March 28, 2024

Monday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 2/1/2021

Chamber panel: Florida should promote business climate as it does tourism

Florida allocates $50 million a year to support its private-public marketing agency, Visit Florida, garnering a $3.27 return on every $1 spent to promote the state’s $90 billion tourism industry. Although Republicans in the Florida Legislature routinely attempt to disband the agency, its return-on-investment is not lost on business leaders as a model to broadcast other aspects of the Sunshine State that merit promotion, such as its business friendly climate and growth. Florida businesses “would welcome strong and focused messaging,” Florida Power & Light Senior Director for Economic Development Crystal Stiles said during Thursday’s Florida Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 Economic Outlook & Jobs Solution Summit. More from the Center Square.

Gasoline prices in Florida drop slightly, a trend predicted to continue

Florida’s average gas prices dipped last week, a trend that experts say is likely to be enmeshed with crude oil market prices. The average cost per gallon at the pump in the Sunshine State last week was $2.38, a 2-cent decline from the week before when it topped highs set last year before the pandemic, according to the AAA-Auto Club South. January’s average price was almost 20 cents less than the previous year. More from the Tallahassee Democrat.

Homegrown Sarasota area tech firm acquired for $437 million

A Canadian company has acquired Star2Star, a cloud communications services and software firm founded in 2006 in a Sarasota garage and now based in south Manatee County, for $437 million. Markham, Ontario-based Sangoma Technologies Corp. acquired Star2Star, according to a statement. The deal, the release adds, consists of $105 million in cash and 110 million shares of Sangoma, traded on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada. More from the Business Observer.

Brevard teens get entrepreneurial during the pandemic

Many Brevard County teens started small businesses in 2020, a year marked by a significant financial downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to a September 2020 Yelp economic report, 7,100 small businesses permanently closed and 3,100 temporarily closed in Florida. Despite these figures, some teenagers found ways to turn hobbies and ideas into successful businesses in 2020 -- even amid major disruptions to their own lives as schools went virtual in the spring and typical teenage rites of passage such as prom and graduation were canceled or significantly altered More from Florida Today.

28 Tampa Bay nonprofits get $10,000 each from Super Bowl program

For some local nonprofits, a Super Bowl win came early. Twenty-eight of them have received $10,000 awards, each pledging to do work that will leave a mark on the community long after the big game is over. The funding comes courtesy of Forever 55, an initiative by the Tampa Bay Super Bowl LV Host Committee and the NFL. The money is being distributed in the form of microgrants, which are one-time awards designed to address a local problem, often involving underserved communities. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Development
Activists oppose turning ‘iconic’ Beach theater into housing

 It’s been two years since Miami Beach put the city-owned Byron Carlyle Theater on the market, seeking bids to redevelop the cultural landmark after it had fallen into disrepair. Ahead of a key vote this month, a group of concerned North Beach residents is urging the City Commission to reject a proposal to build rent-controlled apartments and a cultural center at the shuttered theater. Under that plan, the city would give away the 28,000-square-foot theater at no cost.

» More from the Miami Herald.

 

Business Profile
Buonafide Foods

floridaMichael Yourison, the founder and CEO of Buonafide Foods, is on a mission to bring alcohol-free Italian wine to U.S. consumers. And he's had success so far, launching Buonafide 0.0 Alcohol Free Italian Wines in Whole Foods and Total Wine stores in Florida. Now Yourison is determined to get the word out to more consumers and steadily expand distribution on a national scale. Sarasota-based Yourison has an extensive background in the food industry.

» Read more from the Business Observer.

Tags: Daily Pulse, Afternoon Pulse

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Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices

Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

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