Bits of Business | Butterfly sellers hope business soars
Rose Franklin and her husband, Andrew Smith, want to make a special moment unique.
Sure, you could have balloons and confetti at a party, but butterflies can add touch of elegance and mystique to the celebration.
The couple recently announced they would raise butterflies for releases at weddings, graduations and any occasion you can think of. They’ve run Rose Franklin’s Perennials since 1991 and raised butterflies.
“We actually started to sell butterfly eggs and caterpillars about 6 years ago, and we sell them in the summer to citizens and homeowners,” Franklin said. “Once we get into August we sell them to schools for kids to watch them grow.”
They felt this was the right time to expand one part of their business and to slowly shrink another piece.
“What we hope in the next few years is to sell less plants, because they’re very time consuming,” Franklin said. “I also think we’d enjoy butterflies more than plants. We sell about 80 different plants, and we want to cut it back to where we offer butterfly bushes, milkweed, butterfly nectar and hummingbird nectar plants. We’d get rid of the other plants and put more efforts into raising butterflies for special occasions. We’d work our way into it, and bring ourselves down to about 40 plants.”
Adult butterflies will be available for limited periods of the year.
“It would be unethical to release when it’s colder,” Franklin said. “We’ll only sell them when they fly in Pennsylvania. “That’ll be from about June until October.”
The couple held an open house this weekend and will do so again at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday to show people their operation and to teach others about a butterfly’s life cycle. Customers can order plants and butterflies online at butterflybushes.com, but not on location. Their Spring Mills business is at 107 Butterfly Lane.
App launches
for healthy appetite
If you’ve ever wondered what happens behind the scenes at local eateries, there’s an app for that, too.
What The Health — Pennsylvania launched in June, and it deals out health scores from zero to 100 to each restaurant, bar and school. The scores are calculated based on the violations each place was cited for during inspections. Health inspection reports are also provided on the app from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Chris Peoples and Jake Van Dyke, of Augusta, Ga., came up with the idea for the app when the two wanted to find a place near home to eat. They launched What The Health — Georgia in September, realized its success and decided to expand to other states.
“It’s really a risk assessment app to decide if you want to eat there,” Peoples said. It gives an idea of what kind of violations they receive. Some violations are minor things like a broken tile or a bulb out. Some are more serious like outdated food, store raw meat on other food like lettuce on raw chicken. When they review the report they can see all of that.”
Minor offenses get a one point deduction from 100, and major offenses get a five point deduction from 100.
Scores update three times a week.
Indian motorcycles
selling in Centre Hall
Best Line Powersports added Indian Motorcycles to its lineup last week.
The Centre Hall business at 2031 General Potter Highway held a grand opening event to celebrate the occasion.
“It’s really an honor to represent Indian Motorcycles in central PA,” Best Line Equipment chief operating officer Michael Getz said in a press release. “This is an iconic brand with rich heritage. I am confident that (regional manager) Fred Yearick and all the employees that have worked so hard at the location will preserve the history of Indian Motorcycles.”
Best Line Equipment owns Best Line Powersports.
Indian Motorcycle was founded in 1901 by George Henry and Oscar Headstorm and rose in popularity with soldiers in World War I and World War II.
Law firm expands with elder care acquisition
Goodall & Yurchak, based in State College, announced its acquisition by Steinbacher & Stahl, a Williamsport elder care law firm. The firm will be called Steinbacher, Stahl, Goodall & Yurchak.
Amos Goodall and Kathleen Yurchak, as well as the State College office located on South Atherton Street, will continue to serve their current and future clients with no anticipated changes to their staff, office location or scope of legal services.
Goodall, in a press release, said the two firms are “similar in size and culture, combining practice strengths that are highly complementary.”
Both firms focus on estate planning, special needs planning and estate administration. Goodall & Yurchak offers personal injury, litigation, employment and labor law, bankruptcy and debt resolution services. Steinbacher & Stahl advocates planning before the point of need, in advance of a health care crisis and offers crisis nursing home planning, wealth protection and tax planning and business succession planning.
The combination of firms will result in a comprehensive range of legal services and resources available to current and future clients in State College and Williamsport.
Correction: The Bits of Business that ran July 5 said Goodall & Yurchak acquired Steinbacher & Stahl, which was incorrect. Steinbacher & Stahl purchased Goodall & Yurchak.
This story was originally published July 18, 2015 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Bits of Business | Butterfly sellers hope business soars."