USF Students Focus on Newtown Turnaround

What business would you put in Newtown and North Sarasota to help revitalize the community?

That’s what five teams of students presented to an audience at the Tuesday night for their entrepreneurship and small business management course.

Their ideas:

• Starlight Drive-in Movie Theater

• Marian Anderson Entertainment Complex

• Community Staffing — a nursing home staffing placement service

• US Biofuture — a biodiesel plant

• Skills Training and Entrepreneur Program - (STEP) 

The teams presented a business concept and plan to the audience of how their business would fit and benefit in Newtown. Three of the businesses used the — a closed landfill that is developable, but hasn’t been cleaned up yet — off of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Way and Washington Boulevard.

Starlight Drive-in Movie Theater

One team wanted to use the Marian Anderson site as a drive-in movie theater, offering double features and 3D movies.

“Our mission is to bring families and communities together while providing quality entertainment at an affordable price,” said Deb Vaughan, who would be the chief executive officer of the group.

A double-feature ticket would cost $7.50 for adults and $5 for kids compared to indoor movie theaters that charge $10 in the area. The closest drive-in is in Ruskin — about 45 minutes north — and they charge $5.

The theater would offer Latin and American food at the concessions and would be open to working with local small businesses to cater concessions, said team member Paola Villamarin.

Spanish-speaking films would also be offered, and for those without a car, you could rent a radio and find a place to plop down to watch the movie, team member Nick Reed said.

If you do have a car, the theater would offer a picnic or tailgating night to come in and grill your favorite food and hang out before the movie, Reed and Vaughn said.

Nina Stewart of Sarasota liked the idea, but wondered about teen supervision. 

“I think I should have asked about more teen supervision,” Stewart said because she’s concerned about the pregnancy rate increasing in the community during those movies.

Marian Anderson Entertainment Complex 

Eric Guevarez and Cassie Friedman are both Sarasota residents and graduates who teamed up with Jonathan Berkofsky, who had previously started his own business.

The team wanted to open up a coin-operated arcade, a place where people can rent time to play on XBOX 360, PS3 and Wii consoles for online gaming, a laser tag course that would regularly change its layout, a paintball course with a competitive league and team and a five-acre waterpark in the second phase.

“We want to have this gap of boredom filled, but we want to have it in a safe environment,” Friedman said. 

They keyed into the 8,000 people 10-24 years old in Sarasota city limits for their revenue projections, but expect to draw people that age from outside city limits and from Manatee County, Friedman said.

What would make the business different is the console rentals and changing laser tag course.

The team said they could open the business in the first phase for $537,000.

Sean Jackson, a Manatee County resident and a member of the Community Entrepreneur Opportunity - (CEO) - business-training program, wasn’t sure if paintball would be right for kids in Newtown.

“How many kids would want to play paintball? They’re more into playing Madden,” he said. 

U.S. Biofuture

Marshall Fisher decided to forego a team and pursued a diesel biofuel plant at Marian Anderson.

The clean, green fuel could be produced at the site taking in vegetable oils and used oils and could produce about one million gallons per year.

“Our vision is to become the Gulf Coast’s leading exporter of high grade biodiesel,” he said.

He would target fleet trucks, freight operations, buses and marine industries for using the fuel.

The job would produce 10 jobs in the first 10 months, and some folks in the audience were concerned about silos with fuel being in the community and the 10 jobs they say, would probably be filled from around the state and nation. 

Jackson gave Fisher credit and liked his idea the best. 

“He might become very, very rich because everyone else is still focused on fossil fuels,” he said.

Angela Butler of Sarasota, also a CEO student and owner of Grade A Cleaning Services, liked the laser tag and arcade, as well as the drive-in theater because it gave kids something more to do. 

Skills, Training and Entrepreneur Program (STEP)

This program focused on providing classes for students who want to start their own business. 

A team of Debbie Tisdale, Stacie Jones and Ligia De Leon wanted to start a local franchise of programs where they would work with high schools to gauge interest from students and train them how to take their ideas and form into actual plans.

“We want to engage them in entrepreneurial activities and motivate them to turn their ideas into ventures,” Jones said.

The organization would be a nonprofit and have a board of directors, Tisdale said.

They would also encourage students with a $200 reward at the conclusion of the class to motivate them to complete their visions and encourage them to use it as seed money, Tisdale said. 

The Boys and Girls Club had a similar curriculum, Tisdale said, but hasn’t acted on it yet. One audience member encouraged the group that the idea would be best fit as a national business.

Community Staffing 

The team of Ryan Braniger, Frank Durocher and Tyler Hamilton wanted to get more certified nursing assistants jobs and have a specific temporary staffing service to cater to the nursing home industry.

“The problem is finding a livable wage,” Durocher said. 

The business would aim to pay $12 to $14 for the staffers, and staffers could either apply at the Community Staffing office or online.

The business wanted to provide a higher wage than the $10 an hour many staffers find, Durocher said. 

The company would want to work with students graduating high school and want to further their education but they don’t want to attend college, Hamilton said. The business could also fund students’ classes and the students would pay Community Staffing once they start work, he added. 

The business could get started with $60,000 in capital and be profitable in the second year, Braniger said.

Stewart, who also is trying to start Nighttime Daycare, said she’s skeptical how the business could afford to pay a certified nursing assistant a $12 to $14 wage.

“There’s no way they can give us more money,” she said, because other places aren’t paying that.