Business Briefs: Flying Squirrel Tartare among best sandwiches

Unum, Mohawk among top 500 Green businesses

Chattanooga’s biggest publicly traded companies – disability insurer Unum Group and floorcovering maker Mohawk Industries – were both included in Newsweek magazine’s annual assessment of the 500 greenest companies in the United States.

Unum ranked 140th and Mohawk placed 256th. Other companies with major local operations on the list include AT&T, ranked 127th; Whirlpool, ranked 204th; Dupont, ranked 221; SunTrust Banks, ranked 454th; and Regions Financial Corp., ranked 465th.

Mohawk, which as been on the Newsweek list for seven consecutive years, was the only flooring manufacturer to earn a position on the list that measures the environmental performance of large publicly-traded companies.

Unum communications manager MC Guenther said among the company’s 17 buildings, six are Energy Star certified, one is a LEED Gold building and one is a LEED Gold parking garage.

“Since 2010, we’ve recorded a 9 percent reduction in energy consumption, 17 percent reduction in water consumption, and 6 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.

Mohawk Industries’ Chief Sustainability Officer Dave Patton said the carpet maker “believes in growing our business responsibly, and a philosophy of sustainability” by cutting waste, lowering water consumption and improving energy efficiency.

Flying Squirrel Tartare among best sandwiches

The Tartare sandwich served at the Flying Squirrel Bar on the Southside is among the best beef sandwiches in the country, according to Restaurant Hospitality magazine.

In the magazine’s 2016 “Best Sandwich” contest, the Flying Squirrel’s offering was picked for one of five honorable mention among a record number of entries from restaurants across the country in the sandwich category.

The best sandwich was judged to be Gregger’s served at Olive & Finch restaurant in Denver.

Six airlines to start flights to Cuba again

HAVANA – Six airlines won permission Friday to resume scheduled commercial air service from the U.S. to Cuba for the first time in more than five decades.

The airlines – American, Frontier, JetBlue, Silver Airways, Southwest and Sun Country – were approved by the Department of Transportation for a total of 155 round-trip flights per week.

U.S. law still prohibits tourist travel to Cuba, but a dozen other categories of travel are permitted. Most of the airline service is expected to begin this fall and early winter.

Aerospace firm tests solar-powered aircraft

CALVERTON, N.Y. – A test pilot successfully flew a solar-powered prototype aircraft on Friday for a company that envisions manufacturing a fleet of drones to provide aerial internet service for an estimated 4 billion people worldwide.

The test flight by Luminati Aerospace LLC took place at a former Northrop Grumman defense plant on eastern Long Island that once made military aircraft. The prototype aircraft allows for a pilot to control it, but eventually Luminati will build unmanned drones that can fly at 60,000 feet or more.

Auction of Buffett meal draws record high bids

Billionaire Warren Buffett has raised more than $20 million for a San Francisco homeless charity since 2000, and he’s about to add to that total by auctioning off a private lunch.

The weeklong eBay auction that began Sunday will wrap up Friday night. Friday afternoon, the bidding had already reached more than $2.6 million, nearly $300,000 higher than last year’s winning bid.

The lunch auctions began after Buffett’s first wife, Susie, showed him the Glide Foundation, where she had been volunteering. Susie Buffett died in 2004, but the connection between Warren Buffett and Glide’s founders has endured.