614 Magazine - Columbus, Ohio

Enterprising Entrepreneurs

By Kate Liebers & David S. Lewis

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A Facelift on an Old Dive

Cousins Todd and Matt Meister - under a one-month deadline - are renovating their bar as quickly as they prepare their drinks.

"It's a small neighborhood bar. It didn't do very well before," Todd said of what was the Amicon Grill. "We think with our experience and everyone we know, we can make it go."

They quit bar managing positions at Grandview Cafe and R Bar, respectively, to pursue their vision.

"It was a great opportunity," said Todd.

"And a good deal," Matt added. They bought the entire building, to avoid paying a landlord or dealing with leases.

After replacing the floors and ceilings, sweeping lingering stigmas will be their next major challenge.

"The last couple years, the clientele has gotten shady," said Matt. "We're hoping to take it back to its glory days."

As if on cue, Todd discovered a shillelagh in the bar. He promptly named it the "peacemaker" to keep out the "undesirables."

While they have a combined 30 years of experience, their signature mark, Todd said, is that they're the "best looking bartenders in Columbus."

Meister's Bar (Coming Soon)
1168 Chambers Rd.
Facebook: Meister's Bar

Lucky, for Her

For Nida Perry, proprietor of Nida's Sushi at the North Market and Nida's Thai on High, the only ingredients necessary for a business owner to be successful are passion for the business, and lots of hard work.

"Nothing will come to your hand unless you work for it," said Perry, who would know. Born in China but raised in Bangkok, Thailand, Perry studied at the University of Cincinnati in 1989, and returned to Bangkok in 1994, marrying an American traveler. She returned to Columbus in 2001, opening Nida's Sushi in the North Market.

"I originally tried to start a Thai restaurant in there, but they declined me," she said. "And then they asked if I could do sushi."

Sushi, which was gaining popularity in Columbus at the time, was no stranger to Perry, who had also worked in advertising for a Japanese company, and first tried sushi in Cincinnati.

She worked briefly at Restaurant Hama, where she met another Thai sushi chef, who helped her begin her North Market enterprise. They began adding Thai dishes to the menu slowly, and the demand increased until she finally opened Nida's Thai on High on November 17, 2008, a date her mother, from a small village in the southern part of China, insisted on: a lucky Monday that fell on the right part of the month in the Chinese zodiac.

"My mother believed we needed a certain day to open, so it would bring good luck to the business," she said.

It certainly seems to have worked.

Nida's Thai on High
976 N High St.
(614) 299-9199
www.thaionhigh.com

A Business in the Air

Repeatedly laid off and homeless this time last year, Jerome Freeman found himself selling Street Speech newspapers to feed his belly. His spirit, however, was nourished by a combination of his blues music and his faith in friends - and "some kind of God," laughed the stylish and soulful 52-year-old.

Over the course of the year, Freeman was able to get a job at a local cafe, and then an apartment above it. Finally, after years of struggle and dreaming, he was in a position to start work on his real dream - Go Mobile Columbus.

Freeman, with the help of a cafe co-worker, OSU student Joshua Sayre, has invested his savings and developed a "mobile VIP service," a business venture that uses Bluetooth and SMS marketing to allow clients, such as clubs, bars, and restaurants, to send text-message coupons and advertisements directly to anyone signed up for the mobile club. The customer simply displays the text coupon on their screen to the retailer in order to receive the discount.

"My company lives in the air," said Freeman. "There's no carbon footprint. It's a truly green concept in marketing and advertisement."

While the business will create few jobs initially, Freeman plans to share his success with the less fortunate, and hire the underemployed and the homeless where possible - and to inspire them.

"If I can do this, anyone can do this," he said. "I want people to look at me and say, 'That old man? I knew him! I can do this, too; I can get off the street.'"

Go Mobile Columbus
www.go-mo-co.com
sites.google.com/site/gomoco2010
Text "gomoco" to 51684 for more information

Originally Published: February 1, 2010

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