Alchemy Bistro brings continental cuisine to Capital Avenue

Chef Tim Leininger at Alchemy Bistro and Catering

I'd never eaten a hard-boiled quail egg for lunch before today, when I visited Alchemy Bistro and Catering at 552 North Capital Avenue, in the spot where That One Place used to be.

Chef Tim Leininger has been cooking there by himself since before Thanksgiving. Prior to that, he had been doing mainly catering from a kitchen in the Trackside Mall. When he saw the kitchen on North Capital had opened, he jumped at it.

A native of Pine Grove, Pa., near Hershey, Leininger grew up in a family of cooks. He worked at restaurants while attending college. After graduate work at Penn State, he came to Idaho in 1989 to work environmental safety and health at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. After leaving the site in 2006, he went to the French Culinary Institute in New York City.

Leininger said he has mixed feelings about the restaurant business because of all the waste he sees. "I don't like waste because of my French culinary background. The French, they use everything. They look at the whole chicken."

Though it has daytime hours -- 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday -- Alchemy is doing some special dinners in February and March. To learn more, visit alchemychef.com or the Facebook page. The phone number is 529-1032.

By the way, though it was the size of an olive the quail egg tasted like most of the hard-boiled eggs I've  eaten.

Melaleuca announces expansion into Mexico

Melaleuca, Inc., one of eastern Idaho's largest employers, announced today it has expanded into Mexico, its 17th market worldwide.

The company makes and distributes close to 350 health and wellness products through a network of "marketing executives" who earn commissions based on product purchases by customers they refer. The move into Mexico, which happened earlier in the month, has already yielded thousands of new customers, said Antonio Lima, spokesman for the company.

CEO Frank VanderSloot said Melaleuca held off on Mexico because the company wanted to first develop its Hispanic market in the United States. Developing a deep leadership team of Hispanic marketing executives has allowed them to enter Mexico with a high degree of confidence, since many of those people have strong personal connections in Mexico.

Israel Palafox, Melaleuca’s vice president of sales for Hispanic markets, believes the company’s success in Mexico will continue for years to come. “Thousands of Mexican families will benefit by taking advantage of the steady residual income that Melaleuca offers to those who refer our products,” he said.

Although the majority of Melaleuca’s business growth has been in the United States and Canada, sales from elsewhere accounted for 45 percent of the company's 2013 revenues. Melaleuca does business in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Alpine Dermatology opens Idaho Falls clinic

Cameron French

Dr. Dan Marshall of Rexburg has opened an second Alpine Dermatology Clinic, in Idaho Falls, with physician's assistant Cameron French joining the staff there. The location is 927 South Utah Avenue, Suite 200.

French grew up in Shelley and earned his undergraduate degree at Ricks College then Brigham Young University in Provo. He earned his P.A. degree from Des Moines University and has been practicing Dermatology in Rigby for the past 10 years.

Marshall said there is a particular need for dermatological services in Idaho Falls. Why? High altitude, a high propensity for outdoor recreation and an aging population that didn't practice sunscreening in its youth. The latest statistic is, one in five people will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.

For more information about Alpine Dermatology's new Idaho Falls office, visit the link above or call (208) 881-5241.

Galusha Higgins & Galusha plans open house Friday

There will be a ribbon cutting and open house on Friday at Galusha, Higgins & Galusha’s new office in Snake River Landing. A regional CPA and advisory firm, Galusha, Higgins & Galusha officially opened its new office at 1220 Whitewater Drive earlier this month. It is located on Snake River Parkway, south of Potandon Produce.

The ribbon cutting with the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors will be at  3 p.m. The Open House will follow with a reception for clients and the public, ending at 6 p.m.

With more than 90 years of experience serving clients in the West, Galusha, Higgins & Galusha opened its Idaho Falls office in 1961. Learn more about the firm at www.ghg-cpa.com.

Idaho Falls seeks scholarship applicants

The city of Idaho Falls is seeking applicants for money from the Mayor's Scholarship Fund, established by former mayor Jared Fuhriman and local education foundations to provide financial assistance to Idaho Falls area students planning to pursue post-high school education within the state.

The deadline for applications is Feb. 7 at 4 p.m. Applications may be submitted to a high school guidance counselor or to the School District 91 or 93 offices.

The Promise Scholarship is for grades 8-11, and the award is $500. The Senior Scholarship is for current 12th graders and is a $1,500 award. At least twelve recipients from each category will be chosen.

The money comes from local business sponsors and private donors, and is targeted at students who are college-bound not qualified for other types of scholarships.

Equality in the workplace – is it really there?

Every Jan. 20 as a nation we celebrate and remember the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Most of us don’t need a history lesson to remember the passion, drive, and sacrifices that he made leading the civil rights movement. This movement changed our nation in every way, from everyday living, culture, laws and regulations and the way we do business.

Gone are the days of segregation and openly accepted discrimination – or are they? The laws and regulations passed and enacted since the mid-’60s -- the Title VII Civil Rights Act of 1967, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Age Discrimination in Employment Act to name a few -- have expanded protected classes to encompass everyone in the workplace. So the question remains is discrimination still a major issue in the workplace?

The answer should come as no surprise: yes. Discrimination cases extend to behavior that doesn’t involve just promotions or raises to members of a protected class. It can encompass even casual behavior in the workplace, like comments or jokes from co-worker to co-worker.  Over the past few years I have heard more times than I care to admit occasional jokes, comments and office banter that have made me cringe in fear that they were not isolated incidents.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, my experiences are most likely are not rare or isolated. The number of cases reviewed by the EEOC was down in 2013, 93,727 cases reviewed, compared to 97, 252 in 2012. The monetary benefits collected increased, however, with the EEOC collecting over $372 million – a new record for private sector enforcement.  Despite the decline in cases from one year to the next, employers are having to pay more money to settle cases.  Companies like JC Penney and KFC recently settled minor claims for $40,000 each respectively. Ruby Tuesdays forked out $575,000 in a recent class action case.

That money doesn’t account for the time and headache involved in fighting these cases either. In recent cases that I have fought alone for small businesses in southeast Idaho, the average time for an initial decision from the Idaho Human Rights Commission was in between a year to a year-and-a-half. Luckily these cases did not result in formal investigations by the Human Rights Commission or lawsuits by the claimants, which would have prolonged the time and resources even more.

Now more than ever, it is important for businesses to take compliance with discrimination and harassment seriously. From annual training to solid policies for reporting and investigating possibly discriminatory or harassing behavior, taking the time now could save your business thousands in the future, or maybe save your business altogether.

Monica Bitrick is CEO of Bitrick Consulting Group, a small business offering customized business and management solutions. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (208) 932-8436.

Site plan filed for West Broadway strip mall

The ground where  the strip mall is being proposed is to the right side of the photo, facing Broadway.

If you're wondering where Walker's, Coco Beach, Karanation, etc., may be headed when the shopping center on Skyline Drive is torn down to make way for Walgreen's, a site plan has been filed for a strip mall on West Broadway between Arby's and Los Alberto's.

City departments are reviewing the plans for a 13,650-square-foot structure with an address of 1525 West Broadway (the building to the west, which was originally Kmart then Ernst Home Center, has an address of 1545 West Broadway). The mall will be divided into six units.

A site plan is the first step in any new development. People from different city departments examine the plans to make sure the details are in compliance with the city's codes and regulations. Once the plan is approved, a developer goes before the city planning and zoning commission, which makes a recommendation to the City Council. Once the City Council approves the plat, a building permit is issued and construction can begin.

CORRECTION: Based on conversations with city building officials, we reported in late December that the plan was to build a strip mall on the site where City Floral was. No deal has been made on that land, we learned.