By Tom York
Ladies and Gentlemen, we could soon have a winner! Walmart has selected Katherine Harvey, co-founder of San Diego-based broth maker Bare Bones, to participate in its upcoming Open Call competition. Walmart says it has notified 850 applicants, including 136 from California, that they will pitch their locally made products to Walmart and Sam’s Club.
Harvey and her co-founder, husband Ryan Harvey, were pulled from 4,800 applicants nationwide. According to a news release, Ryan started making his own bone broth as a side hustle. Katherine soon left her career as a journalist to help build the business. The two say they want to “introduce a bone broth with more minerals and vitamins that elevate cooking.” Katherine added, “Everyone should have access to quality products like these, so we’re excited to share it with a wider audience.”
Walmart says it launched the 7-year-old open call competition to help boost job creation and U.S. manufacturing by buying $250 billion in products by 2023.
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Orangemonkie, based in San Diego and South Korea, is at it again. The specialty product maker is going to launch its next Kickstarter campaign within a month. This time it will be for the latest version of its Foldio product, a portable mini studio lightbox. The device is used by those who want to photograph small products that they want to sell online or catalog. It eliminates the need for an elaborate studio setup. The new offering is a greatly updated version of previous models, according to the firm’s Korean-based General Manager David Kim. He said the business has been quite successful on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, raising around $2.5M for a number of products in the Foldio series. Kim said they have a promotional video on YouTube for those interested in participating in the fundraiser. The product will ship three to four months after the necessary funds are raised.
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Americans are traveling substantially less in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, long-distance road trips ranging in length from 100 to 500 miles during the first two weeks of August have increased drastically, according to SEO management and analytics company seoClarity, which has issued a report on changing travel patterns. In California, travel dropped 50% over the past year compared to this year’s two-week period. But long-distance road trips jumped 53%. Researchers also found that San Diegans increased their long-distance driving 86% … quite amazing when considering that we reduced total road travel 50%. Among big city metro areas surveyed in the report, San Diego ranked No. 9 in the number of long-distance journeys in the first two weeks of August. The report analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics to come up with its findings.
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Oct. 16 is the deadline to apply for a spot in the next class offered by nonprofit incubator EvoNexus. This group will focus on 5G wireless technology. The incubator is looking for startups that can leverage 5G’s characteristics, developing 5G enabling technologies or have products that could unlock significant value for the 5G ecosystem. EvoNexus has launched around 230 technology startups, with a survival rate of over 85% since 2010. Its funding arm, EvoNexus Ventures, has secured over $2B in venture funding with 28 acquisitions. Our home-based wireless technology giant Qualcomm is a major collaborator with the incubator.
The local office of Cushman & Wakefield says it has been hired to sell San Diego’s largest industrial building, which boasts more than 600,000 square feet. That is about 15% less than the size of San Francisco’s famed Transamerica pyramid office building. The 17-year-old Class A structure is located at 2020 Piper Ranch Road in the Otay Mesa submarket. Cushman executive Bryce Aberg noted in a prepared released that its rare for a commercial structure to come on the market in this area near the border with Mexico given the competition for space. “San Diego is one of the most difficult markets in Southern California to acquire or develop new buildings as the area is essentially built out and land costs are high,” he said. “The lack of available large parcels for new development poses a significant barrier to entry, which is a benefit to San Diego landlords.” The property is fully leased.
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Mendocino Farms, which offers a fast-casual food destination for the hungry, has opened an outlet at Westfield Mission Valley. To celebrate its arrival, the eatery is partnering with the San Diego Food Bank to donate a percentage of sales sold this upcoming opening weekend Sept. 26-27. And as part of Westfield Mission Valley’s push to assist in the COVID-19 pandemic, Mendocino Farms has donated 400 meals to UCSD Health, Sharp Memorial Hospital, Scripps Mercy Hospital and Kaiser Permanente’s Zion Medical Center.
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Edible San Diego announces the launch of EdibleSD@Home, a series of virtual cooking classes led by high-profile local chefs. Attendees will learn seasonal cooking hacks and prepare recipes alongside local chefs in an hour-long video class. Michelle Stansbury, producer of the series, says the first installment in the series, titled “Autumn Cooking,” taught by Kevin Templeton, will be held 6 p.m. Sept. 29.
Finally…San Marcos-based North County Health Services has updated its name to TrueCare. The five-decade old nonprofit provider has 12 locations in San Diego and Riverside Counties, and offers health care services ranging from primary care, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral health, chiropractic and dentistry. The agency says it will continue to focus on helping lower-to-middle income families and seniors who are looking for a cost effective, patient-centered, culturally sensitive personal relationship with their provider.
Tom York is a Carlsbad-based independent journalist who specializes in writing about business and the economy. If you have news tips you’d like to share, send them to tom.york@gmail.com.