MiraCosta College Business Department

By Tanya Mannes , UNION-TRIBUNE
Arobind Velagapudi wasn’t impressed with the bland Indian sauces he found in grocery stores. So he set out to do better.

“I always wanted to do something with food because I loved cooking,” said Velagapudi, an engineer by training who relocated from India to San Diego in 1998. “I thought I could make a better product.”

His Spicy Nothings sauces, slow-cooked and preserved with lime juice or vinegar, are now selling briskly in more than 400 stores around the country.
Velagapudi is part of the specialty food industry that is growing each year even in a tough economy, and San Diego County has plenty of creative entrepreneurs striving for their share of the $50 billion U.S. retail market. Dozens of small, local businesses including Spicy Nothings are selling their products on a national scale, along with a number of tiny companies available only in local outlets. MORE AT… http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/sep/05/focus-flavor-san-diego-businesses/

Tax preparers who expect to sign their name on tax returns come spring had better put their quills and inkwells aside until they hop online to the IRS’s PTIN site and apply for or renew their very own Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). All paid preparers are required to have such a number – your Social won’t do. All existing PTINs expire when the clock strikes 12 on the 31st of December, so get busy and get those renewed. Not surprisingly, there is a fee involved, so be prepared to fork over some bucks.