Columbus, Ohio: A growing mecca for small business

Story excerpt provided by CNBC.

Written by Kate Rogers.

In a prior life, Joe DeLoss worked as a banking analyst, but today, his day job couldn’t be more different. DeLoss owns the wildly popular Hot Chicken Takeover in Columbus, Ohio, serving up Nashville Hot Chicken, a spicy style of fried chicken.

But it’s not the leap from banking to fast food that makes his story so interesting. It’s the fact that his two-year-old restaurant is staffed by a nearly 50-person workforce that has largely experienced incarceration. Some employees have criminal arrest records, while others have served time for everything from misdemeanors to felonies. DeLoss admits they might be overlooked by other employers, but he’s a firm believer in second chances. Make no mistake, though; it’s no charity…

…Tanisha Robinson is building on that legacy with her start-up, Print Syndicate. The army veteran and serial entrepreneur caters to what used to be considered “counterculture tribes” — i.e. cat ladies, video gamers and knitting enthusiasts — with a line of quirky T-shirts, posters and home goods featuring offbeat memes and quotes. In 2012 she launched the company, and realized her intended audience was quickly becoming mainstream when she sold $4 million in product her first year…

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Originally published August 30, 2016.