South Florida Business Journal articles from August 1996

South Florida Business Journal archives from August 1996

Dining cards: will work for food.
August 2, 1996... Discount deals pay off, cause trouble for restaurants When Ara Kulhanjian opened the Roasted Pepper restaurant in Pembroke Pines last summer, he wasn't planning to sign up with any discount dining cards. Then Gusto Marketing Services offered...

These bankers make house calls; niche banks sell speed and service.
August 2, 1996... Niche banks sell speed and service When Dr. Redmond Burke needs to deposit a check, he doesn't have to stand in line at a branch or even visit an ATM. Burke's bank comes to him, in the form of a courier who picks up his money. Burke is a...

Allied Network founders take over EDEFX Group.
August 2, 1996... MIAMI - EDEFX Group Inc., one of South Florida's oldest and largest television and commercial post-production houses, has been taken over and renamed the Miami Broadcast Center (MBC). The new owners are Ron Wishna and David Geisler, co-founders...

Exercise centers help. S. Fla. hospitals get fiscally fit.(Health Care Monthly)
August 2, 1996... Running their own gyms has hospitals shaking a real money-maker Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah has a new profit center - the hospital gym. Since the Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospital opened its 33,000-square-foot fitness center in 1993,...

Medicaid budget ax hits hospitals, businesses.
August 2, 1996... Nearly $200 million slashed from health plans, hospitals, nursing homes and taxi services 1996-97 Florida Medicaid Budget Cuts Program Amount...

Profits soar on AngelCare's wings. (AngelCare Health Corp.)
August 2, 1996... Miami Beach rehab firm goes from a shoestring to a string of clients While many grow old in nursing homes, Eduardo Hernando grew up in them. The son of a nursing home administrator, Hernando's formative years were spent learning the business...

Barnett Banks moving to become a factor in the factoring business.
August 2, 1996... For South Florida businesses looking for cash-flow financing, Barnett Banks just became a factor in the obscure field of small-business factoring. The Jacksonville-based banking company is entering a market previously ignored by regional...

Fast-growing CyberGate hasn't let 'old age' slow it down. (Internet service provider CyberGate Inc.)
August 9, 1996... When you're talking about Internet service providers, old age is relative. CyberGate Inc. bills itself as the oldest provider in Florida, but by just about anyone's standards, it's still a brand new company - it was started just three years ago....

Microbreweries going head-to-head. (two recent entrants in the microbrewery industry in Miami, FL, Brautech Brewing Co. and Firehouse Brewing Co.)
August 9, 1996... Two new firms barreling into Miami Brewing's market New York has its diamond district, North Carolina its furniture towns and California its Silicon Valley. But West Dade, long known as a home base for aircraft manufacturers and import/export...

Andrx is building on hard work, technology and business connections. (Andrx Corp.)
August 9, 1996... Four years of research and development are paying off for Fort Lauderdale-based Andrx Corp. No. 4 on South Florida Business Journal's list of fastest-growing technology companies, Andrx officials attribute their accomplishments to "cutting...

South Florida's global ties pay off for CHS Electronics. (CHS Electronics Inc.)
August 9, 1996... MIAMI - South Florida might lag behind other areas as a high-tech hub, but it's inarguably a bastion of international trade. That's part of the reason CHS Electronics Inc. decided to set up shop here in 1994. Publicly traded CHS distributes...

Clinic down, but not out. (Dr. Dwight Reynolds files Ch. 11 bankruptcy to save his clinic)
August 16, 1996... Chapter 11 may buy time for center LAUDERHILL - Dr. Dwight Reynolds isn't going down without a fight. When he opened United Surgical Center in Lauderhill two years ago, the Broward County doctor dreamed of providing health care for the...

Unique expertise fuels start-up's growth: Sun Coast Capital survived 1994's tough bond market.
August 16, 1996... Sun Coast Capital survived 1994's tough bond market FORT LAUDERDALE - The day David Zwick and Todd Cohen launched their boutique bond brokerage in 1993, they sat in a silent downtown office looking at each other. The phones weren't ringing....

Boston company buys up record-storage firms in Miami and Lauderdale. (Iron Mountain Inc. buys Data Archive Services in Ft. Lauderdale and Systems Record Storage in Orlando)
August 23, 1996... Just several weeks after buying The Fortress Corp.'s document archiving business in Miami, Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc. has purchased two more records storage companies in Florida, including Data Archive Services of Fort Lauderdale and Systems...

Bankers decry credit unions' growth spurt.
August 23, 1996... But tax-free unions say bankers are just greedy Barton Goldberg is irked every time he sees a credit union advertising mortgage rates lower than those offered by most banks. Like many bankers, Goldberg feels credit unions have unfair...

Florida gets United Nations Internet trade link. (Trade Point Tampa Bay to connect Florida companies to United Nations Global Trade Point Network)
August 23, 1996... Florida is set to become an important link in the world's largest online trading network. And given that the system is expected to set internationally recognized standards for electronic trading, businesses involved in overseas trade might be...

Sports betting: growing at sea and on line. (sports betting in South Florida)
August 30, 1996... Want to bet on the Dolphins' opening game but don't know a bookie? Want to do it without worrying about the law? Sports junkies in South Florida are finding more ways to take a chance on their favorite teams. For some people, that simply...

Ocurest Labs hopes the eyes have it for IPO. (initial public offering)
August 30, 1996... Company aims to raise $6.7 million to market its unique eyedropper PALM BEACH GARDENS - Ocurest Laboratories Inc. is banking on the uniqueness of its eyedropper design to be a real eye-popper on Wall Street. The Palm Beach Gardens-based...

Sports promos up in smoke? (restrictions on sports sponsorship by tobacco firms)
August 30, 1996... New tobacco rules could be snuffing out sports sponsorships Will the Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami soon be known as the Philip Morris Grand Prix? And will Delray Beach's Virginia Slims Legends Tournament undergo a similar identity crisis?...

Boca group seeking cut in workers comp rates for small business. (National Council on Compensation Insurance)
August 30, 1996... Average 3% drop would be offset by hike to big firms Florida insurance regulators are considering changing the state's workers' compensation rates for the first time in three years. Unlike most rate changes in the past, this time it's likely...

Broward moves a notch ahead in the 'arena wars.' (arena construction projects in Florida)
August 30, 1996... Call it Arena Wars. Plans are moving ahead for the Florida Panthers' proposed arena near Sawgrass Mills in western Broward, but Dade County's plans to build a new home for the Miami Heat are still locked in controversy. The Heat, which is...

Restaurant's Robin Leach infomercial keeps lawyers well fed. (case between Robin Leach and World Target Demographic Television)
August 30, 1996... Suits and counter suits fly over Deerfield production firm's programs When Nick Bimonte agreed to pay $32,000 for an infomercial touting his Boca Raton restaurant Nick's Italian Fishery, he thought he was buying into Lifestyles of the Rich and...

Anti-terrorism regs flummox freight firms. (new Federal Aviation Administration regulations for freight forwarders)
August 30, 1996... Costs and delays the price of safety South Florida freight forwarders are scrambling to comply with new federal security regulations in the wake of fallout from the recent TWA crash. As a preventive measure against anonymous bombers, the...

Windmere prowls for pet products with laser-beam litter box. (launching of Windmere Corp.'s electronic litter box)
August 30, 1996... MIAMI LAKES - Windmere Corp., a low-key manufacturer of small bathroom appliances, will step into the national spotlight this fall with an infomercial and print ad campaign aimed at cat owners. The ads will tout Windmere's newest product, an...

Florida nursing home costs up 6.1 percent, state says.
August 30, 1996... A day's stay in a semi-private room at a Florida nursing home costs an average of $105 - up 6.1 percent from last year, according to a new state report. In South Florida, the average price rose almost $3, according to the Florida Agency for...

Olympic glory: the business lessons for athletes and their parents.
August 30, 1996... Your child, a student at a major Florida university, has trained a lifetime for the Olympics - and is rewarded with a medal. The cameras flash, the interviews are endless... and then it ends. What now? School begins soon, But that promoter's...

Drug firm grabs for a piece of the patch. (Sano Corp.)
August 30, 1996... Miramar's Sano Corp. avoids 'me too' products with its own line of transdermal drugs MIRAMAR - Reginald Hardy knew that someday he would be running his own company. He spent his first 10 years out of college teaching himself the intricacies of...