Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Reached the day after Valentine’s Day, Vicki Schmidt was happy with business at Petersen Flowers. “To my pleasure we had a great turnout,” she says. “The past week we’ve seen faces we’ve never seen before, so hopefully it won’t be a one-time thing.”
The flower shop in south Minneapolis had been open only a week, one year after an arsonist and burglar burned the place to the ground. “It was hardest for my father,” owner Glen Luedtke, she says about the year of rebuilding. “He had to deal with the insurance company, the contractors, the lack of money coming in.”
Shortly before the fire, her father had begun driving a charter school bus, and he expanded that work to make ends meet. Also, “we tried to do a lot of the work ourselves” for the complete rebuilding of the shop.
Revenue also came from the Minneapolis Farmers Market last April to November, where Petersen Flowers has sold since the late 1980s. When the market’s season ended, they opened a Christmas tree lot right by the store as usual. “That was great to fall back on,” she says.
She says the shock of the fire in February 2006 caused them to doubt the future for a bit. “Within the first day or two, there was a lack of surety about what we would do.” But after they opened for Valentine’s Day only last year, the outpouring of the people changed their mind. “We knew without a doubt that we had to reopen.”
Vicki Schmidt, Petersen Flowers: 612.823.7311; www.petersenflowers.com
