Business

Co-owners of Barfly Ventures Mark and Michele Sellers wanted to thank their employees for working their tails off during ArtPrize. So they designated Tuesday as employee appreciation day; whatever alcohol they sold would be split among the employees.

But before they opened, Mark Sellers got a call from the liquor control commission. Turns out, the state doesn’t like servers having an incentive to sell lots of alcohol, and it’s against the law.

“I can’t really be too mad at them because they gave us a courtesy call in advance and told us ‘hey don’t’ do this or you’re going to get in trouble’. It’d be like if a police officer called you and told you to slow down or he’s going to give you a ticket,” Mark Sellers said.

So instead of alcohol sales the Sellers’ will give their employees the food sales, not for just one day but three. They’ll pool the money from food sales at all three Grand Rapids establishments (HopCat, McFadden’s, and Stella’s Lounge) and split the total among all employees; cooks, servers, busboys, managers, and even HopCat’s official “chief beer geek” I met a couple weeks ago.

An Ann Arbor pickling business hopes "crowd funding" will pay for a lot of sauerkraut – 12 thousand pounds to be exact. 

DETROIT (AP) - Examining the history of labor in Michigan and beyond is a goal of a three-day conference being held in Detroit.

The North American Labor History Conference kicks off Thursday at the Wayne State University Law School. The conference aims to explore a range of themes under the topic of "insurgency and resistance."

The conference also coincides with the 100th anniversary of Michigan Workers' Compensation Act and a daylong symposium discussing its past, present and future is planned for Friday.

Speakers and presenters include Lt. Gov. Brian Calley and Workers' Compensation Agency Director Kevin Elsenheimer, as well as business and academic leaders.

The event is free and open to the public.

Michigan’s home foreclosure rate could soon reach a milestone.

A few years ago the state's foreclosure rate was near the top of the fifty state list.

But Daren Bloomquist with Realty Trac says the latest data shows Michigan is poised to drop out of the top ten, possibly by the end of the year.

"It’s still in that top ten…but it’s moving down," says Bloomquist,  "(Michigan) had often been showing up in the top five over the last few years….now it’s moved down to number nine in September.”

There is an explosion of locally made jams, sausages, salsas and granolas filling the shelves of grocery stores and farmers’ markets. People like Frank Gublo, an Innovation Counselor at the Michigan State University Product Center, are largely responsible for local food’s prevalence.

The local food movement is not a new thing for Michigan State University's Dairy Store.

It has been selling local dairy products such as cheese and ice cream since 1913. The milk is bought from Michigan Milk Producers, less than 30 miles away.

It's then taken to MSU where it is processed and distributed. A lot of the ice cream flavors have MSU or Big Ten themes.

Stateside's Emily Fox, visited the store and chatted with customers, workers and manager, John Engstrom.

You can listen to the audio postcard above.