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VEGAS INC C OV E R STO RY The catch: The landmarks aren���t real. They are props set up between two baggage claim areas at McCarran International Airport. Justin Anderson and three of his high school pals founded Confess Media just over a year ago. They leased concourse space in Terminal 1 of the airport and set up a 10-foot replica of the Strip���s ���Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas��� sign. But the team ran into an unexpected problem when the photo booth opened. ���We had the sign set up and a nice red carpet and velvet ropes,��� Anderson recalled. ���But something was wrong. It was too nice. People passed us by because they thought it was a set up for some staged special event.��� Anderson and his partners tweaked the decor, brought in extra props and before long, people started coming by. ���We turned it into a fun experience,��� Anderson said. ���We had music, boas and Elvis glasses. Once in awhile, we would bring in showgirls. That���s all it took.��� Anderson said he thinks the secret of the company���s success is its reasonable pricing. Confess sells each 4-by6-inch photo print in a folder, along with a digital image that���s easily uploadable to social media, for $10. Confess snapped 175,000 pictures in its first year. The owners also learned the details of Las Vegas��� tourist season ��� and adjusted accordingly. During the off-season, the photo booth is open only for limited hours. When vacation season rolls around, it opens from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. every day. Anderson said he enjoys the camaraderie among airport vendors and appreciates how the business owners watch out for one another. ���It���s a great environment,��� Anderson said. ���I���d say it���s about the funnest venture I���ve been a part of.��� Colorado River Coffee Roasters, 1640 Foothill Drive, Boulder City If you���ve ever sipped high-end coffee at a valley cafe, you should probably thank Don Anderson. Anderson owns Colorado River Coffee Roasters, a Boulder City company he runs with his son Erik Anderson, daughter-in-law Carola Anderson and daughter Jana Anderson. They buy raw coffee beans from importers, roast them on site, then package and distribute them to cafes, restaurants and Whole Foods Markets. The beans are brewed at almost 20 local eateries and sold at nine retail outlets. Don Anderson, a former elementary school teacher and principal, and his son, a former starving actor, opened the coffee company during the recession, in spring 2009. It has since grown by leaps and bounds. The family initially sold 300 to 400 pounds of beans a month. In 2011, they sold almost 1,500 pounds a month. By 2012, they averaged 2,200 pounds. They expect to sell more than 3,000 pounds a month this year. Working through the recession wasn���t easy. Don Anderson initially used savings from an old consulting business to run the company. Once he depleted that, he used personal and company credit cards to fund operations for a few years. It was expensive debt, and he couldn���t get a banker on the phone to arrange a loan. ���They wouldn���t call us back,��� he recalled. Sales eventually picked up, and Anderson loosened his grip on his credit cards. He refinanced and is paying off the cheaper debt faster than before. Anderson attributed increased sales to old-fashioned 20 20130325_VI01_F.indd 20 COURTESY at work: Colorado River Coffee Roasters principal Erik Anderson processes beans at the company���s Boulder City headquarters. hustle. ���Telephone calls and shoe leather,��� he said. He arranged a deal with celebrity chef Mario Batali���s group to sell coffee beans at its farmers market at Springs Preserve. Other early clients included Sambalatte near Summerlin and the Beat Coffeehouse downtown. Anderson���s coffee is more expensive than a typical cup of joe, but it caters to a specific customer. ���We���re not everybody���s coffee roaster,��� he said. ���We roast coffee for the people who truly look for great flavors and aromas.��� Sunset Grill, 6280 S. Valley View Blvd., Las Vegas There are family-run businesses ��� and then there���s Sunset Grill in Las Vegas. As many as eight members of the Ratigan family work at the Las Vegas restaurant, cooking, serving and running the day-to-day operations. Matriarch June Ratigan opened Sunset Grill in September 2007 as an offshoot of the family���s first business, Executive Catering, which still is in operation today. Daughter Regina Antolik works as general manager of the restaurant, which is popular among local workers and delivery drivers. ���We���re a small restaurant that started with a very inexpensive menu,��� Regina Antolik said. ���Many of our prices have stayed the same over the years. We serve breakfast and lunch, and our paninis are very popular.��� The restaurant is open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. One of its most popular breakfast specials is two eggs with home-fried potatoes and toast for $3.50. ���We did see business decline in 2009,��� Antolik said. ���But we put our best foot forward, and the entire family pulled the load.��� Antolik���s brother, Ken Ratigan, now owns the catering company. Her sister, Lisa Ratigan, is a principal at Sunset Grill. Nephew Josh Ratigan, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, works there as a chef. ���Only three of our 11 employees aren���t family members,��� Antolik said. ���But they basically are part of the family in a lot of ways. They are included at all of our holiday meals.��� The next generation of workers is nearby, too. The family includes 21 grandchildren, all of who live in Las Vegas. Dempsey Graphics, 3347 S. Highland Drive, Las Vegas Audrey Dempsey got thrown a curve ball in January 1996. Dempsey had just quit her job to plan her wedding when her soon-to-be husband, Bob, was given his walking papers. He had worked at a local ad agency for almost a decade. ���We had two houses, no jobs and a wedding that was coming up,��� Dempsey said. ���What do you do?��� The answer: re-group. Bob had experience in graphics and web design, so the couple decided to launch Dempsey Graphics. ���We started out doing about 80 percent graphics design and 20 percent Web,��� Audrey Dempsey said. ���Today, it���s more like 80 percent Web and 20 percent graphics. We had to be adaptable.��� In 1997, they opened Infinity Photo. ���Our graphics clients needed photography,��� Audrey Dempsey said. ���Today, there are some projects we do together, and we share some clients. Other projects are still separate.��� Like most businesses, the Dempseys hit some economic road bumps in 2009. They trimmed their staff at the graphics business from nine to four. ���We weren���t willing to give up. We continued to find ways to find new clients,��� she said. ���We made a push more toward web design. We realized that companies were looking for videos to help tell their stories, so Bob started doing those, too. We were constantly reinventing the wheel.��� Going into survival mode paid dividends. ���The last two years have been our most successful since we started,��� she said. LTevention, 4580 W. Teco Road, Las Vegas Laurie Travis was working as a food server for the banquet services department at Caesars Palace when she realized she���d rather set up and design events than serve plates of food. Her entrepreneurial spirit kicked into gear, and a balloon company was born. ���It was like rubber gold,��� she said. ���I delivered to car dealerships, birthday parties and corporate events.��� That was back in 1994. Travis ran the business out of the back of her Dodge Caravan. By 2005, she was ready to expand. She launched LTevention, an event management company that plans events and provides party services such as flowers and linens. ���We grew really fast,��� Travis said. ���We started with something like 40 employees, and we had about 200 by 2007.��� LTevention was growing roots, handling events for Fortune 500 companies, celebrities, television networks and casino resorts. Then, in February 2009, President Barack Obama chastised bailed-out financial executives for taking trips to Las Vegas. Business plummeted. ���When the president went on TV and told companies that they shouldn���t hold their conferences here, that really hurt business,��� Travis said. More than 30,000 hotel room bookings were canceled, hitting Las Vegas with an estimated $20 million in lost revenue, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Travis had to trim her employee roster to fewer than 100. But she didn���t give up. ���We have the philosophy that we���ll get back up every time we get pushed down,��� she said. Today, LTevention has an 85,000-square-foot showroom that buzzes with clients viewing work in progress from graphic designers, floral artists, carpenters and metal workers. | 25 MARCH 2013 | 3/21/13 2:10:03 PM