Everybody’s business

Ready to rent
Seeing a void in the Chico market, two young entrepreneurs have launched a Web site, www.chicorentalisting.com, intended to list every apartment complex in Chico.

“We’ll have lots of information that’s accurate and up-to-date,” said Ryan Vaught, a CSU, Chico business senior who started the site with Stephen Connell, whose programming and database design expertise allowed for a feature called Chico Sky View that maps rentals. The next step is a roommate finder and virtual tours of properties.

Apartment-seekers can search the site, which became active on Sept. 15, for free, while owners can pay to advertise.

That’sa good pizza
Coming soon to 995 Nord Ave., Suite 130 is the Pizza Factory. The franchise’s closest existing parlor is in Orland, and people who’ve been there tell me they make a tasty pie.

The 125-shop franchise was started in 1979 in Oakhurst, a then-tiny town that serves as the southern gateway to Yosemite Park.

Tasty car wash
The big kahunas at Dutch Bros. drive-through coffee are branching out, adding Crazy Kahuna Car Wash at 480 East Park Ave.

Dan and Michal Richardson are teaming up with Dennis and Loree Snyder to do the deal.

From waffles to pizza
Nina and Mike Shabbar, who own the Golden Waffle on Main and Seventh streets, are branching out.

Don’t worry; they’ll still have the Waffle, which was recently voted Chico’s Best Diner. But the idea of a new restaurant was too tempting to resist. After some research, the couple decided to be franchisees for Original Pete’s Pizza, Pasta, Grill—a small chain of restaurants serving Italian food, including gourmet pizzas and pasta, in a casual setting. There are several in the Sacramento area.

The restaurant, tentatively planned for a December opening, will be located on East Park Avenue, in what used to be Blueberry Twist (more recently a cooking school).

What goes around
So I finally pop out a kid and what happens? The carousel gets taken out of the Chico Mall.

I called mall manager Ryan Hursh to find out what gives. “A lot of customers are requesting food kiosks, like Cinnabon or a coffee [stand],” he said. “We just didn’t have a lot of room to work with, with the carousel there.”

Mall management offered free rides for two weeks and then, on Sept. 7, removed the carousel, which it had sold.

Hursh said another issue was parents saying that rides, at $2 a pop, were too expensive. So the mall is seeking a business sponsor who would pay for the installation of a free children’s play area elsewhere in the mall in exchange for the publicity the sponsorship would bring.