Briefing for Monday August 10: Startup funding to bacon donuts

Hello Monday.

Now I get to eat dinner exactly how I’ve always wanted to – at 5:25pm and as fast as possible. Having a baby totally changes the dinner dynamics. We went to Paco’s Tacos on Friday night and crushed a margarita pitcher and steak fajitas within 19 minutes of sitting down – all while in the company of other young families with screaming kids. I felt at home. Anyways.

VITALS

Today’s Weather: 89. Scatter t-storms. 60% chance of rain. 
Today’s Stat: 18. Number of Charlotte breweries (15 more breweries are currently being planned). Wow. [Purvis/Observer – insightful read]
Today’s Job: Digital Marketing Manager at Husqvarna. Apply.
Today’s Charlottean: Amish Shah, co-founder and managing partner ofSierraMaya360, for investing up to $6 million in local startups BrewPublik (beer delivery) and Industry (coworking). [Burns/CBJ]

ORIGINALS

BrewPublik: A real-life Charlotte startup story<br/>I respect BrewPublik’s co-founder Charlie for his passion, drive and leadership. BrewPublik (craft beer, handpicked for you and delivered to your door) just raised VC money and I reached out to Charlie to see if he would write a first-person account of what it’s been like. Read it.

Top 5 donuts in Charlotte, ranked
These donut photos have me wondering why I just ate an English muffin. Interesting to see Krispy Kreme at #5 and Your Mom’s Donuts coming in at only #4. Did Joshua get it right? Take the poll. View 11 donut photos.

What do Google users want to know about Charlotte?
We explore and analyze the Google autocomplete function. Love it. Where in Charlotte…? Why is Charlotte…? Why isn’t Charlotte…? Charlotte has… Charlotte needs… Charlotte is… When is Charlotte…?

The B Tower: Changing everything you know about 5th Street
A remarkable building is coming. A rooftop bar is being added on top of Connolly’s and the Connolly’s patio is going away (RIP). Jason walks you through 15 renderings of the new structure. Bianco (developer) is targeting late 2016 for the entire project to be completed.

#VoteLocalCLT: Two races to watch in Charlotte’s September primary election
Amy walks us through the Democratic Mayoral Primary and the Democratic District 3 Primary (LaWana Mayfield vs Warren Turner). September 15th. In regards to the Mayoral Primary, most of the attention will be focused on the top four candidates: Dan Clodfelter, Michael Barnes, Jennifer Roberts, and David Howard.

We can crack the code in Charlotte
David Jessup: “Only 71 of our 2,600+ public and charter schools statewide are teaching computer science when it’s been predicted that there will be over one million unfilled jobs in the field by 2020, this is startling.” Get behind the movement.

How I Work: Hyong Yi, Assistant City Manager of Charlotte
I grabbed breakfast with Hyong at Toast and absolutely fell in love with this guy. He has 2 phones, listens to electronic dance music on the way to work, uses a four page word doc for his to-do list and recently read Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari. See how Hyong works. 

JLC Wearhouse transitions to a new season by opening the store to free shopping for charities
Saturday afternoon, JLC Wearhouse, a retail nonprofit thrift store operated by Junior League of Charlotte, closed its doors to the public to allow local charities to “shop” the floor free of charge. Love the before and after photos. 

TALKING POINTS

OMB’s Copper is now the best-selling packaged craft beer in Charlotte [IRI Wordwide Report]. Copper beat the big boys – Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium. OMB Copper six-packs just barely edged Samuel Adams Seasonal 12-pack by $13,000 over the past 26 weeks. Congrats, OMB!

CLTCH is now open in Plaza Midwood [Levans/Agenda]. Store is filled with men’s and women’s jewelry, bags, books, accessories and other “collectible objects of desire” and also serves as a gallery for displaying and selling pieces from local and national artists.

Rob Nixon (owner of Jackalope Jacks, Peculiar Rabbit, Rabbit Hole and now Hare of the Dog) wrote an odd Facebook post on brewery competition and invites local brewery owners to parter with him at his restaurants/bars [Nixon/Facebook]. Kind of a mix between angry and open. You judge.

My journalist man-crush Spanberg breaks down the chances of Charlotte getting an MLS team [Spanberg/CBJ]. We need: $70 million (get some more investors, Jim McPhilliamy!), 19,000ish-seat stadium and MLS approval. Looks like Miami and Minneapolis are already in line. Charlotte has a sneaky amount of soccer freaks. We need this.

Have a delightful Monday and I love that in one weekend you can see everything from Segway tours at Romare Bearden Park to random musical meetups on the streets of Plaza Midwood.