There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but there can be a free launch, at least when it comes to advertising.

Sharon Tallach Vogelpohl and her team at Mangan Holcomb Partners are veterans of free media, particularly in restaurant grand openings.

The Little Rock advertising and PR firm handled June’s buzzy takeoff of the Dave & Buster’s location on Bass Pro Parkway in Little Rock.

The opening was the most successful ever for D&B, the entertainment eatery and arcade-game empire that was conceived in Little Rock and now has 83 sites, according to Vogelpohl. Sales figures were unavailable, but the numbers were big, and the launch didn’t cost D&B a nickel in advertising.

“It enjoyed unprecedented engagement, buzz and media coverage,” Vogelpohl said in a recent chat at MHP, where bald eagles glided into the cottonwoods along the Arkansas River outside. “Dave & Buster’s doesn’t invest in any traditional advertising. They rely on relationships with firms like ours that can create buzz and awareness using nontraditional vehicles.”

That’s a fancy way of saying MHP succeeded in getting Arkansans to write, message and chat about the opening. And the 30,000-SF D&B site offered a lot to buzz about, all on display for a media preview a few days before the June 13 grand opening. At that event, General Manager Chuck Beyer showed off the “best of the best games,” a 360-degree sports bar, 44 high-definition TVs, two 100-inch projection screens and space to accommodate 1,500 people. The location opened with 240 employees.

“They came in with a particular demographic to target,” Vogelpohl said. “They called them PTYAs, or play-together young adults. These are young professional people who are tech savvy and kind of the bell cows in their own circles. We wanted to reach those folks, and they are largely millennials.”

So as part of its pitch for the account, MHP showcased that 51 of its 65 employees are millennials (including workers for its digital affiliate Team SI, which was recently named for the second straight year to the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies). “Pretty much everybody in our industry is trying to figure out the best way to engage with young adults, so it was helpful to have a whole stable of them,” Vogelpohl said.

All of MHP’s pitch presenters were millennials “with the exception of myself,” Vogelpohl said. “I said I was more PTA than PTYA,” but she wore a T-shirt labeled “PTYA at Heart.”

Vogelpohl, who started at Mangan Holcomb as an intern and wound up staying 22 years, has been the agency’s president for six, ever since the retirement of Steve Holcomb.

During that time, restaurants have become a bit of a specialty. “We had some experience that was relevant to the Dave & Buster’s opening,” she said, noting that MHP had handled the opening of Little Rock’s Chuy’s Tex-Mex restaurant in 2013, along with the subsequent Chuy’s launches in North Little Rock and Rogers. “Long story short, we ended up setting a sales record that stands today for the Chuy’s organization.”

That was part of the appeal to Dave & Buster’s, but a Mangan team led by Kristen Vandaveer Nicholson also played games on D&B in a standup pitch.

“Since Dave & Buster’s is a game-rich environment, we selected about 15 obscure items — a deck of cards, a kazoo, a Yoda mask mounted on a head — and asked them to choose their own adventure by picking one of the items,” Vogelpohl said. “Then we would tie that item back to one of the recommendations that we had, or thoughts on how to make their launch more successful. They really dug that.”

Vogelpohl said that while media coverage and fanfare are great, “where the rubber really meets the road is what the result is in sales, and sustaining that.”

Dave & Buster’s is based in Dallas, but the concept came from Little Rock, where Buster Corley’s Buster’s restaurant opened next door to Dave Corriveau’s Slick Willy’s World of Entertainment in 1978 at Union Station. They quickly realized that food, drinks and games mix well.

How well? Traded on Nasdaq, the company has steadily opened stores and increased its revenue in recent years, to $867 million in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31. Its net income for the year was $59.6 million.

Lenny’s Subs, which is rebranding as Lenny’s Grill & Subs, wants to expand in Arkansas, with the goal of opening 20 to 30 in the state in the next five years. That’s according to Bob Ritter, vice president of franchise and market development for the chain, based in Memphis.

Len Moore founded Lenny’s in 1998, but Johnson Ventures now owns the chain, which has 104 shops in 12 states. Little Rock’s Lenny’s is at 11401 Financial Centre Parkway, and it has one location each in Bentonville and in West Memphis.

Lenny’s emphasizes freshness, Ritter said, but what distinguishes the restaurant are its Philly cheesesteaks. And as part of its rebranding, Lenny’s is adding salads and soups to its menu to attract more families.

Lenny’s is looking for single and multi-unit franchisees in Arkansas, Ritter said. Lenny’s averaged $562,000 in sales per store in 2015, he said. The state has a lot of good markets, Ritter said, but finding people committed to the quality the brand seeks to deliver can be a challenge.

Watermill Express is seeking franchisees in the Little Rock area to open its water-selling kiosks. The windmill-shaped kiosk serves as “a mini water purification plant,” said company co-founder Lani Dolifka, where customers can bring their own vessels to fill with clean water. The price for the water, whose source is usually municipal water systems, ranges from 25 to 35 cents per gallon.

The system is computer monitored, Dolifka said, helping guarantee the quality of the water, said Dolifka, who started the company with her husband, Don, in 1984 in Brighton, Colorado.

Watermill Express has 1,300 locations in eight states. Learn more at WatermillExpress.com.

A rebuilt Stoby’s is still at least seven months away, owner David Stobaugh said last week. “We’re looking at early spring” before the landmark Conway restaurant can be up and running again.

A March fire put Stoby’s out of business, at least at that location. David and his wife, Patti, Stoby’s co-owner, decided to raze the old fire-ravaged house that was home to the restaurant and rebuild in the same location, 805 Donaghey Ave. But in the meantime, they opened a temporary location offering to-go service that they dubbed Stoby’s Express, at 1310 Prince St.

And Stoby’s Express has been something of a revelation to David Stobaugh. Even with strictly to-go orders, limited hours and a limited menu, business has been brisk. Breakfast was added last week.

“We’ve got a lot of people that are encouraging us to keep that open even after we open the other one,” he said. “The logistics on that employee-wise would be a little tricky, because the insurance company paid everybody for 60 days and my core group of people for a year, so I’ve got that core group of people that are over there working, and of course I’m going to want to take them back to the restaurant when it reopens.”

As for building the new, improved Stoby’s, “we’re inching along, making slow progress,” Stobaugh said. The rebuilt restaurant will be much larger, about 4,200 SF compared with 1,375 SF, and will have twice as much seating, with room for about 128 diners.

In addition, they’re razing the house next door, just north of the old Stoby’s and which the Stobaughs also own, to create 50 parking spaces.

“The vision is to put a building back there that looks like Stoby’s did before but looks like it was added onto,” he said.

NBMC of Greenbrier is the general contractor on the Stoby’s project, which Stobaugh estimated would come in at “north of $1 million.”

Business at Stoby’s Express has been so good that he thought about just opening two more Express sites, which would have required a lot less than $1 million, instead of putting that money into rebuilding Stoby’s. But Conway, to “an amazing degree,” has adopted Stoby’s, Stobaugh said, and its destruction by fire created a feeling of loss. “I think it really was an important part of the community, and I think we feel a responsibility to put it back for Conway as well as for ourselves,” Stobaugh said.

Still, he thinks Stoby’s Express locations could work in east Conway and Greenbrier. And as for the wait time for the rebuilt Stoby’s Restaurant, “I’ve decided I’m going to use the Apple marketing program, which is anticipation.”

Eight women and a congregation of Catholic nuns were the second class of inductees honored by the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame at a banquet in Little Rock on Aug. 25.

The nonprofit Hall of Fame was incorporated in 2014 as a joint project of the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and Arkansas Business Publishing Group, and major sponsors of the event include Centennial Bank of Conway, BMW of Little Rock and Eagle Bank, also of Little Rock.

Nominations for the 2017 class of inductees are being accepted online at ARWomensHallOfFame.com. See profiles and biographies of this year's class at ArkansasBusiness.com/AWOF.

Scott McGehee, executive chef and partner at Yellow Rocket Concepts of Little Rock, says there are no new restaurants in the works right now, but he's looking to northwest Arkansas and barbecue as he considers growth.

McGehee spoke at the Rotary Club of Little Rock's weekly meeting on Tuesday and said the while the company has "no plans" for a new restaurant, he would "like to expand in northwest Arkansas." He also said "world-class barbecue is something I'd like to do."

"We don't have any leases signed," McGehee said. "But we have our eyes on northwest Arkansas."

Yellow Rocket Concepts has a range of eateries in its portfolio: Local Lime, Heights Taco & Tamale Co., Big Orange, Lost Forty Brewing and Zaza Fine Salad & Wood-Oven Pizza Co. McGehee also founded Boulevard Bread, which he sold eight years ago. 

The company recently purchased property for a new headquarters.

McGehee said he is also interested in the "healthy eating" market and believes it will be a growing sector of the restaurant industry.

In his presentation, McGehee spoke about the start of his career and his family's history in the restaurant business.

His father started Juanita's restaurant, which recently closed, and his great-grandmother opened the Red Apple Inn in Heber Springs.

Now, Yellow Rocket Concepts employs 470 people, the majority of whom McGehee said are millennials.

"What's most critical for my organization is that we treat every person we hire with fairness and respect," McGehee said. "There’s never or reason to yell or scream in the kitchen … Food Network is not the real world."

He said that he tries to instill in his young employees to be positive, honest and sober.

"If I can take a young person and teach them to be consistently positive, that's the best thing I can teach them," McGehee said. "I tell employees, 'I want you to come and be challenged and be promoted in the company — or leave and do something extraordinary with your life.'"

He said the turnover rate at his restaurants is much lower than the average restaurant and he believes this is in part due to the competitive wages.

"If minimum wage went up to $12 right now we'd have to raise maybe 3 percent of our employees' wages," McGehee said. 

In all his restaurants, McGehee said he wants customers to enjoy high-end, gourmet food, and for "anyone to be able to come in and have a great experience."

Starting a small business is no easy feat for a multitude of reasons, and one of the largest hurdles for many entrepreneurs is securing funding. The 2016 Kauffman Index of Startup Activity is a comprehensive indicator of new business creation in the United States and shows start-up activity continues to gain momentum in 2016, following the upward trend that began last year. In short, the latest recession is behind us, new business activity continues to grow and these new ventures need funding. Your local bank can be a great resource to help finalize your business plan, and put you on the road to securing the money you need. Arvest Bank shares three things entrepreneurs need to stand out to potential lenders.

1. A thorough, realistic, business plan

A business plan is a crucial part of an entrepreneur’s lending ask, and banks will want to see a comprehensive plan for the creation, operation and success of the business. An industry analysis is needed to determine if a prospective company is in tune with the needs of the area and if there is enough market share available to be profitable.

The business plan should also include a market analysis of the prospective customers and their spending habits. Also, who are the competitors in the market and what is your business' point of difference that will enable you to be competitive?

2. Honest financial projections

Realistic financial projections are a necessary point that banks will review intently. Your financial projections should not be inflated beyond industry averages. Bankers will easily recognize this “stretching” of the financials, and would rather see that you are realistic about the time and commitment needed to grow a business. A good place to start is to assess industry standards and see how your company would compare to the current performance of businesses already in operation. In addition to profit and loss projections, banks will want to see a plan for anticipated cash flow, as timing and delays play a big role in managing the finances of an organization.

Financial institutions may also prefer that you list a secondary source of repayment in the event that your business does struggle financially. Banks have to protect their assets with every loan, so proof of savings, collateral or a strong guarantor will strengthen your request for funds.

3. Stakeholders and business resources

When a plan is under review, proof that the entrepreneur has stakeholders who know the business, and resources to guide them, is extremely beneficial. Providing a lender profiles of the business partners, investors, and management team to ensure that the business is in the hands of people with a history of successful experience can also be an advantage. Listing resources such as the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at UALR also demonstrates to lenders that you have done research and know where to turn for guidance as you grow your business.

Entrepreneurs should know their industry, create a detailed plan for reaching their targets, outline the financial plan for success and have a team of players ready to work to make it all happen. Banks and lenders want to see their small business clients thrive, and will work with them to make sure the outcomes are successful for everyone.

Before joining the Fayetteville Advertising & Promotion Commission as executive director in August, Molly Rawn was director of development and communications at the Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville, where she led capital campaigns before overseeing fundraising, membership and PR. In previous jobs, Rawn directed major gifts and membership for radio station KUAF and was development director for the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter.

Rawn is a 2008 graduate of the University of Arkansas. “Most of my college career was spent as an English major, but I ended up graduating cum laude with a B.A. in Communication.”

After high school and a semester at Hendrix College, Rawn spent two years in Raleigh, North Carolina, waiting on tables and working for a temp agency. “It was certainly a part of my education,” she says.

What does Fayetteville have, beyond the Arkansas Razorbacks and the natural beauty of the Ozarks, to attract visitors? And how important is tourism to the local economy?

Fayetteville is a great college town surrounded by natural beauty, but it is much more. It has many attractions, such as the Clinton House Museum, Walton Arts Center, the food and nightlife of Dickson Street, TheatreSquared and a wide variety of cultural and other events that take place on the campus of the University of Arkansas that increasingly attract tourists each year. This helps generate money for the local economy, which is very important. It helps create jobs and keep parks up to date, which makes Fayetteville a great place to work and call home.

What experiences in your past do you hope to draw on in your new job? Is it a field you expected to land in?

This is not a field I expected to be in, but I am thrilled to be here. My previous role was part of a team starting a new institution from square one. It was literally the building of a new place, but also the crafting of a mission and vision, creation of policies and procedures, hiring a staff and figuring out everything from daily operations to developing a five-year plan. If you work with a group of people who trust each other and all have the same goal in mind, you will be set up for success. I also learned you can’t accomplish everything all at once.

To attract tourists and visitors, will you be looking largely within Arkansas or out of state? What do you see as the ideal mix?

While we always want to cater to Arkansans, we also are targeting the metropolitan areas in surrounding states. We have seen an increase in tourists from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. With other large cities such as Memphis, Kansas City and Tulsa less than six hours away, Fayetteville is centrally located for weekend visits.

Do you feel competitive with Bentonville, or with that city’s cultural and other amenities, do you think a rising tide lifts all boats?

Our region has transformed dramatically during the last few years, and I could not be more thrilled. Fayetteville is a northwest Arkansas anchor. It is an incredible place to visit, to live and to work. The fact that our neighboring cities are also thriving enhances rather than detracts from our appeal.

How much does the Fayetteville A&P Commission collect each year and how does it use the money?

In 2015, HMR revenues were just more than $3.05 million. Funds are used to promote the city and its attractions. We also operate the Fayetteville Town Center. I firmly believe that a great place to live is a great place to visit. Since much of our funding comes from Fayetteville residents dining in our restaurants, we have an obligation to help increase quality of life both for tourists and for residents. Recently the A&P dedicated funds for public art projects. I am eager to launch that program and put a process in place for those dollars to be distributed. I also look forward to increasing our outreach to hotels and restaurants — hearing from those business owners what they’d like to see us do better.

A 296,000-SF retail project in North Little Rock tipped the scales at $23.15 million.

TPP 303 NLR Plaza LLC, an affiliate of TriGate Capital LLC of Dallas, bought McCain Plaza at 4200 E. McCain Blvd. from DDR Downreit LLC.

The seller is an affiliate of DDR Corp., a publicly traded real estate investment trust based in Beachwood, Ohio.

The deal is financed with a five-year loan of $20.9 million from Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina.

DDR Downreit purchased the 27.77-acre development for $18 million in March 1994 from Folmar & Associates of Montgomery, Alabama.

Dollar Deal

A Dollar General store on the northern edge of Maumelle weighed in at $1.06 million.

Matsai Ltd. of Chula Vista, California, acquired the 9,217-SF project at 21300 Hwy. 365 from Yellow Store Holdings LLC, led by Kevin Huchingson.

The deal is funded with a 10-year loan of $636,000 from TruStone Financial Federal Credit Union of Plymouth, Min-nesota.

The 1-acre development previously helped secure a January 2012 mortgage of $3.1 million held by Metropolitan National Bank of Little Rock.

Yellow Store bought the property for $967,000 more than four years ago from PB General Holdings (Morgan) LLC, led by Leonard Boen.

Mobile Duo

Two small mobile home parks in southwest Little Rock changed hands in a $725,000 sale.

Myatt Realty LLC, led by Doyle Johnson, purchased the Community Lane Mobile Home Park at 3824 Community Lane and the Spencer Mobile Home Park at 3412 Coffer Lane.

The seller is CJC2015 LLC, led by Sheila Carroll. The deal is backed with two loans totaling $543,750 from Centennial Bank of Conway.

The 2-acre Coffer Lane property was bought for $100,000 in June 2015 from Richard and Lisa Coppola. The 2.13-acre Community Lane property was acquired for $175,000 in October 2015 from Marabelle Properties LLC, led by J.J. and Jill Childers.

Captain Transaction

A 2,473-SF eatery in North Little Rock is under new ownership after a $569,445 deal.

SCFRC-HW-G LLC, an affiliate of Chambers Street Properties of Princeton, New Jersey, bought the Captain D’s at 5320 JFK Blvd. The seller is CNL APF Partners Ltd., an affiliate of GE Capital of Norwalk, Connecticut.

The 0.83-acre development was purchased for $775,000 in February 2005 from USRP (S&C) LLC, an affiliate of CNL Financial Group Inc. of Orlando, Florida.

Honey of a Deal

A 20,910-SF office-warehouse project in North Little Rock rang up a $420,000 sale.

FHC Properties LLC, led by Jimmy Hutton and Raye Stroope, acquired the facility at 2001 N. Poplar St. and a neighboring 0.32 acres. The seller is Fischer Honey Co., led by Joel Callaway.

The purchase is supported by a 25-year loan of $1.46 million from Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama.

The property was assembled largely through deals with Marie Renshaw, $9,000 in May 1998; S.R. and Jewell Garrett, $1,600 in August 1937; and O.E. and Mary Chilson, an undisclosed sum in August 1924.

Furniture Buy

A 10,000-SF retail center in Little Rock drew a $350,000 transaction.

Norris Furniture LLC, led by Brad Norris, purchased the 3900 John Barrow Road project from One Bank & Trust of Little Rock. The deal is financed with a five-year loan of $294,100 from the bank.

One Bank recovered the 1.27-acre development in May 2013 from The Warehouse Partnership, led by Alberta Wilson.

The property was tied to an August 2005 mortgage of $464,400 held by the bank.

Bretagne Manor

A 6,697-SF home in the Bretagne Circle neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development tipped the scales at $1 million.

The Suzanne Lindsay Bradshaw Revocable Trust bought the house from the Formicola Family Revocable Living Trust, led by Thomas and Cynthia Formicola.

The residence previously was linked with an April 2014 mortgage of $696,000 from Charles Schwab Bank of Reno, Nevada.

The Formicolas purchased the property for $928,000 in November 2014 from the namesake revocable trusts of Audrey and Gerry Riser.

Ridgehaven Residence

A 3,844-SF home in west Little Rock’s Ridgehaven neighborhood sold for $995,000.

Daniel and Autumn Hardin acquired the 4.66-acre wooded spread from Jane McMullin. The deal is funded with a 25-year loan of $750,000 from Regions Bank.

The McMullin family bought the property for $375,000 in August 1992 from James and Billie Tanner.

Kingwood House

A 4,374-SF home in Little Rock’s Kingwood Place neighborhood changed hands in a $695,000 deal.

Christopher and Lea May purchased the house from Richard Peek Sr. and his wife, Bonnie.

The deal is backed with 30-year loans of $417,000 and $139,000 from Bank of Little Rock Mortgage Corp.

The residence previously was tied to a March 2013 mortgage of $100,000 held by Bank of America.

The Peeks acquired the property for $465,000 in December 1992 from Glenda Ensminger and the Charles A. Ensminger Revocable Trust.

Oaks Home

A 4,260-SF home in The Oaks neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development is under new ownership after a $565,000 transaction.

The Linda C. Holbert Revocable Trust bought the house from The Emil Trust, led by Senthil and Rhodora Raghavan.

The residence previously was linked with an October 2012 mortgage of $407,440 held by North Little Rock’s National Bank of Arkansas.

The property was purchased for $510,000 nearly four years ago from Kathy and Louis McAlister.

Rural Residence

A 3,528-SF home in west Pulaski County’s River Estates neighborhood rang up a $545,000 sale.

Jaclyn and John Bracey Jr. acquired the house from William and Margaret Cunningham.

The deal is financed with a 30-year loan of $545,000 from SunTrust Mortgage Inc. of Richmond, Virginia.

The residence previously was tied to a March 2009 mortgage of $417,000 held by Bank of Little Rock Mortgage.

The Cunninghams bought the location for $83,000 from West End Partners LLC, led by David Matchet and Leon Smith.

Lamarche Abode

A 4,910-SF home the Lamarche Place neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development drew a $518,000 transaction.

Christopher and Kimberly Carroll purchased the house from Thomas Manning III and his wife, Nirvana.

The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $414,000 from Bank of Little Rock Mortgage. The residence previously was linked with August 2010 mortgages of $417,000 and $63,000 held by First Financial Bank of El Dorado.

The Mannings acquired the property for $575,000 in February 2007 from James and Marla Vanwyk.

Seven-Digit Construction

Outpatient Surgery Center    $4,800,000
11220 Executive Center Drive, Little Rock
Mulhearn Wilson Constructors Inc., North Little Rock

Phase I Demolition    $1,202,050
Pinnacle View Middle School
5701 Ranch Drive, Little Rock
Baldwin & Shell Construction Co., Little Rock

Remodeling    $1,000,000
Kroger
1900 N. Polk St., Little Rock
Corco Construction LLC, Little Rock

A Bentonville couple seeking to ride the microbrew wave has signed on as franchisees with Growler USA, a 2-year-old craft brew franchise that calls itself “America’s Microbrew Pub.”

Seth and Mary McDaniel hope to open their Growler USA location in Rogers some time after the first of next year. It would be the first Growler USA in Arkansas.

As an IT consultant his entire career, Seth McDaniel spent most of the week on the road. He grew tired of the travel and had always wanted to open a restaurant, but he lacked restaurant experience. “I found Growler USA and decided it would be a great opportunity to kind of dip my toes into learning how to run and operate a restaurant,” McDaniel said.

Growler USA currently has locations in Eugene, Oregon; Charlotte, North Carolina; Honolulu; Seattle; and Houston and Austin, Texas. It has about 40 franchises sold in 18 states, including metro areas of Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando and Phoenix.

The company, based in Centennial, Colorado, says it’s dedicated “to offering only American-made craft beverages and a menu designed to celebrate the unique flavors of each drink.” The pubs offer up to 100 taps of craft beer, hard cider, draught wine, root bear, cold-pressed coffee and kombucha tea.

The craft beer aspect appealed to McDaniel, he said, “the ability to sell and support all the local breweries that are in northwest Arkansas — all of Arkansas, basically.” He added that “the vast majority of our 100 beer tap handles will be products from the local breweries.”

And “going with a franchise, I kind of get to leverage the processes and procedures that they’ve put in place, so I’m not trailblazing my own path.”

The Rogers Growler USA will offer a full lunch and dinner service, with a menu designed to pair with “a vast array of beer styles.”

His pub will be in a retail center at 4204 S. J.B. Hunt Drive in Rogers, part of the retail development in The District at Pinnacle Hills. Whisinvest Realty is the developer and leasing company for the project.

Although his wife, Mary, will be keeping her day job — she’s a buyer for Wal-Mart — Seth McDaniel will be devoting his full energies to the microbrew pub. And if things work out, they may open other Growler locations. “I’m taking it one step at a time.”

Their investment will total about $500,000, McDaniel said. They’ve obtained an SBA loan from Legacy National Bank.

Although it’s a franchise, McDaniel stresses that “it’s locally owned and operated with a focus on the local breweries in the community." All of the servers and beer tenders will be Cicerone Certified Beer Servers. Cicerone certification is a professional certification for beer professionals.

He expects to employ between 15 and 20 workers.

As Arkansas Business writers were preparing last month’s well-received Business Icons features, we specifically asked some of the 10 to talk about what they were doing when they were in their 20s.

I want to use some of them to introduce this week’s eighth annual The New Influentials: 20 in Their 20s feature, because their answers were instructive — and not just because most of those business legends had found their life’s work before they were 30. Some of their stories seem like products of an earlier time that would be hard to replicate in the 21st century, but they also delivered reminders of the timeless qualities that propel a young adult toward success.

Bob Shell was already on his third career when he joined the Little Rock construction company that would eventually be renamed Baldwin & Shell — and he wasn’t yet 20. He had been fired from a job driving an ambulance. He had been denied a promotion from mail clerk to furniture salesman at Fones Hardware.

He was, in his words, “pretty disgusted” by the setbacks when he hired on with the 4-year-old Baldwin Co., and he was determined to make himself valuable to the company’s three founders, who had taken a chance on a 19-year-old who, by his own account, “didn’t know anything about construction.”

Six and a half decades later, Shell spoke of P.W. Baldwin, Werner Knoop and especially Olen Cates with an admiration and appreciation that reminded me of Ebenezer Scrooge’s memories of his first boss, old Mr. Fezziwig.

“They were all very good to me,” Shell said. And his job at Baldwin Co. became more than just a job. “I’ve really loved it.”

The morals of Bob Shell’s story, then, are to shake off failure and to make the most of opportunities. (And for those of us who are no longer young, Shell serves as a great reminder that eager beginners deserve the opportunity to show what they can do.)

Johnelle Hunt, widely considered the operational talent that turned her husband’s dream into the reality that is J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. of Lowell, also found her life’s work before she was 30 — just barely and involuntarily.

She was 29 and happy as a housewife and mother when Johnnie Bryan Hunt started his trucking company. But someone had to make those collection calls, and her fierce dedication to her family was all the impetus she needed.

“In collections you have to have someone really strong who doesn’t take no for an answer,” said Hunt, now widowed and in her mid-80s. “I knew for every dollar I didn’t collect, we lost 50 cents, so I couldn’t feed my children. I was a nice person until I started collecting money.”

A lesson from Johnelle Hunt, then, is this: One may find professional satisfaction — what is too often referred to as “passion” — in unexpected places and even in responsibilities that we didn’t seek out.

Jim Lindsey spent most of his 20s on the gridiron — he turned 20 the year he was part of the Arkansas Razorbacks national championship football team in 1964 and spent seven years in the NFL.

Then, at 29 in 1973, he founded Lindsey & Associates, the foundation of his real estate empire.

But he had a plan even while he was playing football, the game that he says taught him to understand a big picture. When he was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings at 22, he invested his $75,000 signing bonus in real estate — including the future site of the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville.

The lessons from Jim Lindsey: When you get your hands on some money, don’t blow it. And if you know that what you are doing right now is not going to last forever, start preparing Plan B.

When George Gleason was 25, he bought the Bank of Ozark, with assets of $28 million. The next day, he gathered his 30 employees and gave them a pep talk:

“The theme of the speech was we may never be the biggest bank in Arkansas, but if we work really hard and every one of us does the very best we can, … we can be the best bank in Arkansas,” Gleason said.

Thirty-seven years later, the renamed Bank of the Ozarks has assets of more than $18 billion. It is the largest bank headquartered in Arkansas and one of the 100 largest in the United States.

Gleason said he set his goals too low in that first staff meeting, but I think the moral of his story is to under-promise and over-deliver.

I personally interviewed Johnny Allison, chairman of Home BancShares Inc. of Conway. He was a millionaire (“on paper,” he said) by the time he was 30, as had been his goal. But he had done it the hardest way possible: by accidentally investing in two money-losing mobile home manufacturers that he had no choice but to fix. He was barely in his 30s when he became the largest shareholder of a bank that, unbeknownst to him, had regulatory problems.

Allison’s business career would make a great management textbook, but I think the biggest life lesson he can teach all of us, young or old, is this: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

The New Influentials

A long-scheduled vacation kept me from participating in the committee that selected this year’s 20 in Their 20s, so I learned about most of these young leaders the same way you will: by reading the short profiles spread over the next 10 pages.

I have no way of knowing whether there’s another Bob Shell or Johnelle Hunt or George Gleason in this year’s crop. Some may have already gotten rich quick, like Johnny Allison. One of them, D.J. Williams, is following the Jim Lindsey path: Razorbacks to NFL to real estate, with on-air TV work thrown in for good measure. A couple of them, Jonathan Crossley and Eric Dailey, have chosen the get-rich-never field of education, but I suspect their stories will be as inspirational to you as they are to their students.

I do see in all of them the energy and ambition and adventurous spirit that is obvious in our state’s business legends, even decades after they were in their 20s. We’re proud to introduce these New Influentials and to consider all the potential they offer our state in the decades to come.

Tyson Foods Inc. executives told investors at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference last week that the company is aiming for single-digit growth in fiscal 2017. 

The publicly traded meat processor (NYSE: TSN) said it plans to use the proceeds to invest in its beef, chicken and pork businesses through organic growth or acquisitions.

"As stated on our last earnings call, our adjusted earnings guidance for fiscal 2016 of $4.40-4.50 per share is 40 percent more than last year and represents a four-year compound annual growth rate of approximately 22 percent, and we're confident we can achieve high single-digit growth in fiscal 2017," Tyson CEO Donnie Smith said in a news release.

The company also said its "Core 9" product lines — which include brands called Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells and State Fair — are "growing and gaining momentum."

"We continue to outpace retail food and beverage," Tyson Foods President Tom Hayes said. "Tyson Core 9 is leading in volume performance among the top 10 consumer packaged goods retail food manufacturers, and Tyson Foods is one of only three companies to show growth in the latest quarter.  We're growing sales volume, sales dollar sales and market share."

Tyson acquired many of the brands through the $8.5 billion acquisition of Hillshire Brands of Chicago in 2014.

Smith touted Tyson Foods' return to shareholders, saying the company increased dividends and share repurchases totaling 31 million shares in the previous 12 months through Aug. 8. But he also said the firm would reinvest in the company, including through acquisitions.

"Beyond dividends and share buybacks, we'll use our substantial cash flows to invest in our business or make strategic acquisitions," Smith said.

Hayes also told investors that the company's financials have also been bolstered by an effort to trim $1 billion in inefficiencies, according to Global Meat News. 

In August, Tyson Foods reported third-quarter net income of $484 million, up 41 percent from the same quarter last year, and raised estimates for the fiscal year amid strong performance across its divisions:

The company raised its full-year earnings per share guidance to $4.47 to $4.57, with sales of about $37 billion. For fiscal 2017, the company expects sales to rise 1 percent as volume increases.

"We expect our high-level performance to continue and are raising full year fiscal 2016 earnings guidance," Smith said. "Following record earnings this year, we intend to build on our momentum to generate more growth in fiscal 2017."

The company also said then that it would launch Tyson Naturals, a new value-added chicken line, later that month, and that it planned to open an e-commerce division in the fall.

WASHINGTON — Americans finally got a raise last year after eight years of stagnating incomes.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

When Californian Don Weatherman arrived at Lyon College for the first time in 1983, he was told that Batesville had a population of about 10,000. More than three decades later, it still does.

The population may be the only thing stagnant in the seat of Independence County. Fresh eyes, strategic planning, youthful energy and cold, hard cash are shaking up a college town on the jagged edge of the Ozarks that is burdened with many of the same challenges as the Delta that’s just minutes away.

“We know what a diamond in the rough we are,” Robb Roberts, executive vice president of locally owned First Community Bank and chairman of the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce, said last week.

There are signs of change all over town. In the historic downtown of the state’s oldest city:

• The historic Melba Theater reopened last month in the 100 block of West Main Street;
• A block to the east, build-out is in full swing on an honest-to-goodness bar and lounge called 109 Main — a private club that will remain so since a dry-to-wet initiative failed to get on the November ballot;
• The first new building on Main Street in decades, The Pinto restaurant, opened for coffee last week and will start serving full meals this week; and
• The Batesville Public Library is preparing to quadruple its size by moving from a 112-year-old building on Main Street to a building a couple of blocks west that is a year older.

On the south side of town, near the White River that first brought settlers to the area, a state-of-the-art treatment facility that was dedicated in June doubled the city's maxed-out wastewater capacity, creating the opportunity to expand the poultry industry that has been an industrial mainstay.

And a sprawling $28 million community center and water park — what Mayor Rick Elumbaugh called the "sexy" project — should be complete by year's end.

Some of these projects were well underway by the time the Batesville Chamber rolled out a strategic plan called "Impact Independence County," a 40-page wish list (PDF) that was the result of blanketing the county with surveys. The strategic plan for economic development, tourism, educational excellence and healthy living was the brainchild of last year's chamber chairman, Phil Baldwin.

Baldwin moved to Independence County at the end of 2013 to execute growth plans for Citizens Bank, the smaller of the two Batesville-chartered banks. The former CEO of Southern Bancorp of Arkadelphia, a rural development bank with nonprofit affiliates, had used similar tools to create a strategic plan for Clark County and the Delta Bridge Project for Phillips and Mississippi counties in Arkansas and Coahoma County, Mississippi.

Without hiring a consultant but with models from other communities, the chamber partnered with Lyon College, where Weatherman returned as president in 2009, and the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville to produce the strategic plan. (See Education a Cornerstone of Batesville's Strategic Plan.)

Before the ideas were committed to paper, "There wasn't really any vision for the community," said Crystal Johnson, the chamber's president and CEO. Now community leaders refer to Impact the way preachers refer to the Good Book, and it helped the chamber win a two-part grant totaling $67,000 from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation of Little Rock.

That money, in turn, is being divided into "mini-grants" to organizations that pledge to use the money to benefit low- and moderate-income residents, which are targeted by many of the 168 goals included in the Impact plan.

The goals are "all very achievable by 2020," Johnson said, and some of them have already been achieved. For example: hiring someone to promote tourism, something Johnson and chamber COO Jamie Rayford don’t have time to do as well as it needs to be done.

The Batesville Area Chamber receives no tax dollars and the city does not (yet) have a local-option advertising and promotion tax, but Kyle Christopher was hired two months ago as tourism director with seed money from a fundraiser at the chamber's annual meeting.

While other parts of Arkansas have been laser-focused on promoting their attractions, Batesville hasn't even had a brochure available at state tourism information centers.

"That's such a little thing," Weatherman said, "but it's a thousand little things."

Private Investments

Citizens Bank announced in April a $10 million, low-interest loan program specifically for investments in downtown Batesville. It also set aside $100,000 for small grants of about $5,000 each, and six of those have been made so far.

One was used to replace windows in the 231 E. Main St. building that houses Elizabeth’s Restaurant & Catering. One paid for the patio seating at The Pinto, the new rock building that Haley and Brice Stephens built from scratch on the vacant southeast corner of Main Street and Central Avenue with help from local architect Zack Mobley.

“We’ve been talking about this for probably 10 years,” Haley said last Monday, the last day of preparation before the soft opening.

The Pinto will compete with Big’s, a lunch spot directly across Main Street, where business has picked up since Joe and Janelle Shell and Mandi and Adam Curtwright put $650,000 and almost as much in sweat equity into reopening The Melba a half-block away.

The theater — exact age unclear, Joe Shell said — opened with a black-tie screening of “The Wizard of Oz” on Aug. 12. The Melba had been in almost continual operation since the 1940s, when its few African-American patrons had to use a separate entrance to climb stairs to the segregated balcony, but it had been closed for several months when the Shells and Curtwrights bought it in March 2015.

With the help of John Greer Jr. of WER Architects of Little Rock, the new owners tackled a labor-intensive renovation that included reupholstering the 414 orchestra seats. Janelle Shell’s father sanded and refinished every wooden armrest, a gleam that competes with the brass plates on the chair backs from a community fundraiser for the project called “Save Your Seat.”

Cliff Brown, who works for Baldwin at Citizens Bank, has teamed up with Chintan Patel, owner of the U.S. Pizza franchise in Batesville, to open 109 Main. Brown said he hoped the bar and lounge, modeled after places the partners visited in bigger cities, would help kickstart nightlife in Batesville.

Brown and Patel chose one of the last vacant storefronts on historic Main, which is being narrowed to a single westbound lane in order to slow traffic. But the hopes of city boosters were smashed last month when a petition to put a dry-to-wet initiative on the November ballot failed by fewer than 400 signatures.

Under a 2015 state law that also frustrated efforts in Randolph County, one invalid signature can disqualify an entire page of voter signatures. (Among the signatures thus invalidated in Independence County: Mayor Elumbaugh’s and that of Robb Roberts, the chamber chairman.)

Public Investments

The wastewater treatment plant that was completed earlier this year had been in the works since a 1 percent sales tax was approved by city voters in 2009, creating vast new capacity for industrial users.

But wastewater holding ponds aren’t as sexy as the “lazy river” water feature at the new community center whose delayed opening is now expected by yearend.

“Nobody ever asked me when the treatment plant would be finished, but people ask me all the time when the community center will be ready,” Mayor Elumbaugh said.

The community center — 105,000 SF under roof, plus a 40,000-SF water park — was designed by ETC Engineers of Little Rock, and the contractor is G.A.G. Builders of Cabot. The gymnasium, big enough for three basketball courts or six volleyball games, can also be used for trade shows or banquets, and that will take some of the pressure off the UA Community College, the go-to place for large gatherings in Batesville.

The community center — Batesville Parks & Recreation Director Jeff Owens says naming rights are still available — is being paid for by a dedicated 1 percent sales tax approved by voters in 2012, half of which will sunset after paying for the construction.

The Batesville Public Library, supported by a 1-mill property tax, got a new director in April, Vanessa Adams. She is overseeing the move from a 5,000-SF historic building on Main Street to a 21,000-SF space being renovated down the street.

The library is among the recipients of a mini-grant from the Rockefeller Foundation: $3,750 for three computers for use by children.

The library currently has five computers, and Adams says it needs about 20. The new space will have room for more computers, programs, even book club meetings.

Younger Residents

Crystal Johnson said Batesville’s stagnant population — not dwindling like many communities in the Delta to the east but not growing like Conway or northwest Arkansas — was a “call to action.”

But the area is already attracting newer residents, like Baldwin and chamber director Carter Ford, a former aide to Gov. Mike Beebe who has opened a State Farm insurance agency in Batesville. Natives are also returning, like the Stephenses at The Pinto and Johnson’s husband, Damon.

The younger faculty members that Weatherman recruits to Lyon College like the idea of living in the historic houses downtown, where many of the residents are under 50.

“Almost every single week, a new millenial family moves to Batesville,” Ford said. “To find arts, to find diversity, you have to move to a large city — Impact proved that wrong,” Ford said.

One of the big puzzle pieces in Conway’s retail development picture is almost complete: Lewis Crossing, the 441,871-SF, $65 million shopping center at the southeast corner of Interstate 40 and Dave Ward Drive.

Although its main anchor, the city’s first Sam’s Club, has yet to open, a number of other stores are complete and either open or expected to open within the next week or two. Those include Academy Sports, Bed Bath & Beyond, Books-A-Million, Dollar Tree, Michael’s, Petco, Ross Dress for Less and Ulta.

“Construction is near completion,” said Roger Cole of Elrod Real Estate of Little Rock, the local leasing agent for Lewis Crossing. And other smaller buildings in the center are “substantially complete,” he said, adding that Collett & Associates of Charlotte, North Carolina, the project’s developer, will be turning those over to tenants in the next 30 days so they can begin finish-out work.

Construction has begun on a couple of outparcels, including the restaurant On the Border. David’s Burgers, the local chain headed by David “Alan” Bubbus, will also be opening at Lewis Crossing. It will be the chain’s second restaurant in Conway and eighth overall.

Cole said the 136,580-SF Sam’s Club hadn’t given him a date when it might open. “But I would imagine in the not-too-distant future,” he said. “They’re fairly far along too.”

Construction on the project began just a little over a year ago. C.R. Crawford Construction of Fayetteville was the contractor, and Garrett Excavating of Hot Springs did the site work.

“We understand that Sam’s is still a few months away from opening,” said Jamie Gates, executive vice president of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce.

Lewis Crossing is on the site of the former Lewis Livestock Auction Co. at Amity Road and Dave Ward Drive. The auction company closed in 2013.

The city made improvements to Dave Ward Drive to facilitate development of the project, replacing a couple of stoplights with roundabouts.

The Lewis Crossing development and the jobs it’s bringing to the area were among the factors prompting the Conway Department of Workforce Services to hold a job fair Sept. 1, the Log Cabin Democrat reported, and more than 370 people and 34 businesses participated.

Another big retail development planned for Conway is the Shoppes at Central Landing, part of a mixed-use development of Conway’s 151-acre former municipal airport, which closed in January 2015. Jim Wilson & Associates of Montgomery, Alabama, is developing the Shoppes at Central Landing, and a Dillard’s store had been announced as the key anchor.

Gates said extensive roadwork was underway at the site. A new overpass that will connect Central Landing with Conway Commons, the 600,000-SF shopping center near I-40 off of Exit 127, is expected to open at the end of the year or early next year, he said.

Gates said Jim Wilson & Associates was still working on lining up stores. “I wouldn’t expect any private construction activity until the bulk of the roadwork is finished,” he said.

As for other retail development in the city, Gates said Oak Street was seeing a lot of infill development lot by lot, including a Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel and a Chipotle Mexican Grill. New businesses are going in on Dave Ward Drive near the University of Central Arkansas, such as a Starbucks, Conway’s third stand-alone Starbucks.

To the south of Lewis Crossing across I-40 is the new $150 million Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway, which opened for business on Sept 16.

Asked what was behind the surge in retail development in Conway, Gates said the city, with about 65,000 residents, had achieved a “critical mass populationwise. Conway is the secondary job market in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway metro. We do have our own economy. Most people who live in Faulkner County work in Faulkner County.”

In addition, Gates said, Conway serves the health care and retail needs of the population in the surrounding area.

A Little Rock group plans to open a Tokyo House sushi restaurant in Rogers after a $1.6 million purchase.

The group, led by Jimmy Zhang, bought an approximately 7,000-SF building at 401 N. 46th St. on Rogers’ Restaurant Row in a deal that closed Sept. 9. The group operates a Tokyo House in Little Rock. The seller was CBS Hopper LLC, led by Tom Hopper of Rogers, who developed the Scottsdale Center where the restaurant is located.

The building was most recently a State Fare restaurant and, previously, an O’Charley’s. Hopper paid O’Charley’s $1 million in 2011 for the property, which O’Charley’s had bought from Hopper’s Tallgrass LLC for $650,000 in 2001.

The property was listed for sale at $1,775,000 by David Erstine of CBRE in Fayetteville. Zack Kifer of Moses Tucker Real Estate represented the buyers, who hope to be able to refit the restaurant and open by the end of the year.

Kifer said the group tentatively plans to expand into Fayetteville if the Rogers restaurant does well.

“There’s not a sushi concept [on Restaurant Row] there, so they think they can thrive,” Kifer said. “I think it’s a good fit.”

There’s progress to report on the first John Daly’s Steakhouse, planned for 912 Front St. in Conway. The developer of the restaurant, which is named for and pays homage to the pro golfer who used to call Dardanelle home, is the S.A.M. Group of Conway, whose CFO, Adam Waldron, updated your Whispers staff.

The developers have razed two buildings at the site and are working on building the pad. “We’re probably four to six weeks from really making some sure progress,” Waldron said.

The goal is to have the restaurant open before Valentine’s Day, but “that’s going to be a stretch,” he said. “It’s subject to change.”

The restaurant itself will be about 6,000 SF, with an 800- to 1,000-SF private dining room with a wrap-around balcony upstairs.

In addition, S.A.M. Group is building four 1,000-SF “fully furnished executive lofts,” providing living space for tenants and dubbed The Lofts at 912.

The group owns both the real estate and the restaurant, said Waldron, who in his day job is a vice president at River Town Bank of Dardanelle. Daly is lending his name to the restaurant, which will feature memorabilia from the golfer’s colorful career.

S.A.M. Group would like to open a Daly’s Steakhouse in the Little Rock area and northwest Arkansas down the road, Waldron said, with the potential to expand outside the state.

C.R. Crawford Construction of Fayetteville will be the contractor for the project, and Taggart Architects of North Little Rock is the architect, with Brandon Ruhl of Conway the lead architect.

S.A.M. Group is investing $3 million in the project, Waldron said.

Arkansas' August unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.9 percent, according to a report Tuesday by the state Department of Workforce Services.

The report said the state's civilian labor force declined by 1,520 jobs, the result of 1,787 fewer employed and 267 more employed Arkansans. The U.S. unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in August.

"The unemployment rate in Arkansas remained stable this month, as did the national unemployment rate," said Susan Price, the Bureau of Labor Statistics program operations manager. "While jobless rates in Arkansas and the U.S. were both at 5.1 percent in August 2015, Arkansas has declined at a faster pace. We are now one full percentage point lower than the national rate."

More: Click here (PDF) to view the complete report.

Arkansas' unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in August 2015, with 1.33 million people in the civilian labor force. This year, that number has grown by more than 24,000 to 1.35 million. 

This year's labor force number includes 53,170 unemployed Arkansans, down by more than 14,000 from last August. The number of employed Arkansans has risen to 1.3 million, up by more than 38,000 from August 2015.

The report said that since August 2015, nonfarm payrolls in Arkansas grew by 16,900, with eight industry sectors showing growth and three showing declines:

• Professional and business services increased by 7,600, the majority in administrative and support services, a subsector that includes employment agencies. 
• Educational and health services added 6,400 jobs, mostly in health care and social assistance. 
• Employment in trade, transportation and utilities rose by 3,400, with the most gains in retail trade. 
• Leisure and hospitality increased by 1,600, with accommodation and food services accounting for a majority of the gains. 
• Manufacturing decreased by 1,800, with losses in durable goods offsetting gains in nondurable goods. 
• Mining and logging declined by 1,300 due to layoffs and closures. 

Little Rock restaurateur Jim Keet, owner with his family of several Taziki's Mediterranean Cafes in Arkansas, is joining forces with restaurant industry veteran Louis Petit to open Petit & Keet Bar & Grill in the former 1620 Savoy at 1620 Market St. in west Little Rock.

Keet stepped down as president and CEO of Taziki's, based in Birmingham, Alabama, several months ago, he said, and is now focusing his attention on his family's restaurant enterprise, JTJ Restaurants, which also owns the I Love Juice Bar in Little Rock's Midtown Shopping Center.

Petit founded Café Prego in the Heights with his wife, Jacqueline, but now works with his sons on the Florida Gulf Coast in the restaurants Louis Louis in Santa Rosa Beach and The Red Bar in Grayton Beach. Petit has a lengthy history on the Little Rock restaurant scene, going back to the days of Jacques & Suzanne, a legendary restaurant that, though it closed in 1986, introduced a number of restaurateurs and chefs who went on to open other famed establishments in the Little Rock area.

Keet said he hoped to close Thursday on the purchase of the 1620 building from RH Cuisine, headed by Rush Harding, CEO of Little Rock investment firm Crews & Associates. The restaurant 1620 Savoy closed in January.

"Louis and I have been friends going all the way back to my Wendy's days," Keet said. "About three and half years ago we started talking about wouldn't it be fun for us to do a restaurant together?"

"We started looking for the opportunity to buy the perfect restaurant for what we wanted to do," he said.

Keet expects renovations to take a couple of months and hopes to be open for business by mid-November.

He sees the restaurant as "polished casual" — not quite as fine dining and "white tablecloth" as 1620 Savoy — and is devoting a lot of energy on remaking the bar, to be known either as Keet's Corner or Keet's Corner Bar, which will have a separate menu, though entrees from the main restaurant will be available. He and Petit are planning to knock down the wall separating the patio from the bar to make space for the bigger Keet's Corner, and they've budgeted a couple of hundred thousand dollars for renovations.

"I've been doing this for a long time, but I can assure you that we're not going to open it till we're ready to open it," Keet said.

Petit is a partner in the business but will continue to be involved in his enterprises in Florida as well, Keet said.

"The one thing that we are absolutely going to focus on is having the same kind of customer-oriented experience that Louis has been famous for in the past and that hopefully we are at Taziki's: the friendliest restaurants in town that care about our customers."

Hours will be 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

LAS VEGAS - A coalition of 21 states sued the U.S. Department of Labor Tuesday over a new rule that would make about 4 million higher-earning workers eligible for overtime pay, slamming the measure as inappropriate federal overreach from the Obama Administration.

Republican Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas, urging it to block implementation before the regulation takes effect on Dec. 1. Laxalt, a frequent critic of President Barack Obama's policies, said the rule would burden private and public sectors by straining budgets and forcing layoffs or cuts in working hours.

"This rule, pushed by distant bureaucrats in D.C., tramples on state and local government budgets, forcing states to shift money from other important programs to balance their budgets, including programs intended to protect the very families that purportedly benefit from such federal overreach," he said in a statement.

Labor Department officials did not immediately respond to telephone and emailed requests seeking comment.

The measure would shrink the so-called "white collar exemption" that exempts workers who perform "executive, administrative or professional" duties from overtime and minimum wage requirements.

It would more than double the salary threshold under which employers must pay overtime to their white collar workers. Overtime protections would apply to workers who make up to $913 a week, or $47,476 a year, and the threshold would readjust every three years to reflect changes in average wages.

"This long-awaited update will result in a meaningful boost to many workers' wallets, and will go a long way toward realizing President Obama's commitment to ensuring every worker is compensated fairly for their hard work," the Labor Department said in May when it announced the new rule.

Business groups say the changes are too much and too fast, especially as states continue to recover from the recession.

"We believe that many employers across our state and the country_large and small alike_will not be able to meet the high cost of these ongoing rate changes, and as a result, will be forced to curtail hiring or even lay off employees," said Kristin McMillan, president of the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Other plaintiffs include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

The Eastern Texas district where the lawsuit was filed is known as a "rocket docket" court where cases move along quickly.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)