Cedar City Business Openings and Closings

Das Nest—Located next to the Knight’s Inn on South Main Street, this new restaurant is bringing international cuisine to Cedar City each week. Das Nest is open every Friday and Saturday night with a limited menu featuring international dishes from a pre-selected country.

Iron County Courthouse—The Iron County Courthouse has re-opened in Parowan after being closed for more than a year for renovations. The $2.5 million project focused on fixing the outdated plumbing and electrical systems of the 42-year-old building.

Courtyard Marriott—Cedar City’s newest hotel is officially open. The 100-room hotel features a meeting and banquet hall in addition to four separate spaces for break-out sessions.

Porkbelly’s Express and Purple Oasis Acai Bowls & Smoothies—Two Cedar City staples have now found a home at Southern Utah University. Following the lead of Fat Zeus, Purple Oasis Acai Bowls & Smoothies has now transformed from a food truck to a storefront in the Sharwan Smith Student Center. Purple Oasis offers a menu of healthy food and smoothies, including the trendy acai bowl.

Nature’s Grocer—Nature’s Grocer quietly opened on south Main Street at the end of 2017 near Retro Fitness and the IFA. The health food store carries a variety of nutrition products, herbs, supplements and bulk foods.

Tagg N Go Express Car Wash—A Tagg N Go Express Car Wash is under construction on South Main Street near Ross. Construction is expected to be completed by June or July. Walmart—Walmart is about to undergo a major renovation starting in mid-February. According to a representative for the international chain superstore, the upgrades will include new paint and flooring.

Main Street Grill—The downtown breakfast and lunch spot shuttered early this year. The exact reason behind the closing of Main Street Grill is unknown, but it looks like the coveted space is already undergoing a makeover.

Funky Monkey Arcade—After multiple ownership changes since opening in 2016, Funky Monkey Arcade on south Main Street has officially shut its doors. The Spectrum

Utah Employers, Employment and Wages by Size, 2013

The Utah Department of Workforce Services compiles quarterly employment and wage data for non-agricultural employers in Utah. Data is maintained at the establishment level (e.g., store, plant, or other type of permanent worksite facility). Since these establishments are assigned an industry and county code, their employment and wage data can be aggregated into common industry and county groupings for analysis purposes.

Employment and wage data for Utah’s non-agricultural employers are categorized in this publication by employment size for the month of March in each of the designated years. Grouping data by this criterion provides a useful tool to analyze the characteristics of Utah employers. For example, general trends of the size of Utah employers and employment concentrations by employer size class can be observed. Wage levels for large, medium, and small firms can also be evaluated.

In this publication, data is presented for both establishments and firms. The term "establishment" is generally defined as a specific physical worksite for an employer. For most employers, this is the actual street location at which business is conducted. For others, with no permanent worksite (such as salespeople, factory representatives, or distributors) it is the location from which they conduct their business (sometimes even residences).

For an overview of this publication and a look at your county, click here.

Mining Market Place open for business

For a time, many of the spaces at Walton Plaza sat vacant. Only Allied Fence of Southern Utah and the Leeds Post Office drew customers to the commercial area. Then last year, Leeds residents Carol Maley and Mark Osmer purchased the plaza, renamed it the Mining Market Place and began plans for a revitalization. Those plans included opening the Silver Reef Café.

Other businesses soon followed and now seven of them fill the building. Their plans for the commercial area center around Maley’s interest in the Wild West. They plan on bringing in some old barn wood to give the marketplace a facelift. The goal is to make it look like a Western-style town that would appeal to tourists. Other businesses located in the Mining Market Place include Bobbie’s Barber ‘n’ Beauty Salon, Realty Absolute and Seams R Us Sewing Lounge. The Spectrum

Convergys filling 100 jobs in Utah

Convergys Corp. is seeking to fill more than 100 sales and customer service positions at its contact center in Cedar City, Utah.

The workers will be brought in over the next three months, according to a Convergys (NYSE: CVG) press release.

“We are reaching out into our community to fill these openings, because these are not only terrific positions, they are also great stepping stones to a career in operations, recruitment or training,” Shelly Porter, site leader for the Convergys contact center in Cedar City, said in the release.
Convergys has operated in Cedar City for 25 years. Business Courier

What’s Up Down South? Washington County’s Economic Summit

The 2013 Washington County Economic Summit is set for Jan. 16 at the Dixie Center St. George, featuring an extensive line-up of the leading businesses and entrepreneurs in Southern Utah.

After too many years of trying to climb out of recession, the Washington County economy, as measured by employment rates and economic activity, is definitely tracking strong gains. The summit will reflect this positive outlook, featuring projects up to 18 months in the future.

“Our speakers will show how the economic landscape in Southern Utah is changing in a very positive direction,” Economic Development Director Scott Hirschi said.

In addition to the ballroom breakfast and lunch sessions, the summit will also feature 11 breakout sessions designed to help participants make critical decisions in the coming year.

Interspersed throughout the day’s activities, summit participants are invited to become better acquainted with some of Washington County’s companies at the business showcase. The Garden Room showcase will feature customer service and technology companies, as well as introducing start-up firms in the Dixie Business Resource Center incubator.

Event details and contact information:

Date: Jan. 16
Time: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Location: Dixie Center St. George
Admission: $85 preregistration (until Jan. 11,) $100 regular registration
Contact: Jill Elliss at 435-652-7751 or jelliss@dixie.edu

St. George News

Utah chocolate makers merge

Two Utah chocolate makers — Utah Truffles of Salt Lake City and Amber Lyn Chocolates of St. George — have merged their operations.

The combined business, which will operate under The Cacao Group name, will be based in the Salt Lake International Center on Amelia Earhart Drive. The merger is expected to generate revenue of more than $4 million a year, according to the company’s management team.

The Cacao Group’s management team, which consists of Slaughter, Purles and Jake Cavanaugh, said the merger creates synergies that will be realized by combining manufacturing, accounting, sales and marketing functions.

They said the company has just finalized an agreement with Cold Stone to manufacture and market chocolates nationwide under the Cold Stone brand. Salt Lake Tribune