to a recent court ruling that revived the project. The $11 million, 51-bed hospital has been in the works since 1989,...

Ohio chamber leans against environmental bill. (Ohio Chamber of Commerce)
September 6, 1993... At least one business group will likely oppose a bill that creates new environmental crimes and increases penalties for polluters. H.B. 473, introduced Aug. 31 by state Rep. Tom Roberts (D-Dayton), was drafted by the Ohio Attorney General's...

Small design firm lands big clients. (Williams Design)
September 6, 1993... Key is knowing customer well, seeking harmony of elements If you tried to imagine what kind of company had a hand in the interior design of the old governor's mansion on East Broad Street, the law building at Ohio State University, the...

Feds fund public works beauty. (federal highway construction funds)
September 6, 1993... Making highways look pretty will be part of future road construction under revisions to how federal highway construction funds are administered. Under the International Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, Istea (pronounced...

'Missing link' gives engineers headache. (Spring-Sandusky interchange construction project)
September 6, 1993... From endangered fish to contaminated trash, Spring-Sandusky moves on Bumper-to-bumper vehicles weave toward swoops, curves and too-short ramps. Motorists race in, out and across lanes at breakneck speeds to dump themselves into the belly of...

Old OSU buildings need $240 million in renovation. (Ohio state University)
September 6, 1993... Construction cranes have become almost as common as classrooms on Ohio State University's main campus. Although activity in many sectors of the local building market has slowed greatly in recent years, construction and renovation projects on...

3D/Group find profits in post AutoCAD aid. (3D/Group Inc.)
September 6, 1993... A company in Indianapolis owns a shopping center in Dayton. A retailer based in Chicago wants to lease space in that complex. Using REAP (Real Estate Architectural Profiles), a computer system developed to store and retrieve blueprints, the...

Empowerment - not for large firms only. (News for Small Business)
September 6, 1993... Worker power boosts machine shop quality Employee empowerment -- giving workers the authority to fix problems they spot while on the job -- is all the rage at big companies. Can empowerment work at smaller businesses? Jess F. Chadwick,...

Gambling as a future. (Southern Bowling and Billiard stores) (News for Small Business)
September 6, 1993... Roth sees bucks in poker and pool Nostalgic Glenn Miller tunes fill the air. A customer tries out his new bowling ball. Across the way a salesman tries some trick shots at the pool table. In another corner a wannabe gambler tries his hand...

Referral is an option for day care. (childcare referral agency) (News for Small Business)
September 6, 1993... The search for quality child care has always been one of the most important concerns of working parents. Now it appears that the boss is starting to take an interest. According to figures supplied by Action for Children, a local non-profit...

Small banks capitalize on size, service. (Heartland Bank) (News for Small Business)
September 6, 1993... Small business may be touted as the major source of job growth in the United States. But that doesn't help the fact that many of the small banks that used to help small businesses are disappearing. "Consolidation has taken away some of the...

Used phone systems a bargain for new firms. (News for Small Business)
September 6, 1993... The principals at TAPP-Plus don't get paid and neither do the other people who work there. The business, just barely a year old, tries to save money where it can. That's why co-directors Kathy Peterson and Mickey Tobin bought a used phone...

Inventor, entrepreneur offer wall rehab service. (Columbus Business Introductions president Ron Coe) (News for Small Business)
September 6, 1993... A local retired fire fighter/paramedic has introduced a new product and technique that makes brick buildings look like new and can even make a cement block look like brick without sandblasting. Ron Coe's company, Columbus Business...