business

'Tis the season for picking up new clients, and Twin Cities ad agencies are faring quite well in that department.

New Brighton-based Risdall Marketing Group last week announced that it had been selected as agency of record for Burnsville-based bd's Mongolian Grill, a chain in the midst of expansion that has 36 locations in 13 states. Bd's ownership team, which includes Rodger Head, Clyde Culp and the New York City investment firm Kinderhook Industries, expects to add eight to 10 new restaurants in 2010.

New business at Minneapolis-based Periscope also is all about food. The agency just added the Red Robin restaurant chain, gas-grill giant Char-Broil and Gold'n Plump Poultry to its client list. Colorado-based Red Robin has 430 restaurants. Georgia-based Char-Broil is carried by big-box retailers like Lowe's and Home Depot. Gold'n Plump is based in Minnesota with 250 family farmers in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Olson this month announced two new national clients -- Kraftmaid cabinetry and Red Kap work clothes. Forty-year-old Kraftmaid is one of the nation's largest manufacturers of semicustom cabinetry. Tennessee-based Red Kap is part of the family that sells Wrangler, Lee and the North Face brands, among others.

Another Minneapolis agency with just one name, Mono, recently was featured in the New York Times and in the Wall Street Journal for its work with Uptown furniture designer Blu Dot and a video showing New Yorkers doing some "curb-mining." In the video, Blu Dot chairs were fitted with GPS devices and placed singularly in public places to see who would stop and use, or take, the chairs. The documentary coincided with the one-year anniversary of Blu Dot's store in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood.

In another industry development that reinforces the impact of social media on society, Minneapolis agency Colle+McVoy unveiled a website for its clients, called Squawq.

It's an analytic tool that allows businesses to monitor what is said about them and their competitors on Twitter.

In a tough real estate market, Genmar Holdings discovered that there's still demand for a prized property: a marina on Lake Minnetonka.

Eight parties made offers on the marina in just a month's time, and it sold for $3 million -- that was above the $2.5 million list price.

Ryan Tibbits, a senior adviser at NorthMarq in Bloomington, said his firm got offers from investors, developers and marina operators.

The sale of the 3.28-acre property recently closed, and the buyer was RLA Family Limited Partnership, which is based in the Twin Cities.

"It's a highly sought-after property, especially in the marina operation world," Tibbits said. The marina, which has 111 boat slips, is at 1449 Shoreline Drive in Orono. It is on Brown's Bay and Tanager Lake.

NorthMarq also is seeking buyers for two other Genmar properties, both former boat manufacturing plants. Genmar filed for bankruptcy protection this year, Chief Executive Irwin Jacobs resigned, and Jacobs is expected to make a bid to buy many Genmar assets in early January.

NorthMarq has been marketing the factory sites since 2008, and Tibbets said the prices have been marked down twice. In Sarasota, Fla., Genmar is trying to sell eight buildings on 29 acres for $10.6 million at the former Wellcraft boat plant.

A second Florida parcel, which has three buildings on 11 acres, is listed at $4.62 million. In Culver, Ore., Genmar wants to sell 160,000 square feet of commercial space on 25 acres -- at the former Seaswirl plant -- for $2.79 million.

There must be something in the Betty Crocker cake mix that keeps General Mills ranked as one of the best places to work in the United States. Last week, Glassdoor.com ranked GIS as the No. 2 best company to work for, trailing Southwest Airlines by a fraction. However, General Mills CEO Ken Powell scored the best of any CEO in terms of employee satisfaction in the Top 50 places to work, with a 97 percent approval rating. Other Minnesota companies in the "best places to work" ranking were Medtronic at 18 and Best Buy at 45.

DAVID PHELPS, LIZ FEDOR