Business Briefs: 6th area Firehouse Subs opens

6th area Firehouse Subs opens

A new Firehouse Subs opens in north Cleveland today.

The site, just off Interstate 75 near the Bradley Square Mall, is the sixth Firehouse Subs in the Chattanooga area.

"We already have a location on the south side (of Cleveland), and that has done well for us," said local franchise owner Tom Davidson. "We've had a lot of requests to come to the north side of Cleveland, so once this site became available we decided to take advantage of it."

Davidson said he expects to open five more restaurants by 2015, most likely in the Ooltewah, Hixson and Fort Oglethorpe areas. The average store costs between $250,000 and $300,000, he said.

Davidson said his stores try to raise money for local emergency responders. Since coming to the area in November 2005, he said he has donated nearly $100,000.

McDonald's opens after massive renovations

The Gunbarrel Road McDonald's fully opens today after a monthlong renovation of every part of the store.

The store's walls, floors, ceilings, roof, restrooms and kitchen were replaced. The drive-through was given a two-lane ordering system, helping smooth ordering during peak times.

"We pretty well did the whole restaurant," said store owner Art Holekamp. "This is the biggest overhaul that I've ever done in 30 years with McDonald's, besides just knocking one down and starting over."

Croslin keynoter at tech gabfest

David Croslin, chief executive of Innovate the Future, will be the keynote speaker at the fifth annual Technology Transfer Conference on April 19 at the Chattanooga Convention Center, according to the Enterprise Center.

Holder of 25 patents, he was chief technologist at Hewlett-Packard and chief product architect at Verizon/MCI.

The conference will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a venture forum from 2 to 5 p.m. Contact Christi Doll to register at doll_c@theenterprisrctr.org or call 423-425-3772.

City should brag, Texans declare

Chattanooga is one of a handful of cities cited by an online magazine as potentially becoming a new hip city and the next Austin, Texas.

Culturemap Austin cited Chattanooga's "green-like behavior" and its high-speed Internet service.

The magazine also mentioned Asheville, N.C., Burlington, Vt., and Detroit as "on the verge of hipsterfication."

Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Richmond, Va., were given as runnerups.

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