Updates

Progress reports on some previous Inc. articles.

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An (Anti)Establishment Closes

October 2005

Craig Rosebraugh, the fiery political activist/restaurateur featured in the October issue, has closed his Portland, Oreg., vegan eatery, Calendula café. "The sales weren't high enough to meet my labor and food costs," he says. "I was losing $300 or $400 a week, and I couldn't keep doing that. I guess these things happen in the restaurant business. I'll just chalk it up to a very expensive learning experience." Rosebraugh has no plans to open any more restaurants. He aims, instead, to pursue a Ph.D. in political science; he's not yet sure where he will apply.

Knowing When to Hold 'em

May 2005

Steve Lipscomb, our May cover subject, took the kind of gamble usually associated with players on his hit TV show, World Poker Tour, when this summer he declined an unsolicited $700 million cash offer for WPT Enterprises. The offer came from a group of investors led by former poker champion Doyle Brunson. Lipscomb says he turned down the offer because he felt that the value of his rapidly expanding brand still had room to grow, and he may be right. In September, the company announced licensing agreements to stage regional WPT events in the Philippines and Canada. In October, Lipscomb's company announced it was in talks with WPT broadcaster the Travel Channel to see if the network would exercise its right to match an offer Lipscomb's company had received from another network to carry its new show, The Professional Poker Tour.

The Next Great Reality TV Star?

April 2005

It turns out we're not the only ones who love Warren Brown. A few months after we featured Brown, founder of Cake Love bakery in Washington, D.C., in April's "Entrepreneurs We Love" issue, the Food Network announced he would host a new prime-time series called Sugar Rush. The show debuted in October.

Weight Losses

December 2003

The Atkins brand may not be as elastic as the waistband on a pair of generous sweatpants after all. In December 2003, Inc. wrote about how, following the death of Dr. Robert Atkins, his management team at Atkins Nutritionals rushed to launch nearly 70 new products in a matter of months. Over the objections of some of Atkins's closest collaborators, the new team sought to expand the brand, selling a shopping cart full of different products, including cereal, pasta, and bread. It now appears that they expanded too quickly. This summer, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.