Crains New York - July 29, 2013 - (Page 10)

OPINION Industry’s recipe for success A Japanese tourist recently showed up at the Brooklyn Flea, an outdoor market where food businesses build followings for their concoctions, and found the booth of Morris Kitchen, a specialty syrup maker hatched in the borough four years ago. The tourist wasn’t there by happenstance: In her visitor’s guide was a photo of the syrup she wanted and instructions on where to get it. The city’s food industry is teeming with energetic entrepreneurs searching for that combination of ingredients, technique and marketing that wins them shelf space at Whole Foods or Dean & DeLuca, and perhaps makes them the next Ben & Jerry’s or Brooklyn Brewery. New York is a fertile field for such pursuits, with its large and diverse supply of corporate customers as well as millions of residents and tourists eager to expand their palates and to buy local. But succeeding in the food business here presents challenges not faced by, for example, technology startups, which can get going with little more than a laptop and a Starbucks. Food makers need space and equipment that meets the famously exacting standards of city and even state regulators. And they must negotiate leases in a market where residential prices are stratospheric, encouraging industrial landlords to hold out for a Williamsburg-style rezoning that would send their property values soaring. It frequently adds up to a need for significant capital, a major burden for the budding business. CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL The Bloomberg administration has sought to address these issues. It has created 16 industrial business zones, which are basically manufacturing areas that it has promised not to rezone for housing—a guarantee that the next mayor should certainly maintain. It also partnered with Goldman Sachs earlier this year to create a $10 million fund that will soon start issuing loans between $50,000 and $750,000 at interest rates not exceeding 8%, and generally lower, to food businesses as young as three years and with as few as three employees. Fund administrators will provide not just cash but also guidance, which is crucial for business owners still green behind the ears. The food industry here is growing. A new, city-sponsored food manufacturers’ expo in 2012 drew about 100 companies. The second one, this year, drew twice as many. City and borough leaders have also backed two food incubators, in Harlem and Long Island City, Queens, with a third on the way, in Brooklyn. Continued support for this fruitful industry—a rare bridge to the middle class for those without academic credentials—will serve New York well. Food makers love NYC but struggle for financing, space COMMENTS bloomberg news Motown and our town SHOULD ANTHONY WEINER DROP OUT OF THE MAYOR’S RACE? Yes. The revelation that he continued his unseemly habit after being caught makes it clear that he is unfit for office. No. When he entered the mayor’s race, he said more texts and photos would surface. Nothing has changed. Date of poll: July 24 1,177 votes 56% Yes 44% No FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS: Go to www.crainsnewyork.com/poll to have your say. 10 | Crain’s New York Business | July 29, 2013 Re “Is Detroit bankruptcy a wake-up call for NYC?” (online poll): This is a wake-up call for the Legislature, governor and comptroller. Many of the issues collapsing Detroit exist here. They include public pensions (which are not fully funded, as the comptroller would have us believe), a dwindling tax base and a need for massive infrastructure investments. If New York is to avoid a Detroit-like scenario, we need to get the cost of government under control. Laws and rules that unnecessarily drive up costs need to be amended to make it fair for all New York taxpayers, not just the 8% who are public employees. —brian sampson Executive director Unshackle Upstate Remember 1975. We had city lawyers filing the bankruptcy petition in court while we were negotiating a loan. We had police cars ready to run the papers to the banks. It was only at the last minute that unions approved making loans to the city from the pension funds. —dave borgioli Yorkville, Upper East Side looking for his next meal ticket. —larry penner Great Neck, L.I. SPITZER’S FOE Re “Trash talk” ( July 15): Food scraps are an important resource and shouldn’t be landfilled. That’s why the city fully legalized household food waste disposers in 1997, at the request of the sanitation commissioner, after extensive study. Installed in NYCHA and Battery Park City apartments, and by leading developers, disposals turn food scraps into a liquid resource that can create biogas and fertilizer products at the city’s wastewater plants without the hassle of separate storage, special containers, collection by truck or sharing apartments with worms. All tools should be used to advance this goal. —kendall christiansen “A Spitzer win would be a disaster for city” (Greg David, July 15) equally applies to Eliot Spitzer’s foe in the comptroller race, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. The city has a $70 billion budget and 350,000 employees. Mr. Stringer has no privatesector experience. He has never built a business, balanced a real budget, created jobs, met a payroll or managed any significant agencies. He has been running around town unofficially campaigning since 2009. His dreams of running for mayor never got off the ground, so instead he ran for comptroller. This hardly makes him a credible candidate. Mr. Stringer seems to be just another career politician A LIQUID ASSET The writer is senior consultant to InSinkErator and a former Citywide Recycling Advisory Board chairman. CRAIN’S WELCOMES SUBMISSIONS to its opinion pages. Send letters to letters@crainsnewyork.com. Send columns of 475 words or fewer to opinion@crainsnewyork.com. Please include the writer’s name, company, address and telephone number. CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS editor in chief Rance Crain publisher, vp Jill R. 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All rights reserved. ®CityBusiness is a registered trademark of MCP Inc., used under license agreement. CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS chairman Keith E. Crain president Rance Crain treasurer Mary Kay Crain Cindi Crain executive vp, operations William Morrow executive vp, director of strategic operations Chris Crain senior vp, group publisher Gloria Scoby vp/production, manufacturing David Kamis chief information officer Paul Dalpiaz founder G.D. Crain Jr. (1885-1973) chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. (1911-1996) secretary Merrilee Crain (1942-2012) http://www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe http://www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise http://www.crainsnewyork.com/events http://www.crainsnewyork.com/poll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - July 29, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
ALAIR TOWNSEND
GREG DAVID
REPORT: FOOD BUSINESS
FOR THE RECORD
REAL ESTATE DEALS
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE BREAKFAST
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - July 29, 2013