Page 33 - Flathead Beacon // 5.18.16

“BEER’S PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD FOR THE MOST PART. KOMBUCHA JUST INTRIGUED ME. IT’S HEALTHY, AND I CAN MAKE IT AND DRINK IT AND FEEL GOOD.”
TRANSACTIONS
WEEKLY BUSINESS BRIEFING
OSO’S BBQ NOW OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK
Oso’s Smokin’ BBQ, located at the Historic Tamarack Lodge in Hungry Horse, is now open seven days a week, including breakfast and dinner.
The restaurant serves
barbecue dishes made
with smoked meats,
including the popular
applewood-smoked prime rib, as well as authentic Mexican dishes from owner and chef Erico Romero’s family’s recipes.
Guests have taken to calling the food “Montana Mexican” because of the smoked meats added to the recipes to give them a new twist.
Romero said the restaurant opened up its location in Hungry Horse a couple summers ago, with last year serving as the rst year it was open all summer. This summer is another step toward establishing itself.
“We’re slowly but surely evolving into a year-round restaurant,” Romero said.
For more information on Oso’s, including reservations and take-out, visit www.osocatering.com or call 406-260-0704.
Opening, moving or expanding a business in Northwest Montana? If you would like to be featured in “Transactions,” please email information to news@ atheadbeacon.com
- AARON ROBERTS
their own containers – preferably glass – to ll. There are also cups available.
Alcott, who largely runs the business side of the company while Roberts is the brewer, said Canvas will be adding another ll station, this one in the Mon- tana Co ee Traders downtown White- sh location, by Memorial Weekend.
The idea is to get their brews into enough places that they gain enough notoriety to be able to expand their endeavors to other small towns like White sh, she said, rather than major city markets.
“Those places just feel good,” Alcott said of small towns.
Along with the community appeal, Canvas also plans on collaborating with local artists, to show their work in a stu- dio within the tasting room so the art- ists can avoid costly gallery fees.
Art comes in all di erent forms, Alcott said, including liquid.
“With [Roberts’] kombucha, it’s not just a health tonic, but more of a work of art,” she said.
With the help of brewing assistant Shannon Rubow, Roberts has created
several unique and inspired avors for the brew, such as grape with thyme or watermelon.
The kombucha brewed with hops tastes like a strong IPA, Roberts said, but without the alcohol. Rubow in par- ticular is looking into creating an alco- holic kombucha, but that is still in the very beginning stages, Roberts said.
The company intends to add more lling stations as it grows, and may begin bottling its brews for sale as well. Alcott said they are willing to work with most anyone who requests a tap, from yoga studios to restaurants.
Eventually, the company would like to relocate to one of the cities in the county. Until then, Canvas Kombucha will try to continue growing organically, brewing drinks that have made unbe- lievers into fans, Alcott said.
“People would say, ‘I don’t drink (kombucha), but yours is good,’” Alcott said.
For more information on Canvas Kom- bucha Brewing Co., call 406-212-6910 or visit the company’s Facebook page.
mpriddy@ atheadbeacon.com
BUSINESS IS PERSONAL MARK RIFFEY
CHRISTIANS, LIONS AND WIVES OF NEW JERSEY
DURING THE RUN-UP TO THE fall of Rome, entertainment in that civilization became more violent and what many people these days would probably call immoral.
If you look back to Rome, you might not see the parallel to today but I’m sure you’re familiar with the words “Those who forget/ignore history are doomed to repeat it.”
As Roman civilization ourished, they valued education, representative govern- ment as they knew it, the works of schol- ars of the time and times before theirs, infrastructure, design, innovation and more. Sound familiar?
But something changed. At some point, the Romans became complacent. Over-con dent. In today’s lingo, we might look at their later years and char- acterize them as “fat and happy.”
When you read back over what Romans wasted their energy on as their civiliza- tion crumbled, you might describe it with words like class warfare, cultural di er- ences and entertainment.
In Roman times, you became the entertainment by being di erent from the mainstream Roman populace. It didn’t matter whether it was religion,
social standing, nancial standing or whatever. If you quali ed, you were a nor- mal day’s entertainment.
By entertainment, I mean the target of the carnage that took place in the Coli- seum and elsewhere.
Something turned them from improv- ing themselves and their society to con- suming the equivalent of today’s reality TV. The relationships and trust they built as a society and used to build Rome were consumed with drama, suspicion and conspiracy.
Fast-forward 600 to 800 years (or more, depending on your view of his- tory). What’s di erent today aside from the delivery mechanism? Today’s enter- tainment is a at panel TV playing the “Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter,
“the (Real Housewives) reunion was up 33 percent in 18-49 and 28 percent in total viewers compared with the prior year’s season ender. The ratings performance boosted the season 9 percent in viewer- ship and 3 percent in the key demo com- pared to the second season. Bravo also touts that the New Jersey subsite lured 3.7 million page views and roughly 430,000 streams, 14 percent and 23 percent jumps
respectively the day following the previous week’s episode.”
That’s 3.4 million Americans sitting in the equivalent of the Coliseum, watching allegedly adult women in cocktail dresses take on the roles of Christian and lion.
3.4 million Americans and (as noted above) millions of internet users reward- ing Bravo for creating this sputum.
How Are You Spending Work Time?
That Hollywood Report quote about viewership numbers was from FIVE years ago. What’s changed since then? Perhaps the names of the shows or the cast, but not the gist of what they deliver.
What are you spending your time on? What are you doing to help you, just you, stay on task and on target? If you look back at last week and are completely hon- est with yourself about what got done and what didn’t get done, what was the cause for things that didn’t get done?
What have you done to prevent that from happening again this week? Per- haps nothing, but now I hope you’re thinking about it, so I’ll ask in a di erent tense: What can do you to prevent that from happening again this week?
What can keep you on task? What can
protect you and your time from inane distractions? What can be delegated, deferred or ignored, even for a day?
It isn’t solely you who has this chal- lenge. What are you doing to help your team stay on task and on target? What can protect their time? What can they delegate, defer or ignore for a day? Assum- ing you are their direct manager, what are you doing to protect their time and allow them to focus on the one thing you really need them to get done this week?
How are you setting an example for your team in these areas? How are you reporting your ndings on what makes you more e ective, less frustrated, less distracted, more focused? What are you placing in front of them, ready for them take a swing at?
How are you spending your downtime? You may not have any in uence over your team’s downtime, but you can still set an example.
Jim Rohn said (paraphrased) “You become the average of the ve people you spend the most time with.” Who are your ve people? Are the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” on the list?
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? Email him at mri ey@ atheadbeacon.com.
MAY 18, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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