Riggs opens fast food venture
Dr. Jack Riggs, Idaho’s former lieutenant governor, has a new business venture in fast food.
Riggs is chairman and CEO of Pita Pit USA, a private Idaho corporation headquartered in Coeur d’Alene.
The first Pita Pit opened in Kingston, Ontario, in 1995. The chain serves healthy, affordable sandwiches, and its model is to locate on or near college campuses, said co-founder Nelson Lang. He’s president and chief operating officer of Pita Pit USA.
Within five years, Pita Pit USA has ambitious goals of being on or near every U.S. campus, according to Lang. The franchise has 73 U.S. locations, including restaurants in Pullman, Boise and Missoula. Pita Pit USA will open a Coeur d’Alene restaurant in early June at 320 Sherman Ave. The firm’s corporate headquarters will also locate here.
Riggs is a former emergency room doctor who founded North Idaho Immediate Care Centers. He is also a former state senator who served a stint as lieutenant governor.
Women’s Business Center to open
The Women’s Business Center will officially open its doors today in the Courtyard Office Center, 827 W. First, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The center was created through a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration plus local matching funds. It’s administered by the Inland Northwest Community Access Network (TINCAN).
Women’s Business Centers nationwide provide business counseling, technical assistance and training to women entrepreneurs. Some programs planned by the Spokane center include an introduction to the business software program Quickbooks and a session on getting a business loan.
UPS to add five regional freight hubs
UPS Inc. is spending $24 million to build and equip five regional freight hubs at airports around the country as it expands its freight delivery business. The effort will initially add 200 new jobs.
The world’s largest shipping carrier said Tuesday the new hubs will allow UPS to ship freight weighing more than 150 pounds using more of its own planes. The expansion also will allow Atlanta-based UPS to offer guarantees on overnight heavy freight shipments in North America as well as second-day and deferred freight services.
In the past, UPS had been delivering heavy freight, but not with a definite time guarantee, spokesman Norm Black said.
Shipping heavy freight has been a small percentage of UPS’ overall business, but now the company is seeking to give it greater emphasis. Other shippers, like Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx Corp., carry freight. UPS believes there is growth opportunity in delivering heavy freight on a time-definite basis.
The new regional freight facilities will be built in Ontario, Calif.; Rockford, Ill.; Dallas; Philadelphia; and Columbia, S.C. Those airports already serve as regional hubs for UPS’ separate small package network.
UPS said the new facilities will be brought online next year.