In The News

Apple Blossom Brewing Company coming soon to north Fayetteville

Is beer-splosion a word? Beer-aissance? Beer-topia? We ask, because we’re going to need a new term for all the micro brewing action that’s been happening in Fayetteville recently.

Several local brewing establishments have opened in the last few years, and that trend, it appears, will continue with the news that a new brew pub called Apple Blossom Brewing Company will open in Fayetteville this summer.

The new restaurant and brewery is the brainchild of Smoke & Barrel Tavern founders Evan McDonald, Sammie Stephenson, Joe Utsch, Al Schaffer, along with brewery partners Ching Mong and Daniel Smith.

The group has leased an 8,500-square-foot space at 1550 E. Zion Road, and plans to open a 200 to 250-seat restaurant for lunch and dinner, including a 10-barrel brewing system to provide a new option for fans of local beer.

“We are going to start out focusing on getting 3 to 4 of our own beers on tap at our place, and making sure we keep up with demand there,” Stephenson said. “Then, we’ll be looking to do as much distribution as we can.”

Future home of Apple Blossom Brewing Company, coming soon to Zion Road in Fayetteville

Stephenson said the brewery will focus primarily on ales. “We are looking at some beers on nitrogen, and some new and developing styles that we’re checking out,” he said. “We’ll also be brewing some staples, ESBs, pale ales, IPAs, a stout, a lighter beer, a kolsch, or a Berliner Weisse.”

The partners are currently interviewing experienced brewmasters to help manage the brewing side of the business. Aside from their own creations, the group plans to carry locally-brewed beers from other brewers.

The food will be left to Utsch, who has extensive experience as chef and owner of former Fayetteville restaurant, Joe’s Bistro.

“The food’s going to be mainly in-house prepared,” Utsch said. “We’re going to have homemade soups, sandwiches, salads, probably focaccia pizzas, with rotating specials for entrees.”

McDonald said the overarching idea of the Apple Blossom Brewing Company has been to keep things local.

In addition to naming the brewery for the Arkansas state flower, McDonald said the plan is to use in-state ingredients whenever possible.

“We love this state. We know people from here love things from this state”, he said. “We’re excited to add to that local element.”

Proximity to Veterans Park, lots of drive-by traffic, a good concentration of commercial and residential activity nearby, and the ability to be able to distribute beer to Dickson Street businesses without “stepping on anyone’s toes” all led to the decision to locate the pub in north Fayetteville.

“We expect Zion to continue to grow into a big east-west artery,” Stephenson said. “Traffic out on Zion is actually really good, too.”

A long-term goal for the group would be to expand into another facility, and start canning some of their locally-brewed beer to distribute around the country. For now, however, the partners are just excited to be adding to the local beer culture that continues to grow here in Fayetteville.

Construction of the new establishment will begin later this month, with a goal to open early summer 2013.

Best of Biz

Flake & Kelley Commercial would like to thank the readers of Arkansas Business for voting us as this year’s:

Best Commercial Property Developer – Winner
Best Commercial Property Management Firm – Finalist

Go To Arkansas Business download the complete Best of Biz list from.

The Three Amigos

Judge Villines, Former Mayor Dailey, Former Mayor Hays… Often called The Three Amigos… Worked together for over a decade to build an Arena, expand a Convention Center, bring life back to downtowns and initiate many other examples of Regional Cooperation.

Fayetteville Professional Night Out – Park Centre in Fayetteville

Join us Thursday evening, December 13th from 5:30 to 7:00pm at the Park Centre Office Building located at 4375 North Vantage Drive in Fayetteville… Fayetteville Professionals Night Out!

Come enjoy live music, plenty of food and beverages and get ready for the upcoming Holiday Season!

Judy Shelley of Flake & Kelley Commercial (Small Private Company Category Winner)

Judy Shelley’s 30 years as a CPA have led her around the South and finally to Flake & Kelley Commercial as CFO.

Shelley, 57, grew up in Decatur, Texas, and received her undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of North Texas in Denton. Her degree led her to Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., the company that is now the “P” in KPMG. “I was with KPMG for a number of years in their tax department,” she said.

Shelley went on to operate her own CPA and consulting firm in Austin, Texas, and Charlotte, N.C. Then she kept books for Alabama, the country music group from Fort Payne in the eponymous state.

“After that, we moved back to Houston, where my husband was with another bank,” Shelley said.

Her time there was spent as a volunteer with the American Red Cross and her church, West University Baptist. “I ran the financial services section of the Little Rock Katrina service center for the Red Cross to aid refugees,” she said.

Finally, Flake & Kelley contacted her in 2006, and the couple moved to Arkansas.

Shelley said being female in a business leadership role had always been part of the challenge of her jobs. “I was one of the first female managers at KPMG,” she said. “I enjoyed bringing in more business than most of my male counterparts.”

The executive team at Flake & Kelley, she said, makes the company strong. “We are a tight-knit team,” she said. “We meet monthly and take the pulse and heartbeat of the company, making sure it’s [going] in the right direction.”

She said the firm prides itself on keeping accurate books, especially for the firm’s managed properties. The company recently transferred to a cloud-based accounting system, and it helps accounting for the firm’s properties.

“We went from a smaller to a larger Web-based accounting program where the owners have access to their records,” Shelley said. Building owners can check their accounting records on any computer with access to the company’s cloud-stored data, she added.

“So we strive to stay abreast of the current technology and make certain to do the best we can to present timely financials.”

Shelley said technological innovations also helped the firm withstand the recession. “We started noticing a lot of tenants were having hard times. We started noticing [non-sufficient fund] fees and NSF checks bouncing,” she said. “It was our job to ensure the collection of rents on behalf of owners.”

The firm implemented check scanners that moved funds from tenant accounts to owner accounts faster. “We’ve found a lot less NSF as a result of that,” she said.

While not at Flake & Kelley, Shelley is still active with the Red Cross, where she recently left the local board of directors after a five-year tenure. She also co-chaired the American Heart Association’s 2011 Heart Ball with her husband.