Juicy Kitchen, a healthy foods catering and delivery business, has moved from a back room into a new storefront café on Ann Arbor's west side. Since Juicy Kitchen opened its café at 1506 N. Maple Road in mid-January, "We have had an overwhelmingly positive response, from the neighborhood especially." says owner Susan Todoroff. "I worked from this hole-in-the-wall kitchen with no windows – all of a sudden I have big picture windows, sunlight, and people," Todoroff adds. Juicy Kitchen now fills the space formerly occupied by the Maple Gardens Chinese restaurant. All traces of the former tenant have vanished. Todoroff and her husband spent a few months on renovations. They installed wainscoting made from northern Michigan white pine and stained it peacock blue. The walls are painted a pumpkin orange, there's a new counter with galvanized steel coating, and school house-style lighting. Todoroff's husband built the dining tables. The cafe has seating for 16 people on Victorian church pews and auction-find chairs. Breakfast and lunch are served daily. After 2 p.m., customers may stop in and pick up prepared meals to go. Todoroff is continuing the catering and delivery operation as well. Baked goods are mostly vegan and emphasis whole grains and less sugar. High-quality foods, such as locally raised, hormone-free chicken and eggs, come out of the kitchen. Calder Dairy supplies the milk, and Mighty Good coffee is poured. Todoroff has seven employees, three of whom are full-time. Chef Dan Vernia is formerly of the Ravens Club. "There's nothing else like us in Ann Arbor, but especially on the west side," says Todoroff. "They don't have a place where they can sit down and have a really good healthy breakfast and a really good cup of coffee." Source: Susan Todoroff, owner, Juicy Kitchen Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

FarmLogs is bringing software and technology to a sector of the economy not know for early adoption - agriculture. The Ann Arbor-based start-up is creating online-based, farm-management software with an eye toward helping farmers make better business decisions. The idea was born in Silicon Valley, the brainchild of two Michigan ex-patriots, and first incubated at the famed Y Combinator a little more than a year ago. It found well-known investors on the West Coast and was poised to become the next posterchild for Silicon Valley start-ups when it did something unconventional. It moved back to Michigan. "We decided the right move for us was to move back to Michigan, right here in Ann Arbor," says Jesse Vollmar, CEO & co-founder of FarmLogs. Vollmar and Brad Koch grew up in a rural area in Michigan's thumb and received computer information degrees from Saginaw Valley State University in early 2012. They saw firsthand how farmers were keeping their records by hand and making important business decisions off gut feelings. There were few, if any, computers and even less analytical data. "They don't have the software tools to plan the business and manage their results," Vollmar says. "That's what we provide." Those tools organize the farmer's data, helps them create financial models, figure out how best to plant fields, and when to bring their crops to market and which market presents the best value. The bottom line is to help them maximize production, efficiency and profits. "We want to be thought of as the company that is leading innovation in agriculture," Vollmar says. That idea has help propel FarmLogs to raising a $1 million angel round. It now employs four people and is in the process of hiring two more now. It expects to bring on even more as it starts to accelerate its growth with Ann Arbor as its base. And the reason for relocating Ann Arbor were pretty self-evident for Vollmar and Koch. "Ann Arbor has a better start-up culture and vibe that we thought would be better for attracting talent," Vollmar says. Source: Jesse Vollmar, CEO & co-founder of FarmLogs Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

A new start-up based in Ann Arbor, stkr.it, is helping people move memories trapped in old mobile technology to a format where they can be preserved for posterity. For instance, if a series of text messages about getting a new job have sentimental value, stkr.it allows them to be moved from the original phone and preserved when the old cell phone is replaced. "I found that young people were were saving their old cell phones that had old text message conversations," says Mike Newman, president of stkr.it. "They were meaningful and valuable. They didn't want to loose them." Mike Newman and his father, Chuck Newman, were previously executives with ReCellular, a Dexter-based cell phone recycler. ReCellular has been the largest recycler of cell phones for many years and often worked to find ways to get people to recycle old cell phones. Sentimental attachment to the information inside cell phones was one of the larger barriers to overcome. Mike Newman moved to New York City two years ago with his wife who took a job in finance. He started stkr.it not long after. Chuck Newman was one of the first investors and convinced Mike Newman (who splits time between New York and Ann Arbor) to move it back to Ann Arbor. "We had a strong desire to make this a Michigan company," Mike Newman says. Today, stkr.it is a little more than 1-year-old, employs five people (mostly in Ann Arbor) and is looking to add interns. It is expanding its product offerings to letting users move videos created on smart phones to greeting cards to create a personal touch. "With our technology you can add a video or a voice message," Mike Newman says. "That way it's much more personal and meaningful." Source: Mike Newman, president of stkr.it Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund has struck again, investing $1 million into four local start-ups. The four start-ups include Fusion Coolant Systems, Local Orbit, New Eagle Products, and Seelio. Seelio, New Eagle Products and Local Orbit are based in Ann Arbor. Fusion Coolant Systems was launched in Ypsilanti and is now based in Detroit on the campus of Focus: HOPE. "The seeds that were planted several years ago are starting to bear fruit," says Skip Simms, senior vice president at Ann Arbor SPARK who oversees the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund. "The ecosystem the state has created has really improved the quality of entrepreneur who is coming to us with better thought-out ideas and products that are further along." The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund is a collaborative effort of Michigan's SmartZones to support product commercialization at local start-ups. It has awarded more than $19 million in seed funding to 83 Michigan companies. One of the early recipients was Compendia Bioscience, which was acquired by Life Technologies last fall. The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund had its most aggressive year yet in 2012, making deals with 23 companies. Simms says he doesn't expect the fund to surpass that number again this year but there is more than enough demand from a plethora of quality companies. "It has been growing," Simms says. "It has been evolving. The good news is it has been evolving and snowballing in a good way." Source: Skip Simms, senior vice president at Ann Arbor SPARK Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ann Arbor's Backyard Brains is making waves with its Spiker Box, an affordable neuroscience kit. Founder Greg Gage's interview and article appear on CNN. Excerpt: "...While most everyone is fascinated by the brain, very few get the chance to peer into the world of neurons. Because, until now, there wasn’t a way for amateurs to get involved. In neuroscience, for example, equipment to read out the brain activity can cost over $10,000. But this is beginning to change. With the DIY revolution, people can now have similar high-tech gear in their own homes and garages for under $100. When I was a grad student studying neuroscience my labmate, Tim Marzullo, proposed an interesting idea: Can we record from the brain for less than 100 dollars, just using everyday electronics? We set off on a self-imposed engineering challenge to see if we could replicate our expensive lab equipment with something affordable by consumers. We ended up with the SpikerBox: a small kit (which you can build yourself, if you like) that can listen to the living brain cells from insects." More here.

Retirees are looking for college towns where they can keep their minds busy, instead of the golf course, and Ann Arbor is one of them. CNBC reports on the trend. Excerpt: "You really didn't expect Baby Boomers to flock to those staid retirement communities in Florida and Arizona, did you?... Thus, other affordable college towns such as Ann Arbor, Mich. (University of Michigan); South Bend, Ind. (Notre Dame); Gainesville, Fla. (University of Florida); and State College, Pa. (Penn State) offer exactly what Boomers are looking for these days: cheap homes, a reasonable cost of living, livability and lots of culture and sports." More here.

It's full-on winter now, but that's not stopping the Border to Border Trail from growing. In February, work begins in Dexter on a new three-mile segment of what will be a 35-mile non-motorized trail connecting Washtenaw County to Livingston and Wayne Counties along the Huron River. This three-mile leg is expected to be completed by fall 2013. At that point, 23 miles of the planned 35 will be completed, says Coy Vaughn, deputy director of the Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Commission. This new portion will run from Hudson Mills Metropark to Dexter, linking up to Warrior Creek Park. It will be mostly asphalt, but there will be a boardwalk through the wetlands and a small pedestrian bridge. "Once this is done, it will create a 13-mile round trip that you can take from downtown Dexter up through Hudson Mills Metropark. They already had three miles of trails on the other side of the [Huron] River, so overall it will be a 13-mile round trip bike ride, walk, run, or whatever from downtown Dexter," Vaughn says. On the east side of Dexter, work has concluded on a 1.25-mile trail headed towards Ann Arbor and ending at Dexter-Huron Metropark. That segment connects to the DPW yard in the village, with a small section adjoining Central St. Vaughn says it's not open to the public yet, as the county is in the process of obtaining a railroad easement. Hudson Mills Metropark is north of Dexter on the river, and to the southeast of Dexter is Dexter-Huron and Delhi Metroparks. "We're trying to connect all the Metroparks to the village [of Dexter] and the city of Ann Arbor," sayas Vaughn. Source: Coy Vaughn, deputy director, Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Commission Writer: Tanya Muzumdar

To keep up with production and R&D demands, American Broach & Machine Co., a maker of broaches (metal cutting tools), broaching machines, and CNC and manual broach tool sharpening machines for the auto, aircraft, train, off-road vehicle, defense, and other industries, recently purchased a new 42,880 sq. ft. building at 535 S. Mansfield St. in Ypsilanti. Adjacent to its 23,200 sq. ft. current location at 575 S. Mansfield St., the acquisition means a near-tripling of the company's current total square footage. American Broach & Machine Co. has been in business since 1919, and once employed Rosie the Riveter (Geraldine Hoff Doyle) as a broaching machine operator in its former Ann Arbor factory. The company will keep its existing building and move about half of its employees and equipment to the new location, beginning in June. The move should be completed by September, says President Ken Nemec. "We're going to be making broach tools in that plant and working on R&D projects for the broach and metal-cutting business. We've got three or four irons in the fire of things we'd like to develop," Nemec says. The purchase price was just under $1 million, and the company will invest another $500,000 in upgrades prior to moving in, according to Nemec. Upgrades include more efficient heating, ventilation and cooling systems systems, and high-efficiency lights using one-third the electricity of the current fixtures. The company has 48 employees and has been consistently hiring, adding a new position every 1-2 months, Nemec says. The average salary is over $50,000 per year. There are 4-5 job openings right now. "We're looking for unskilled trainee workers that have an aptitude for becoming a toolmaker. Over the next five years I anticipate adding probably 30 positions like that, " Nemec says, adding, "Within five years, maximum ten, we'd like to have 100 employees." Source: Ken Nemec, president, American Broach & Machine Co. Writer: Tanya Muzumdar