Month: April 2016

Latest Headlines

Ford survives crash tests, and a hotelier may now be a neighbor

Major Louisville employer news; updated throughout the day.

PAPA JOHN’S denies an Illinois man’s claims in a lawsuit that the pizza giant is unlawfully collecting sales taxes. More Papa news.

HUMANA accidentally told 12,000 Texas customers it wouldn’t cover their medicines, including allergy treatments, because they weren’t FDA-approved (Business First).

BROWN-FORMAN is rolling out its first new bourbon in 20 years, a premium whiskey called Coopers’ Craft (WDRB). Watch video.

FORD‘s 2016 F-150 is the only full-size pickup truck to score the top rating in new front crash tests (WDRB). Ford’s stock.

In other news, coal giant Peabody Energy enters bankruptcy;  pre-market shares plunge more than 70%. The Louisville Metro Planning Commission late last night OK’d Airbnb and other short-term residential rentals. (CJ).

Food and Dining

OMG, these coffee bean write-ups sound exactly like food porn

Boulevard’s favorite coffee for home-brewing is Peet’s, a San Francisco Bay Area company that helped birth Starbucks. But out of the house, you can often find us at Heine Bros., Please and Thank You or Press On Market.

A sampling of premium varieties; weights vary:

PeetsPeet’s, Emeryville, Calif. Kona, $24.95 for 8 oz. The pitch: The region known as Kona on Hawaii’s big island has been synonymous with superb coffee for more than 150 years. Steep volcanic hillsides and a microclimate of sunny mornings and cloudy afternoons create the perfect conditions for cultivating smooth, sweet-flavored beans. The taste is mild and mellow, with a hint of tropical sweetness; it’s like Hawaiian hospitality in a cup.

HeineHeine Bros., Louisville. Kentucky Dream, $15 for 12 oz. The pitch: This blend of Nicaragua and Sumatra has a warm aroma of gooey cinnamon buns. It is sweet with a medium body, and a dry smoky finish. You can feel extra good about purchasing this tasty blend because $5 from the sale of each bag will be donated to the Forecastle Foundation to further their efforts to restore the world’s natural awesome here in Kentucky through their efforts on the Green River with The Nature Conservancy and on Pine Mountain with Kentucky Natural Lands Trust.

StarbucksStarbucks, Seattle. Reserve Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Chelba, $17.50 for 8.8 oz. The pitch: To deliver something truly unique, 700 smallholder farmers near the village of Chelba separated out their finest-quality coffee cherries for natural processing. Those cherries bask gracefully for a period of 20 days, soaking up the rich flavors and juicy body present in this vibrant cup. Driving through this region is magical in itself. The landscape lets you know something special flourishes and evolves here. The air gets lighter and the smell of brick-red top soil is always present—suggesting a light rain was just ahead of you. This is one of the highest altitudes you will find in Ethiopia as well. As you go deeper into the thicket of the coffee trees, soft limestone crumbles with blocky basalt begin to expose themselves on small stream banks. In the distance, sparkling water drops fall off bright red cherries causing you to squint in awe—you’ve finally discovered the treasure!

Good Folks.jpgGood Folks Coffee, Louisville. Columbia Microdot, $19 for 12 oz. The (spare) pitch: A Castillo and Columbia varietal grown by farmer Enodth Paz Mosquera on the Deporcali farm in Columbia’s Cauca region at an elevation of 1,500 meters. The roaster notes the coffee’s hints of floral, banana and white grape.

Related: Gralehaus is more than a Highlands breakfast spot. The Forecastle Foundation’s GuideStar profile.

 

Latest Headlines

But how do you clean off the cheese stuck inside?

YUM: Pizza Hut is tricking out its boxes with images of Ironman and Captain America as part of its marketing tie-in with Marvel Comics’ May 6 release of “Captain America: Civil War.” The campaign is also aimed at pizza box collectors like Scott Weiner of New York City, who’s got more than 600 boxes and a book about his stash. One box is already on eBay. There’s a special Pizza Hut Marvel website, too.(Courier-Journal). Here’s the press release, and the Viva la Pizza! collector box book. More Yum news. Yum stock. The official Pizza Hut blog.

Latest Headlines

A surprise at Appliance Park, and cutting risk at Texas Roadhouse

News about Louisville’s major employers; updated frequently.

GE: Qingdao Haier Co., is — get this — adding jobs at Appliance Park, which the China-based company agreed to buy from GE in a $5.4 billion deal in January. New owners often do the opposite: cutting upper management jobs. But Qingdao says it needs the 85 new jobs to create a standalone company. (Courier-Journal).

TEXAS ROADHOUSE operators have a direct line to the 483-location Louisville-based restaurant chain’s risk management chief. Patrick Sterling’s so serious about his job, he keeps photos of his risk management team alongside those of his three daughters. (Business Insurance.)

Caldwell's Quirky CookeryIn other news, the Russell neighborhood hopes to grow 100 new businesses with a kitchen incubator backed by the Community Foundation of Louisville, the James Graham Brown Foundation and other philanthropic groups. Already, Chef Space is home to 20 small businesses, from Caldwell’s Quirky Cookery to Younique Soul (Broken Sidewalk).