Tag Archives: journalism

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News Writer of the Year by Gatehouse Media

Justine Griffin was awarded the News Writer of the Year award for 2014 by Gatehouse Media, the parent company of the Herald-Tribune Media Group for the “Best of GateHouse 2014” awards, which included entries from newspapers across the media player’s hundreds of publications.

“Justine Griffin’s first-person report on egg harvesting is so different, so deep in detail, and such a good story that it alone pushes her to the top of a very competitive field. It’s a gutsy move to undergo a risky procedure and write about virtually every detail,” the judges said.

Third place in the projects category went to business writer Griffin for her first-person story about the pitfalls of egg donation, “The Cost of Life.”

Griffin also won second place for “Multimedia Journalist of the Year.”

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Coffee company awarded spot at Tampa airport has history of financial troubles

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By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times

Today, Herb Colvin runs a coffee stand inside a Hills­borough County Public Schools building, sells organic teas and coffees at farmers markets and other locales, and has a record of financial problems, including federal and state tax liens, evictions, a foreclosure and a bankruptcy.

By 2017, Colvin will have a $1.3 million stake in the restaurant operations of the $953 million renovation of Tampa International Airport. His Bay Coffee & Tea Company is the minority partner in one of the 11 concessionaire groups that won highly sought-after spots to sell food and goods at the airport.

A Dun & Bradstreet credit evaluation of Bay Coffee puts it in a ”higher risk” category for making late payments and suggests a credit limit of $20,000. The report was provided to the Tampa Bay Times by an airport consultant who works with another Tampa concessionaire, George Tinsley Sr. Tinsley lost a bid for a spot in TIA’s concessions lineup and has filed a protest regarding the win by Colvin and his partner.

Colvin and his partner scored a 91.3 out of 100 for their proposal, the highest bid in their group by 6.4 points based on the overall concept, layout, experience, business plan and the potential to generate revenue for the airport. But an airport spokeswoman acknowledged that officials there did not conduct any analysis of Colvin’s finances.

Read more here.

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EXCLUSIVE: First Watch to buy The Egg & I restaurants

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By Justine Griffin

MANATEE COUNTY – Like nearly all other industries, the restaurant business has metamorphosed through the years.

Some national and regional chains are feeling the push to compete with small businesses, as millennials and Generation X consumers flock to support hole-in-the-wall eateries within their communities that reach a younger customer through robust social media presence and online apps.

First Watch Restaurants, the Manatee County-based chain of breakfast, brunch and lunch cafes, also has evolved through the years to meet the demands of these new customers.

This year, First Watch introduced a new urban layout in restaurants across the country, including two sites in Florida: Largo and Estero.

The “urban farm” design is bright, colorful and modern. The build-out looks like something you’d see on a busy street in a bigger metro area than Sarasota.

“The new concept is more in line with the customer First Watch is targeting,” said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, a food research firm based in Chicago. “It’s not fancier, but it plays on freshness and the importance of being local.”

Read more here. 

Sidebar:

First Watch evolves to attract younger customers: Like nearly all other industries, the restaurant business has metamorphosed through the years. Some national and regional chains are feeling the push to compete with small businesses, as millennials and Generation X consumers flock to support hole-in-the-wall eateries within their communities that reach a younger customer through robust social media presence and online apps. Read more here.

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Lilly Pulitzer Target hysteria hits Sarasota

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By Justine Griffin for the Herald-Tribune

Southwest Florida was not immune to the mass appeal and the insanity that followed the release of the “Lilly for Target” collection at Target stores nationwide and online on Sunday.

Lilly Pulitzer — the Palm Beach-based boutique brand known for its vibrant patterns on dresses, shirts, home-decor items and purses — released a line of 250 limited-edition items to be sold one time only. The Minneapolis-based retailer has been doing similar collaborations with designers occasionally over the years, and they have proven to be successful.

The appeal of Lilly resort-wear-like designs being sold at a fraction of the cost the merchandise sells for in stores like the one on St. Armands Circle and in the Mall at University Town Center brought loyal fans and newcomers to Target stores early Sunday — something eerily reminiscent of Black Friday madness.

Read more here.

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The shopping mall is dying? Not in Florida

By Justine Griffin for the Herald-Tribune

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When it opened in Sarasota County in October, the Mall at University Town Center was unique not just in Florida but nationally: the only enclosed mall to debut in the United States during 2014.

But with the economy rebounding strongly from the Great Recession — and even in the face of rapidly growing competition from the Internet challenging traditional malls — at least some players are thinking there are still opportunities to be had in that retail arena.

Some are thinking big in Florida — very big.

Triple Five, the international developer behind the Mall of America, has unveiled what it hopes will become a $4 billion mega center and amusement park in Miami.

The aptly named “American Dream” would be a 200-acre shopping center with attached carnival rides that would blend two of the state’s strongest economic sectors: retail and tourism along the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 75 near Miami Lakes.

The mall — purportedly to feature sea lions, submarines and a ski slope — would be larger than the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, which is 4.2 million square feet with 520 stores and 50 restaurants.

American Dream could continue the Sunshine State’s run of proposing and building enclosed shopping centers at a time when malls and retailers are shuttering their stores in them faster than ever across the country.

Read more here.