Portfolio News

LeBron James, the Boston Red Sox, mall pretzels: These are crucial ingredients in Blaze Pizza’s  ambitious recipe for growth. Serial entrepreneurs and spouses Elise and Rick Wetzel co-founded their Pasadena, California-based company in 2011 with a simple, if hardly unique, idea: Let’s create the Chipotle of pizza. The dough and toppings would be “artisanal” (roasted garlic,…

Read More of These Founders Wanted to Create the ‘Chipotle of Pizza.’ Now, Their LeBron James-Backed Business Is Aiming for an IPO

Here’s a news flash: Guys don’t like shopping for underwear. Luckily, the same retail forces that disrupted razors, eyeglasses, luggage, mattresses and hair-loss treatments, have set their sights on men’s drawers. In the last decade, a handful of upstart labels are trying to dethrone old faithfuls like Hanes and Calvin Klein. Hate going to the store?…

Read More of New Men’s Underwear, Briefly

Excelligence Learning Corporation announces the official opening of its Kansas fulfillment center located in the heart of Kansas’ intermodal center: Gardner, Kansas. After conducting a national search for centralization of its fulfillment and manufacturing operations, Excelligence elected to partner with LS Commercial Real Estate and USAA to build out the tech-enabled facility in this vibrant, intermodal hub. “We are excited to…

Read More of Excelligence Learning Corporation Announces Opening Of Its State-Of-The-Art Fulfillment Center

Why exactly would restaurateur Chris Simms call his casual dining restaurant, specializing in what he calls “elevated comfort food,” Lazy Dog? Asked why, Simms replied that he wanted to create an environment where guests “could leave everything at the door, come on in, relax, and connect with family and friends. I want people to come…

Read More of With A Name Like Lazy Dog, Why Exactly Is This Restaurant Chain Thriving?

A Gallup poll taken in August 2018 reported that only 5% of Americans considered themselves vegetarians and only 3% vegans. Yet millennials aged 18-29 are slightly higher with 7% vegetarians. But Veggie Grill, a chain of veggie-centric and plant-based food, has defied those small numbers and recently opened its 33rd location including two new stores…

Read More of Veggie Grill Expanding Despite The Scarcity Of People Who Are Vegetarians and Vegans