Everybody’s business

To the rescue
Two Chico businesspeople are teaming up to help other small business owners.

Alex Frantz and Colleen Uhyrek have formed a consulting firm called Restaurant Rescue, and Frantz said it’s going to be a lot like the show Restaurant Makeover on the Food Network: They’ll come in and show startups or existing businesses what changes to make to achieve success and “improve their bottom line,” Frantz said.

“If you have a struggling restaurant, that’s where it would help the best,” he added. Frantz said owners should include their own personalities in their ventures, but be sure to make a good first impression with clean, well-designed spaces.

Uhyrek’s existing business, Monk’s Wine Lounge and Bistro, is up for sale, with an asking price of $205,000, according to an ad on www.bizben.com.

Frantz said Monk’s is “doing great”; Uhyrek just wants to spend more time with her family. Frantz’s most recent venture, Board in Chico, closed in September 2005 after less than a year in business and moved in with Chico Bike and Board.

Frantz said Uhyrek is an expert in the aesthetics of restaurants and retail spaces, while his cred includes helping open Bella’s Sports Pub and 33 Steak, Booze and Jazz, along with helping with the closure of Chevy’s.

Speaking confidentially
Another listing of note on Bizben.com this week is the offered sale of a home health care services business. “Confidentiality a must,” it reads, so of course I have to stir things up by mentioning it.

Whatever firm it is, it’s not a franchise, it’s somewhere in Butte County, established in 1997 (that should narrow things down) and the asking price is $2.25 million, which might include some property.

Cool Crabb
Congrats to Charlie Crabb, retiring dean of Chico State University’s College of Agriculture. He’s been given the California Farm Bureau Federation Distinguished Service Award “for his role as an ambassador for agriculture to non-agriculture students, for his excellent teaching and for his community involvement.”

Most expensive M&M’s ever?
I was intrigued by an ad in the Sunday papers for custom-printed M&M’s and went online to check it out at www.shop.mms.com. What better Valentine’s gift, I thought, than to give the grandparents candies with a message from their favorite toddler. (That would be my Alec.)

There are 21 colors, you can select two of them and you can pick two different messages (but they can’t be obscene or include business names, trademarks, celebrity names, sports teams or schools, religious or political phrases or landmarks.)

I input all the info I’d want on my M&M’s, but when I went to check out, the minimum order was $37.96 for four bags—too rich for my blood. It was fun, though.