Strategic Financial Services names new CEO; founder transitions to chairman

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UTICA, N.Y. — Strategic Financial Services, Inc., a Utica–based wealth-management firm, has named Alan Leist, III as its new CEO. Leist, III previously held the

Syracuse’s Whitman School appoints new director of WISE Women’s Business Center

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Health Care, Nonprofits, People on the Move, Small Business

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University announced it has appointed Meghan Florkowski as director of the WISE Women’s

Syracuse airport expects 17 percent increase in Thanksgiving travelers compared to 2018

Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse Regional Airport Authority (SRAA) on Friday said preparations are underway for an anticipated 17.3 percent increase in Thanksgiving week travelers

What channel is the Syracuse basketball game on vs. Bucknell?

New York News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse basketball (3-1) seeks a fourth straight win when the Orange host the Bucknell Bison (2-3) on Saturday afternoon, as both teams

Cayuga Restaurant Group formally re-opens Auburn McDonald’s following renovation project

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

AUBURN — The McDonald’s restaurant on Genesee Street in Auburn on Nov. 15 hosted a formal re-opening ceremony after a renovation project that represented a “complete rebuild.” The ceremony included a ribbon-cutting event led by local McDonald’s franchise owner Courtney Feehan, per a company news release. The McDonald’s location re-opened to customers on Oct. 11,

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AUBURN — The McDonald’s restaurant on Genesee Street in Auburn on Nov. 15 hosted a formal re-opening ceremony after a renovation project that represented a “complete rebuild.”

The ceremony included a ribbon-cutting event led by local McDonald’s franchise owner Courtney Feehan, per a company news release.

The McDonald’s location re-opened to customers on Oct. 11, after the four-month long renovation. The remodel included a new kitchen, along with digital menus in both the dining room and drive-thru area.

The Cayuga Restaurant Group, Feehan’s company that owns the McDonald’s restaurant, declined to disclose the project cost in an email to CNYBJ.

The project sought to “enhance customers’ experiences,” the Cayuga Restaurant Group said. Customers can order as usual at the front counter, but the new restaurant now offers new self-ordering kiosks, delivery through UberEats and DoorDash, a mobile order and pay app, and a dual lane drive thru.

The restaurant has also added a new position called the guest experience leader. That employee works to “lead the hospitality experience in the dining room by providing a friendly and inviting environment, tableside service and assistance to guests as needed,” per the release.

The guest experience leader is among 30 new employees hired at this location, a figure that brings the total employee count to 85, the Cayuga Restaurant Group said.

The Genesee Street and Grant Avenue restaurants in Auburn are part of the Cayuga Restaurant Group, which includes eight restaurants across the Southern Tier and Central New York. The rebuild of the Genesee Street restaurant is the most recent “major” investment Feehan has undertaken. She plans to remodel the Grant Avenue restaurant in the near future, per the release.

Feehan lives in the area and is a Cornell University graduate. She has owned and operated local McDonald’s restaurants since 2012.

Division of ITW leases converted former NAPA store in Seneca Falls

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

SENECA FALLS — Hobart Service, a division of ITW, has leased a former NAPA Auto Parts store in Seneca Falls. The 5,000-square-foot former retail and warehouse space, located at 2163 Route 5 & 20, was converted into office/warehouse space for Hobart Service. Gary Cottet of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company represented the tenant in this

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CNY Tweets – November 25, 2019

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

Some recent tweets that came across the @cnybj Twitter feed, offering various small business, HR, and career tips. SBA Atlantic (Region II) @SBAatlanticDid you know about 200,000 #smallbusiness owners have already been matched with an @SBAgov-approved lender through Lender Match? Get matched today —http://ow.ly/HXBj50wUjlJ NFIB @NFIB“Firms are likely to continue to offer improved compensation to

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Some recent tweets that came across the @cnybj Twitter feed, offering various small business, HR, and career tips.

SBA Atlantic (Region II) @SBAatlantic
Did you know about 200,000 #smallbusiness owners have already been matched with an @SBAgov-approved lender through Lender Match? Get matched today —http://ow.ly/HXBj50wUjlJ

NFIB @NFIB
“Firms are likely to continue to offer improved compensation to attract and retain qualified workers,” explained NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg on #SmallBiz owners’ strategy to deal with the employee shortage. Read more from @TDAJJKinihan of @forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjkinahan/2019/11/13/selling-pressure-relatively-muted-as-investors-eye-trade-situation/#1dc79f9250fd

GSA @USGSA
GSA’s Office of Small Business Utilization connects small businesses with people and resources to help them grow. Find and pursue government contracts now: http://gsa.gov/small-business

IRS Small Biz @IRSsmallbiz
Do you employ your parent in your #smallbiz? Their wages are subject to income tax withholding and social security and Medicare taxes, but not unemployment tax. Learn more from #IRS https://go.usa.gov/xVvek

Ben Carson @SecretaryCarson
Congratulations to the SBA for issuing a direct final rule that will allow governors to petition the @SBAgov’s Administrator to designate HUBZone status to new areas including #OpportunityZones! More at — http://ow.ly/L54K50xdVg2

Allen Ruddock @AllenRuddock
80+% of business owners say LinkedIn won’t work for them they’re wrong http://dld.bz/dSnKr #smallbiz #marketing

Angel Biz Advisors @AngelBiz
8 Sources of Finance to Kickstart Your Small Business – http://ow.ly/kE9p30pU9lm #finance #startup #entrepreneur

Lolly Daskal @LollyDaskal
10 Vital Traits to Look for In People You Hire: http://bit.ly/2HMK6HF #LeadFromWithin #Leadership #Management #HR #Success #Manager

Mark C. Crowley @MarkCCrowley
I once had a boss who said that on the occasions he ran into employees whose name he couldn’t remember, he’d just say, “Hey guy!” (A new study shows 1-in-2 of us have felt embarrassed because we didn’t know our co-worker’s name).

Neil Milliken @NeilMilliken
The average cost of making accommodations for disabilities is less than a couple of days wages – Not making them will lose you more time #HR

MACNY @MACNY_MfgAssoc
Are you prepared to rise above stressful situations? https://www.macny.org/good-leaders-rise-above-stressful-situations/

Robert Half @roberthalf
No need for a Magic 8-Ball. We’ve got the 12 best jobs of the future right here —http://rh.works/xqOf50xbbn1.

Hannah Morgan @careersherpa
Your next career move, either by your choice or someone else’s, takes preparation. Don’t wait until a crisis occurs to take some of these steps. https://buff.ly/2QpHgvM

Geneva firm wins grand prize in Grow-NY contest

Small Business, Subscriber Only

GENEVA — RealEats America of Geneva won the $1 million grand prize in the inaugural Grow-NY agribusiness competition. Dropcopter, a tenant of Syracuse’s Tech Garden, captured one of two $500,000 prizes at the pitch event held Nov. 13 in Rochester, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced. Three companies from Ithaca — Capro-X, Combplex, and

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GENEVA — RealEats America of Geneva won the $1 million grand prize in the inaugural Grow-NY agribusiness competition.

Dropcopter, a tenant of Syracuse’s Tech Garden, captured one of two $500,000 prizes at the pitch event held Nov. 13 in Rochester, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.

Three companies from Ithaca — Capro-X, Combplex, and Whole Healthy Food — each won $250,000 prizes.

On its website, Dropcopter describes itself as “the leader in automated pollination of orchard crops via unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).” The firm says it helps “growers improve farming efficiency and drive healthy crop yield growth.”

RealEats was chosen as the grand-prize winner following a two-day summit in Rochester. The 17 selected finalists pitched their businesses to a live audience and panel of experienced judges for their share of the prize money.

On its website, RealEats says “…it’s our mission to make it easy for anybody to get and enjoy real food — meals cooked by chefs using whole, natural ingredients that aren’t processed and don’t have any added junk or other stuff you wouldn’t want to eat.”

Nearly 900 startups, companies, investors, resource providers, researchers, entrepreneurs, farmers, and students attended the two-day event. In addition to the pitch competition, the summit included an exhibition hall with more than 70 food and agricultural exhibitors from across New York.

It also included a symposium with a series of panels that “tackled some of the biggest opportunities and challenges” facing the food and agriculture industry today, per the release.

About the competition

The Grow-NY contest is focused on growing “a lasting food and agriculture innovation cluster” in Central New York, the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier regions. The competition, which will run for three rounds, offers a total of $3 million in funding to “innovative, high-growth” startups from around the world focused on the food and agriculture industry.

The Upstate Revitalization Initiatives connected with the three regions — CNY Rising, Finger Lakes Forward, and Southern Tier Soaring — are providing the funding for the Grow-NY competition.

Cornell University is administering the competition through its Center for Regional

Economic Advancement Grow-NY winners must commit to

operating in the Central New York, Finger Lakes, or Southern Tier regions for at least one year.

Premier Fire Apparatus leases industrial space in Salina

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

SALINA — Premier Fire Apparatus, Inc. recently leased 5,500 square feet of industrial warehouse space located at 108 Anderson Avenue in the town of Salina. William Evertz of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company exclusively handled the marketing of the property and facilitated the lease on behalf of the property owner, Cambridge Properties LLC, according to

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Carrols cites excess sales discounts in posting Q3 loss

Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Citing “excess sales discounts,” Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TAST) on Nov. 7 reported a net loss of $6.8 million, or 15 cents a share, in the third quarter. That compares to net income of $3.6 million, or 8 cents a share, in the prior-year quarter, Syracuse–based Carrols said. The company is the

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SYRACUSE — Citing “excess sales discounts,” Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TAST) on Nov. 7 reported a net loss of $6.8 million, or 15 cents a share, in the third quarter.

That compares to net income of $3.6 million, or 8 cents a share, in the prior-year quarter, Syracuse–based Carrols said. The company is the largest Burger King franchisee in the U.S.

Carrols realized it had been combining the sales discounts for separate Whopper value-meal promotions between June 3 and Aug. 26, which resulted in “significant” additional sales discounts relative to the advertised promotions that reduced restaurant sales by about $8.3 million. The company removed these excess sales discounts from the pricing of its Whopper value meals in late August and that action decreased significantly the level of Carrols’ promotional sales discounts and increased restaurant sales, the earnings report stated.

Excluding the impact of the “excess sales discounts,” comparable (or same-store) restaurant sales for the third quarter would have increased about 7.4 percent.

But, as reported, same-store restaurant sales for Carrols’ Burger King restaurants increased 4.5 percent compared to a 1.6 percent rise in the prior-year quarter.

The company’s adjusted EBITDA was $25.6 million compared to $26.5 million in the prior-year quarter. EBITDA is short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

The impact of the excess sales discounts reduced adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter by about $7.3 million. Excluding the impact of the excess sales discounts, adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter of 2019 would have been about $32.9 million.

Carrols’ adjusted quarterly net loss was 9 cents per share. That was better than the consensus analyst estimate of a loss of 10 cents, according to Zacks Research.

CEO reaction

Comparable restaurant-sales growth during the third quarter included the “successful” introduction of the Impossible Whopper, which has contributed “incremental” restaurant sales since its launch in August and Carrols believes will “continue to positively impact our restaurant sales,” Daniel Accordino, chairman and CEO of Carrols, said in the firm’s earnings report.

The 2 for $6 Mix & Match sandwich platform has also performed “consistently well” while the $1 Crispy Taco provided a “new value offering” to the Burger King menu.

Carrols is one of the largest restaurant franchisees in the U.S. and currently operates 1,093 restaurants. It is the largest Burger King franchisee in the U.S., currently operating 1,032 Burger King restaurants. It also runs 61 Popeyes restaurants.

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