SC_TIMES_TRIB/TIMES_PAGES [H01] | 02/07/15 01:19 | SCHILLINGS

BUSINESSWEEKLYBUSINESSWEEKLYN O R T H E A S T P E N N S Y L V A N I A

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1.95

Losses deductedup to winnings

A story in last Sunday’sBusinessWeekly incorrect-ly stated how to calculatedeductions for gamblinglosses. Gambling lossesare not subject to the 2percent adjusted gross in-come limit. They can be de-ducted up to the amount ofgambling winnings.

CORRECTION

Local florists: Business is wilting

Local man brews interest in kombucha tea with Clarks Cultures

BY DENISE ALLABAUGHSTAFF WRITER

Wilkes-Barre florist AnnaWadas describes the flowerbusiness in recent years inone word: “horrible.”

Ms. Wadas, owner of A&MFloral in Best Western Gen-etti Hotel and ConferenceCenter, has watched her busi-ness decline about 50 percentover the last three years.

She is not expecting boom-ing Valentine’s Day sales.Since the holiday falls on aSaturday this year, she

expects many couples willchoose to go to dinner and amovie. Men like to send flow-ers to women while they areat work and some will chooseto buy a rose at a conve-nience store, she said.

During other holidays, shesaid florists have been strug-

gling to compete with plantstands as well as grocerystores and big discountstores like Wal-Mart andKmart.

Ms. Wadas, who hasworked in the floral businesssince high school and operat-ed her own shop in three dif-ferent locations over the last17 years, is among the localflorists struggling to survive.She said fewer people arebuying flowers since they

BY LUKE RANKERSTAFF WRITER

Ryan Makinson used his pas-sion for health foods to cultivatea small business in Scranton.

Clarks Cultures, as the namesuggests, has its roots in ClarksSummit. Mr. Makinson, ownerand sole operator of the kombu-cha tea company, discovered thespecialty drink while working atEverything Natural in the bor-ough. He tried it a few years agoand quickly became hooked.

“I fell in love with it,” he said.“It was almost like my bodycraved it.”

A coworker brewed tea athome and taught Mr. Makinson.She gave him the firstculture, a combina-tion of yeast andbacteria used infermentationa n d t h ehome-basedb r e w e r yg r e w f r o mthere. In just 9months, he’sbeen able tob r e w l a r g ebatches — nowup to 200 bottles

a week — from his apartment inthe Hill Section.

“So far I’ve just been doingwhat works for me,” he saidfrom the small spare roomwhere he brews the tea.“It’s great I can do some-thing I really enjoy andmake a little profit.”

He starts by brewinga large batch of blackor green tea with

sugar, about a cup per gallon. Hepours between two and three gal-lons of the sweet tea in ceramicjars with the cultures. Like beerbrewing, the yeast eats the sugar,

which forms alcohol. Thebacteria then feeds offthe alcohol. Within threedays, the tea reaches fullfermentation, and Mr.

Makinson drains partof it into large glass

jars with fresh fruit puree orjuice for three days to add flavor-ing. Clarks Cultures comes inblueberry, strawberry, raspberry,mango and ginger.

Once the alcohol is gone, leav-ing only the living bacteria, thetea becomes a great source ofprobiotics, Mr. Makinson said.

Helpful bacteria

Probiotics are a source of atype of “good” bacteria that helpthe body with digestion and fightinfection, said Jila Kaberi-Otarod, M.D., director of the Geis-

inger Center for Nutritionand Weight Manage-

ment. Found in foodslike yogurt, theycan also help treatdiarrhea, preventor reduce the sever-ity of colds and flu,

and treat certainintestinal issues.P r o b i o t i c s a r eespecially help-

BY JIM DINOSTAFF WRITER

Creating a safe working envi-ronment is money in the pocketof a business owner, an expertsays.

Dale Rothenberger, a safetyconsultant for Zee Medical,Reading, made a presentationon how a business owner canimprove safety performance inthe workplace to the GreaterHazleton Chamber of Com-merce.

Many business owners donot pay enough attention to

safety, especially if that compa-ny has not had a lost-time acci-dent in some time, Mr. Rothen-berger said.

“How to get business own-ers and senior executives’attention is to talk to themwhere it hurts? Their pocket-

book,” he said.The average workers’ com-

pensation claim is $38,000 in thestate of Pennsylvania. If a busi-ness is self-insured, they cover80 percent, or about $25,000, Mr.Rothenberger said. That busi-ness owner has to reach in his

pocket for that $25,000. If thatbusiness is 1 percent net profitmargin business, to replace$25,000, would take $2.5 millionin new business.

Getting the worker involvedin the safety effort — and theproduction effort — can helpmake a workplace safer.

“A by-product of safety ideasare ideas on improving produc-tivity,” he said. “When safety isdone properly can have animpact on production. You get

Vigilance important for safety in the workplace

A STEEP JOURNEYJAKE DANNA STEVENS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Ryan Makinson owner and creator of Clarks Cultures with BluBerry Kombucha Tea in his fermentation room. The fermenta-tion containers are used to grow the tea cultures and a cloth on top allows the carbon dioxide to escape.

WARREN RUDA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Anna Wadas owner of A&M Floral Express prepares afloral arrangement.

“I fell in love with it,” he said. “It wasalmost like my body craved it.”

Ryan MakinsonClarks Cultures

Increased competition from discount and grocery stores, online.

Please see FLORISTS, Page H3

Business Plan

Please see TEA,Page H3

Some firmsdon’t pay

enoughattentionto safety,

especiallyif they have

not had alost-time

accident insome time.

Please see SAFETY, Page H3

“How to get business owners and seniorexecutives’ attention is to talk to themwhere it hurts? Their pocketbook.”

Dale RothenbergerSafety consultant

TIMES-SHAMROCK NEWSPAPERS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2015

SC_TIMES_TRIB/TIMES_PAGES [H03] | 02/07/15 01:17 | SCHILLINGS

FROM PAGE H1

aren’t a necessity.Since online retailers are

offering more competition,she said her son helped herstart a website to sell flowersonline to compete. That hasled to more orders, she said.

Ms. Wadas said if A&MFloral wasn’t also a weddingshop, “I don’t know how Iwould survive.”

“Flower shops are goingunder because there’s nobusiness,” Ms. Wadas said.“Over the last three years,I’ve seen a downfall com-pletely in flowers.”

More competitive pres-sures have caused some flo-rists to close locally andthroughout the country.

Clarke’s Irish Imports inAshley, a regional landmarkfor 34 years, Ann’s Buds andBows and Washington Flo-rist in Wilkes-Barre areamong the local flower shopsin Luzerne County that haveclosed.

In Lackawanna County,McGloin’s Florist in Scran-ton has scaled down. Thebusiness no longer has walk-in traffic but is just takingphone orders, said ownerPaul McGloin, 64, who hasbeen in the flower businessfor more than 30 years. Hiswife, Cathy, prepares mostflower arrangement ordersthey receive by phone.

“The floral business is nolonger a walk-in trade. It’sbecoming a phone-orderbusiness,” Mr. McGloin said.“Everybody and their broth-er sells flowers now: Kmart,Sam’s Club, grocery stores.Supermarkets even do wed-dings now.”

Mr. McGloin, who haswatched other floral shopsclose as well, said, “It’s justbecoming a very toughbusiness.”

He and other florists said

a major problem is that peo-ple don’t buy as many flow-ers for funerals. Funeralhomes often recommendloved ones make other dona-tions in lieu of flowers.

Carol Moyer, owner ofCarol’s Floral & Gifts inNanticoke, said she hasseen business decline about30 percent over the last twoyears as a result of compe-tition from grocery storesand discount stores likeWal-Mart.

She has picked up busi-ness from people whoorder online and by phone,but she also has lost a num-ber of walk-in customers.She said business on Val-entine’s Day is weather-dependent. If it snows, sheexpects to lose 75 percentof her walk-in traffic.

Throughout the country,the number of florists hasdeclined from 27,341 in 1992and 22,750 in 2002 to 14,344in 2012, according to the lat-

est numbers available fromthe Society of AmericanFlorists.

Jennifer Sparks, societyspokeswoman, said there hasbeen a decline in the numberof shops since the surge ofnew shop openings in the1980s and early 1990s.

“The economic downturnof recent years certainlyrequired a lot of change inthe floral industry, as it didfor many other industriesand business in general,” Ms.Sparks said.

While the decrease inrecent years includes floriststhat have gone out of busi-ness, it also includes a lot ofconsolidation that has hap-pened, she said.

“A decade or more ago, aflorist business may haveoperated three to seven brickand mortar locations. Thatsame florist may now operateone to three locations,” Ms.Sparks said. “Thanks to theInternet and efficiencies inoperations, florists can oper-ate leaner and smarter whileserving the same amount ofcustomers with fewer physi-cal locations.”

With competition frommany other outlets sellingflowers and plants today, Ms.Sparks said, florists set them-selves apart in local commu-nities by emphasizing ser-vice, convenience, personal-ization, design, delivery and

satisfaction guarantee inaddition to the products.

“Consumers may buyflowers for many differentreasons and, therefore,choose where to buy basedon their intended purpose,”she said. “In other words, thesame customer who picks upa bunch of flowers for them-selves at the supermarketwhile doing their weeklygrocery shopping, will mostlikely go to the florist whenthey need a special gift ordelivery.”

Rhonda Huffman, whooperates EJ Lewis Floristin Nanticoke with third-generation family ownerRobert Lewis, said whilesome buy flowers at otherplaces such as grocerystores, their loyal cus-tomers tel l them thattheir better quality flow-ers kee p them comingback.

EJ Lewis Florist hasbeen in business for morethan 100 years. The busi-ness continues to do flowerarrangements for wed-dings and funerals. Valen-tine’s Day and Mother’sDay are their two busiestholidays. Ms. Huffmanexpects Valentine’s Daywill be busy this year.

“We already started takingorders,” she said.Contact the writer:dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com

FROM PAGE H1

ful when taken with antibi-otics, which often kill goodbacteria.

Though there are bene-fits to eating probiotics-richfood, no large scientificstudy has substantiatedtheir benefit and the Feder-al and Drug Administra-tion does not regulate pro-biotics. Dr. Kaberi-Otarodadvises patients to get pro-biotics through a combina-tion of foods.

“That’s really the bestway,” she said. “Nutrientsbenefit the body and help the

probiotics get to the locationthey need to be to help.”

Finding right market

Mr. Makinson seems tohave found a niche in themarket, selling about 200bottles a week at about $4 abottle. The business hasbeen lucrative enough he’sbeen able to cut back workat Everything Natural. Henow works 20 hours at thestore and spends about 40hours a week brewing tea,he said.

A common challenge forthose starting a small busi-ness is understanding the

market, said Lisa Hall Zie-linski, director of the Uni-versity of Scranton SmallBusiness Center. Often thecenter will see clients,either at its monthly semi-nar or during a one-on-onecounseling session, with apassion for a product or ser-vice. Professionals at thecenter guide business own-ers through market studiesand business plans. Ifthere’s not a strong marketin the area for a particularidea, the team will help cli-ents find the right marketor change the product, Ms.Zielinski said.

“Sometimes that worksout and sometimes itdoesn’t,” she said. “It’s notthe best to tell someone thisidea isn’t going to fly, but it’salso good because you savethem time and money.”

Operating out of hiskitchen and spare room,wh i ch p a s s e d a s t at eDepartment of Agricultureinspection, Mr. Makinsonhas minimal overheadcosts. The cultures that fer-ment the tea grow and mul-tiply on their own, makingproduction costs low, too.

“I ’ve gotten a g reatresponse from people around

here,” he said. “I’d like tomake this my main focus.”

Even with the tea’s grow-ing popularity, Mr. Makinsonwants to keep the operationsmall and local. If businesscontinues to increase, he maymove to a larger location.

‘Strong brand’

Trish Dickert-Nieves, co-owner of Terra Preta, one of14 locations in the area thatsells Clarks Cultures, hasalso seen a great response.The restaurant has sold histea for about month and cus-tomers recognize it from oth-er places like JJ McNally’s,

Zummo’s Cafe and Every-thing Natural.

“He’s got a really strongbrand,” she said. “Plus it fitsin with our model of wholeand natural foods.”

Bartender Jesse Creeganhas mixed the tea into cock-tails like a “kumbucharita”that replaces traditional mar-garita sour mix with the teaand another that adds citrus-flavored vodka to the blue-berry tea.

“I think they’re really fan-tastic,” he said.Contact the writer:lranker@timesshamrock.com,@lrankerNEWS

FROM PAGE H1

best solutions from the peo-ple right there, the produc-tion workers. Having a sug-gestion box, and payingemployees for making sug-gestions for workplaceimprovements, are two waysto get employees involved.”

In Pennsylvania, Mr.Rothenberger said, if youhave a certified safety com-mittee, you can earn a 5 per-cent reduction on your work-ers’ compensation premium.

“To some companies,that’s $25,000 a year,” hesaid. “It’s a very simple pro-

cess to go through to earnthat certification.”

Vigilance important

If a company has not hada workplace injury recently,the business owner canacquire a false sense ofsecurity. Even if the compa-ny has a safety program inplace, it doesn’t take longfor the plan to become out-of-date.

A company can outgrow asafety program if there areany changes in the business— changes in personnel andhiring, equipment, product/process or management.

Mr. Rothenberger said hisfirm did a survey two yearsago on automated externaldefibrillators, or AEDs — amachine designed to startthe heart during a heart epi-sode — in the workplace.

“We checked over 1,200,and 42 percent did not work,”he said.

While the history bookssaid the “unsinkable” Titan-ic sank 90 minutes afterstriking an iceberg, Mr.Rothenberger said it was alack of vigilance that causedthe disaster.

“There were elements ofcaution, raising flags, before

the iceberg made contactwith the ship, that the crewchose to ignore,” he said.

Airlines safer,health care not

Two industries thathave gotten safer are theairline and electric utilityindustries. Mr. Rothen-berger said their safetyimproved because theyworked at it.

“The airline industry ismuch more safer than it wasin the 1970s,” he said. “Noone has fears abut flyingbecause safety became a pri-mary focus of what they do.”

Similarly, he said, if theutility industry used thesame operating proceduresas they did in the 1960s, therewould be “two more (ThreeMile Islands) and unreliablepower distribution.”

“In that industry, they’ves p e n t a t r e m e n d o u samount of time focusingon performance, excellenceand continuous improve-ment. What comes out ofperformance, excellenceand continuous improve-ment, as a by-product, issafety performance.”

One industry that needs tobe safer is the healthcare

industry, Mr. Rothenbergersaid, which experiences arate of 4.2 injuries per 100,while construction has a 3.3rate. In the healthcare indus-try, it’s not just the workers— it’s the patients, too.

“Both of those must beaddressed, because they’reon the wrong side of thecurve,” he said. “The health-care industry has seen anastronomical increase ofemployees injuries and ill-ness. That industry has towork on the same issueswhat happened years ago inthe airline industry and theutility industry.”

SAFETY: Safety committees can earn workers’ comp discounts

TEA: Food and Drug Administration does not regulate probiotics

FLORISTS: Better-quality flowers keep customers coming back

The hype, truth aboutweight loss products

FROM CONSUMER REPORTS

Admit it: When it comesto weight loss, we all want ashortcut, anything easierthan good old-fashioneddiet and exercise, saysShopSmart, the shoppingmagazine from the publish-er of Consumer Reports.

And thanks to medicaladvances, lots of temptingnew options are available.You may have heard aboutthe new prescription medi-cation Contrave, which theFood and Drug Administra-tion approved in September.Another drug, the inject-able Saxenda, was approvedin December.

The problems with thosedrugs and other medicaloptions is that they might notlive up to the hype, and theyhave some scary side effects.Read on to learn the truthbehind the hype aroundweight-loss supplements,drugs and surgeries. Shop-Smart answers the questions:Do they work, and are theyworth the risks to your health?

THE HYPE: Supplementscan help you lose weightnaturally.

THE TRUTH: They don’t

work — and they mighta c t u a l l y b e h a r m f u l .“There’s no natural herbthat leads to weight loss,”says Pieter Cohen, M.D., aphysician at Harvard Medi-cal School and the Cam-bridge Health Alliance inMassachusetts. “And of alldietary supplements, theones for weight loss seem tocause the most harm —sometimes liver failure andeven death.”

What you should do: Avoidthem all. Here’s why:

■ Supplements aren’t test-ed for safety. They don’t haveto be proved effective or evensafe, unlike over-the-counterdrugs.

■ They can cause danger-ous side effects. In ConsumerReports’ recent survey ofalmost 3,000 Americans,about half of supplementusers said they experiencedat least one side effect —most often a faster heart rate,jitters, digestive problems ordry mouth. Even supple-ments that contain onlyplants may not be safe. Forinstance, yohimbe, an Afri-can tree bark extract market-ed as a dietary supplement,

can cause elevated bloodpressure or panic attacks.

■ Recalled products arestill sold. The FDA hasrecalled hundreds of supple-ments that have containeddrugs. In a study publishedin the Journal of the Ameri-can Medical Association,researchers tested 27 easilypurchased supplements outof 274 that had been recalledbetween 2009 and 2012. Thestudy (which was financedin part by a grant from Con-sumers Union, the advocacyarm of Consumer Reports’parent company) found thatt w o - t h i r d s c o n t a i n e dbanned drugs.

THE HYPE: Pop a pill andwatch the pounds melt off

THE TRUTH: Weight-lossdrugs aren’t very effectiveand have some scary sideeffects. And none of themwork well without lifestylechanges, including exercisingand dieting.

What you should do: “It’shard to be enthusiastic aboutweight-loss drugs,” says Ste-ven Woloshin, M.D., a profes-sor of medicine at the Dart-mouth Institute for HealthPolicy & Clinical Practice.

WARREN RUDA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Anna Wadas, owner of A&M Floral Express, prepares a floral arrangement.

TOY CAR SETSDETAILS: A plastic toy

truck with a plastic casethat holds six die-cast metaltoy cars in assorted colorssold at Family Dollar Storesfrom September through De-cember 2014.

WHY: The die-cast metalcars can have sharp edg-es that pose a lacerationhazard.

INCIDENTS: NoneHOW MANY: About

254,000.FOR MORE: Call Family

Dollar Stores at 800-547-0359 or visit www.familydollar.com.AMPHIBIOUS VEHICLES

DETAILS: Gibbs’ Quad-ski, which is a one-seater,and Quadski XL, which isa two-seater. The productsare high speed amphibi-ous vehicles that are anATV on land, and also op-erate on water. They weresold at Gibbs Sports Am-phibians dealers nation-wide from January 2012through October.

WHY: The handlebar canfail while the vehicle is inoperation, causing the op-erator to lose control of thesteering and braking sys-tems of the vehicle, posinga risk of injury.

INCIDENTS: No consumerincidents have been report-ed. Three reports of break-age during testing havebeen reported; one involvedinjury to the neck of the testoperator.

HOW MANY: About 320.FOR MORE: Call Gibbs’

Sports Amphibians at 877-230-0888 or visit www.quadski.com and click onQuadski or Quadski XL, goto the bottom of the pageand click on “Recall” formore information.CHILDREN’S FOOD POUCH

DETAILS: PouchPops,which are silicone toppersthat screw onto a baby foodpouch to allow infants tofeed themselves. They weresold online at www.Amazon.com, www.littlegreenpouch.com and www.jack-benatural.com from Maythrough September.

WHY: The tube of thepouch topper that screwsonto the food pouch canseparate from the roundbase, posing a choking haz-ard to young children.

INCIDENTS: Four reportsof breaks above the roundbase of the toppers. No in-juries have been reported.

HOW MANY: About6,000.

FOR MORE: Call Perfor-mance Packaging at 844-560-7227 or go to www.pouchpop.com.PORTABLE SPACE HEATERS

DETAILS: Lifepro brandportable infrared quartzspace heater models LS-IQH-DMICRO and LS-IQH-MICRO. They were soldfrom January 2014 through

December.WHY: The screws used to

attach the back plate to theheater are too short and al-low the back plate to detachwhen removing the heaterfrom the outlet, posing anelectrical shock hazard tothe user.

INCIDENTS: None.HOW MANY: About

17,000.FOR MORE: Call Lifesmart

at 866-484-2066 or visitwww.lifesmartproducts.com.CHILDREN’S PAJAMAS ANDROBES

DETAILS: Lazy One chil-dren’s sleepwear garments,including footed pajamasand two robes. The one-piece “footeez” style footedzip-up pajama is beige witha red, pink, blue and yellowowl print with the wording“I’m OWL yours.” They weresold at department storesand children’s boutiquesnationwide and at www.lazyone.com from October2013 through June.

WHY: The footed pajamasand robes fail to meet thefederal flammability stan-dard for children’s sleep-wear, posing a burn hazardto children.

INCIDENTS: Nonewerereported.

HOW MANY: About8,400.

FOR MORE: Call Lazy Oneat 866-340-5278 or visitwww.lazyone.com.

— ASSOCIATED PRESS

Recalls

TIMES-SHAMROCK NEWSPAPERS FEBRUARY 8, 2015 H3BUSINESSWEEKLY