- By Eric C Lindstrom
- Business & Technology
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Gimme! Coffee, an Ithaca, NY-based coffee roaster/retailer, is launching a new look for the company’s retail coffee bags. Over a year of focused research, design, and customer feedback has been considered in the design of the new sustainable packaging. The new bags are initially scheduled to hit the shelves mid-October with a complete rollout expected by November 1, 2013.Working closely with TekPak Solutions in Toronto, an innovator in compostable and biodegradable packaging materials, the new bags are now made of a more sustainable, omni-degradable, Kraft paper material. Unlike the old mylar bags, after the tin ties and one-way valves are removed, the material biodegrades or composts in the presence of active microbes in water, soil, or landfills.
Tompkins County Area Development announced it has hired Phu-Christine Lam, who will join the TCAD team as the Assistant Director of Economic Development Services. Within this role, Christine will be overseeing communication and media relations, business services administration and grant administration. She will work in a collaborative environment with other economic development professionals to meet the needs of businesses and entrepreneurs in Tompkins County.
On October 3, City of Ithaca Mayor Svante L. Myrick and the staff of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance held ribbon cutting ceremonies for three new businesses in downtown Ithaca.
Gimme! Coffee announced this month that Julia Dillard has joined the specialty coffee company as Director of Wholesale Operations. In her role, Dillard will design and maximize efficiencies in business process to enhance client fulfillment for a full-range of Gimme! Coffee wholesale clients.
This year marks a special anniversary for one of downtown Ithaca's most beloved and renowned institutions: Moosewood Restaurant. Forty years ago, Moosewood opened in the ground floor of the Dewitt Mall as a small, collectively-owned vegetarian eatery when meatless cuisine was considered a fringe novelty. Today, Moosewood is a driving force in the world of creative natural-foods cooking with thirteen internationally-acclaimed cookbooks and a place on Bon Appétìt Magazine's list of the "thirteen most influential restaurants of the 20th century." Downtown Ithaca, and specifically the Dewitt Mall, remains Moosewood's one and only home.
"We are moving ahead. We like Ithaca. We like downtown. We simply need to re-sequence how this project proceeds". That is the message that was issued to community leaders yesterday by David Hart, President of Hart Hotels and developer for the proposed Holiday Inn expansion project.
A city recognized as one of the 'foodiest' in the nation now has a website to showcase it’s foodie-fame, and a whole new plan to promote culinary tourism.
Alternatives Federal Credit Union's Chief Operating Officer, Leni Hochman, was awarded the "Friend of Labor” Award at the 30th Annual Labor Day picnic at Stewart Park, sponsored by Midstate Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and the Tompkins County Workers Center.
Adil Griguihi, co owner of Casablanca Pizzeria and Mediterranean Restaurant in the Ithaca Commons, recently signed a 3 year contract with TCAT to sublease 450 square feet of the 1,400 square foot station to open what he plans to call “Ithaca Coffee Shop.” 
Wednesday Apple released the long awaited iOS 7. iOS 7 is the new operating system for compatible iPhones, iPads and iPods. iPhone operating systems are typically released a few days before Apple begins shipping new versions of the iPhone, and this one is no exception. iPhone 5S and 5c are available in Apple stores as of 8am today, so the new iOS was released Wednesday. 
As we head into the fall season here in the Finger Lakes region, the selection of beer changes just as the leaves on the trees do. For beer drinkers, the fall season is often synonymous with Oktoberfests and pumpkin ales, however it is also a time to celebrate some other fantastic beers that are the result of the bountiful hop harvest – namely fresh hopped beers.
It was a Sunday and I was driving home from southern Virginia. I have a bad back and it was a bad back day that Sunday, so I relied on cruise control so that I could move my legs around to relieve the pain. The problem was that Subarus inexplicably disable cruise control when the check engine light is on. Mine was on because I had lost my gas cap. Even though I had replaced it, the light remained on -- all day! It wasn't until I got to Horseheads that the bloody thing finally reset and by then the pain was excruciating.