Over the years, the husband-and-wife team has collected ideas, advice and eclectic furniture to open their ideal hodgepodge shop.

“We thought about it for 20 years,” Julia said.

The result is Ted’s Fun on the River, which the couple opened in February and named after Kelly’s childhood family nickname.

Their inspiration was to squeeze all the retail and artistic potential possible out of the 1,000-square-foot house while taking advantage of the river across the street from its front door.

So, Ted’s became a combination of neighborhood coffee shop, kayak, bike and canoe-rental center, barbecue party space, wine bar and general store.

On some nights, chairs are lined up in the sitting room and musicians take up instruments, including the Jewells who make up two-thirds of the jazz and blues band Port City Trio.

“Friday nights usually fill up with music,” Julia said.

When asked how he describes to people what Ted’s is, Kelly doesn’t hesitate.

“It’s complicated,” he said.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110730/ARTICLES/110729588/1002/sitemaps04

Doha: There are very few places in the world where opportunities reward brave initiative: Qatar is one of such places. Gianfrancesco Peretti came from Italy to Qatar more than 10 years ago and he immediately realised that this was a place where business could offer lucrative returns.

Starting from a small business, Peretti had the ability of gauging the necessities of the place and to turn the opportunities the Qatar market offered into a great business.

“I had a restaurant some years ago with an adjoining ice cream shop. People liked artisanal ice cream. There was a strong demand for the product,” said Peretti. Now, he has built the Colosseum ice cream factory that supplies to big names like Qatar Airways, the US military bases and all Qatar National Hotels, producing 800 litres per day in a range of 100 flavours. And the business runs without competitors.

“We have no home-made ice cream competitors. We are the only one. There are around three ice-cream shops, but they produce ice cream by using basic mixture industrially prepared and ready to use by adding milk and water. No home made ingredients,” he added.

Peretti explains that his real competitors are brands like Häagen-Dazs and London Dairy, but ice cream is one of those few products not really suitable to be made on an industrial scale as thawing is exports’ enemy number one: you need to add fat to the basic mix of the ice cream in order to die down the defrost process and that will of course alter completely the taste of the ice cream and also its calories contribution.

An ice-cream man is more a chemist than a chef. He doesn’t only have to know how to put together the different flavours, but he also has to know how to create those flavours. This is the reason why Peretti has a kitchen in his factory separated from the machines where he cooks the raw materials and makes the necessary ingredients for the ice cream.

A market without competitors is very unhealthy especially for the customers because there are no incentives for the producers to improve the quality, but the lack of competitors is what makes the Qatari market a unique one and full of opportunities for those enterprising enough to invest in the right direction.

Peretti explains that in his case he had to struggle every day to create a tastier ice cream as the Italian institutions didn’t help him at all to penetrate the Qatari market as they were mainly promoting big brands and not small companies like his.

However, the local market welcomed him.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/160535-hot-business-idea-sets-in-ice-cream-.html

It’s a dirty job but where there’s muck there’s brass..

A new business called Steam & Clean has been launched to clean trash cans, driveways and tanks in an environmentally friendly manner. All water for cleaning is recaptured so there’s no runoff into Puget Sound.

Emily Wiewiorka, the company founder and president, said the business is going well and expanding as she finds new uses for her system. One company recently told her they had estimated it would cost them $200,000 to clean some oil tanks but she said Steam & Clean can do the job for much less, at $360 per hour.

The business uses vehicles that look like garbage trucks. Rather than holding garbage, they hold 1,500 gallons of water, vacuums and filters.

Trash containers are lifted into the truck and steam cleaned at 250 degrees Fahrenheit without chemicals or detergents. Wiewiorka said germs and bacteria are destroyed by the high temperature and the surfaces are left sterile.

Wastewater from the process is filtered and cleaned in the truck, and then reused.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015732857_apwatrashcancleaning1stldwritethru.html

Lohring is manufacturing and packaging two new beers, Notch Session Ale and Notch Session Pils, using equipment he leases from Ipswich Ale Brewery. Introduced this spring, those beers, which feature a lower-than-usual alcohol content, aim to capitalize on a growing thirst for locally made brews, following a trail blazed a generation ago by brands like Sam Adams and Harpoon and more recently by the likes of Dogfish Head and Stone Brewing Co., regional craft breweries that have built national followings.

“It’s almost like the recession caused a wave of Yankee ingenuity,’’ says Bryan Greenhagen, founder of Mystic Brewery in Chelsea, yet another start-up coming online soon. Adds Greenhagen, whose resume includes cofounding an industrial fermentation company: “Everyone is doing a different take on brewing. It’s exciting.’’

http://articles.boston.com/2011-07-22/business/29803776_1_craft-brewers-new-breweries-home-brew

A healthy alternative to ice-cream ?

Lemon Tree Frozen Yogurt opened its doors in mid-April in Ankeny, claiming on its website that it was the first soft-serve, self-serve yogurt shop in Iowa, and the chain’s second behind its original location in Liberty, Mo.Independent shops Yo2Go in Urbandale and Ghurtie’s Frozen Yoghurt in Coralville made their debut in early July. A franchise of California-based Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt is under development in West Des Moines.

Customers fill a cup – some shops also offer cones – with whatever toppings and yogurt they want.

The cost for servings is by weight. Charges range from about 40 to 45 cents per ounce in Iowa.

The stores offer a dozen or more changing flavors and toppings that include fresh fruits, syrups, nuts, cereals, candies and more. Free samples of yogurt flavors – pulled from self-serve machines – are standard.

Choices often include low-fat or fat-free; reduced or no sugar; and gluten-free flavors.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110723/BUSINESS/107230307/-1/gallery_array/Self-serve-frozen-yogurt-shops-off-hot-start