Early Birds: Mark Arnold brought the meeting to order with a ring of the bell and a moment of silence.
Guests: Neil Roers brought his brother, Kent Roers. Kent ignored his brother and sat with his former teammate, Matt Crane. Tom Donnelly was brought by his daughter Kathy.
Honorary Members: Dick Nelson, Mark Simon, Tom Donnelly, and Russ Bremner were in attendance.
Announcements:
- There are still a few craft talk slots left for 2019. Contact Craig Blixrud
with input.
Business Networking: None today
Business Exchange: Jim Christianson started us off and was followed by Susanne Bonfe, Dwain Coleman, and Mark Arnold.
Business Updates:
- Fall Fashion show is coming up September 19&20 at Continental Diamond.
- September 22nd from 11-5 is a Nicollet Ave street event right outside Houselift’s front door. It runs from Lake Street South to 46th .
- Jim Erickson invited members to a private open house for Circle Rock Clothing in Linden Hills next Tuesday, September 17 from 5-7 PM.
Table Introductions: There were no table intros today.
Pot of Gold: Susanne Rosen drew for Martin Peyer and John Winston’s strategy
for winning paid off.
Craft Talk:
Mark Arnold introduced today’s craft speaker, Umut Ulas Kaplan, his mother, and Lizabeth Post of coccinella, a Mediterranean Heritage retailer in the 50 th and France area.
Umut, an electrical engineering student at the U of M, and his family of Turkish immigrants started coccinella to sell Olive oil produced in Turkey and imported to the US.
They are a vertically integrated supplier of organic extra virgin olive oil and Umut gave us an overview of the process from harvesting the olives to having a bottle in their store for sale. He also talked about the health benefits of olive oil and how to maximize the benefits, you should not only cook with olive oil, but more importantly drizzle it on your food for flavor or use it to dip your artisan bread in it. He brought samples to try of two varieties of oil.
They also sell luxurious Turkish textiles in their store and we should all stop by for an authentic Turkish coffee when in the store.
Why are Umut and his brother both studying engineering in Minnesota? Their family hopes to expand a renewal energy business they have in Turkey into the United States in the near future.
Register for the Pot of Gold with Mark Arnold at 651-295-7619 or email at Mark@continentaldiamond.com
Looking ahead
September 18 is Midwest One at ECC
September 25 is LVC Companies at ECC
October 2 is a United Way Update at ECC hosted by Tony Rubin