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REAL ESTATE Neighborhood changes may be giving downtrodden Train Avenue a lift. PAGE 14

LIST: Biggest SBA loans go to shooting complex, LGBTQ-friendly Fieldhouse. PAGE 34

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I JANUARY 16, 2023

‘PROJECT RENAISSANCE’ Food producer wins $9.6 million USDA grant for facility on Cleveland’s East Side

BY MICHELLE JARBOE

International Food Solutions, a growing company that plans to bring more than 200 jobs to Cleveland’s East Side, started with a conversation at an Asian Chao restaurant in 2007.

A customer asked why it was so difficult to find Asian meals for school lunch programs. The question intrigued Lincoln Yee, the director of operations and purchasing for the restaurant chain. It wasn’t long before he and his boss, Allan

Texting controversy spotlights challenges for women in law BY JEREMY NOBILE

An unprofessional text message sent by a partner at Cleveland labor and employment law firm Zashin & Rich to a female associate — who was apparently asked to work during maternity leave and who left the firm after that leave — has drawn stark criticisms from the legal community after being shared publicly. The debacle has also spurred conversations about how women are treated in the legal field and the expectations of

employers and employees when it comes to professional leaves of absence. Details of the female attorney’s story were shared on LinkedIn by Kelley Barnett, a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel’s national Ladder Down Committee and chair of that program’s Cleveland chapter. Ladder Down is a leadership, business development and mentoring program for women lawyers. See CHALLENGES on Page 37

NEWSPAPER

Lam, quit their jobs to build a new business. Today, the partners supply ethnic food — tangerine chicken and teriyaki chicken are their top sellers — to more than 5,300 school districts and other institutional clients. Their

See PRODUCER on Page 36

International Food Solutions bought a former Goodwill building in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood in November. The meal-production company plans to expand the building as a poultry-processing plant with more than 200 employees. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Not just in Kansas anymore Rally House expands aggressively in Ohio BY JOE SCALZO

If you had walked inside the North Canton Rally House on the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 9, you would have seen a boatload of Cleveland Browns and Ohio State Buckeyes merchandise ... and very few customers lining up to buy it. It was understandable — the Browns had just finished off a disappointing season with a loss to the Steelers, while the Buckeyes essentially finished one number away from winning Mega Millions — but it begged the question: What would it be like if both teams were still playing? “A lot different,” said manager Josh Sulzener with a laugh. “It’s funny, because after the Buckeyes lost to Michigan, people came in here and were See RALLY HOUSE on Page 35

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company, based in Oviedo, Florida, outside of Orlando, does more than $50 million in annual sales. Now, after struggling with supplier shortages during the pandemic,

Kansas-based Rally House has nine Northeast Ohio locations, including this one in North Canton, which opened in 2022. |JOE SCALZO/ CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

“THAT’S WHY WE’RE ABLE TO EXPAND THE WAY WE ARE. WE THINK WE HAVE THE DEPTH AND BREADTH OF LOCAL SPORTS TEAMS, AND THE LOCAL WARE, THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS.” — Aaron Johnson, Rally House’s VP of marketing strategy

1/13/2023 9:39:16 AM