February 23, 2024

		

Marissa Wenzke


| Wednesday, August 6th, 2014

Crop values hit $4.4B as drought parches strawberries

Agribusiness, Central Coast, East Ventura County, Green Coast, Latest news, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy, West Ventura County, Wine & Viticulture

Drought conditions sapped 12 percent of the value of strawberry production in Ventura County while wine grapes surged for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties to help boost the region’s crop values to $4.4 billion, according to reports on last year’s crops.

| Friday, August 1st, 2014

Santa Maria farmer files Chapter 7 amid legal battle with bank

Agribusiness, Banking & Finance, Banking Industry, Central Coast, Law & Goverment, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy

A Santa Maria produce broker and farmer has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with about $1 million in assets and $9 million in liabilities as his family companies sue the region’s largest bank on allegations that it failed to come through on millions of dollars in promised loans.

| Friday, August 1st, 2014

Snatching a larger slice: Persona pizzeria plots nationwide expansion

Restaurants, Small Business, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy

Santa Barbara-based Persona Neapolitan Pizza is embarking on a nationwide expansion as competition heats up in the fast-casual, wood-fired pizza market.

| Friday, July 11th, 2014

A labor of leather: Craftsman adds artisan touch to family trade

Small Business, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy

With the warm, heavy smell of leather in the air, Steven Soria sits in his single-room shop in downtown Santa Barbara amid work tables crowded with metal machinery and tools.

| Friday, July 4th, 2014

American Dream, millennial edition: Young restaurateurs in Isla Vista

Restaurants, Small Business, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy

Daniel Dunietz and Sean Evans, both in their 20s, enjoy a friendly rivalry as neighboring small-business owners in the student-dominated community of Isla Vista, next to UC Santa Barbara.

| Friday, July 4th, 2014

Tech-savvy Ventura County grower re-engineers approach to raspberries

Agribusiness, Small Business, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy, West Ventura County

Jurgen Gramckow is one of a few Ventura County raspberry growers who are making the crop one of the county’s highest-grossing agricultural products.

| Friday, June 20th, 2014

Visitors pour in to Tri-Counties for wine tourism

Top Stories, Tourism, Wine & Viticulture

Tourism visitor spending in the coastal region that includes the Tri-Counties jumped from $6.7 billion to $7 billion between 2012 and 2013 as part of a 23 percent increase since 2009 that is expected to continue this summer.