Advertisement

Biz News: Newport residents create sprouting kit

Share

Newport women create ‘superfood’ sprouting kit

Newport Coast residents Nita Tewari and Monica Cohen have created the Green Mung Beans Sprouting Kit, which is designed for sprouting the Asian “superfood” that its promoters say is high in protein and fiber and low in calories and fat.

Tewari and Cohen are marketing their stainless-steel sprouting kit through their website, GreenMungBeans.com, which also sells packaged whole beans and original recipes. They promise the kit’s users will become “urban kitchen farmers” by growing their own green mung beans without soil in their kitchens.

Advertisement

The sprouting kit is priced at $64 to $70.

*

Pacific Premier to buy Independence Bank

Irvine-based Pacific Premier Bancorp said last week that it has agreed to buy Newport Beach-based Independence Bank for $71.5 million.

Independence Bank, with six branches in Orange and Riverside counties, had $426.2 million in total assets, $341.1 million in loans and $358.3 million in total deposits as of Sept. 30, according to Pacific Premier, a business bank with 13 branches in Southern California.

The combined company would have estimated total assets of $2.5 billion, total loans of $1.9 billion and total deposits of $1.9 billion.

The purchase is expected to close late in the first quarter of 2015, subject to the approval of regulatory agencies and the banks’ shareholders.

*

Sugarfina, a gourmet candy shop based in Beverly Hills, is opening a holiday boutique at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

A VIP party Thursday night will launch the store, which is on the second level of the mall, near Bloomingdale’s. It will stay open through Dec. 30.

Sugarfina says it offers more than 150 types of gourmet sweets from artisan candymakers around the world. For more information, visit sugarfina.com.

*

Candy buyback

To try to keep trick-or-treaters from subjecting their teeth to too many sugary Halloween snacks, Newport Beach dentist J. Foster Weems will host a candy buyback Monday.

Weems’ office at 1617 Westcliff Drive will buy candy at $1 a pound between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Kids who stop by also can write a letter to a military service member and enter a raffle for a toy donated by local store Toys Ahoy.

The candy and letters will be sent to troops deployed overseas as part of Operation Gratitude.

For more information, call (949) 642-7998.

*

New law office in Irvine

AgnewBrusavich, a Torrance-based personal-injury law firm, announced the opening of an Irvine office at 2171 Campus Drive, Suite 240.

The firm last month filed a lawsuit by former Olympic cyclist Paul Deem against the state and Newport Beach over the death of his wife, Debra, who was hit by a car while bicycling along East Coast Highway near Newport Coast Drive in August 2013.

*

Award for Portola Coffee Lab

Costa Mesa’s Portola Coffee Lab has been named 2015 Micro Roaster of the Year by Roast Magazine, which every year honors a small-scale roaster producing less than 100,000 pounds of coffee annually.

Portola Coffee Lab, at 3313 Hyland Ave., was created in 2011 by a husband-and-wife team, Jeff and Christa Duggan. The company plans to open four more locations in Orange County in the next year, according to a news release.

*

New law firm based in Costa Mesa

Newport Beach resident Philip Strok and six other bankruptcy attorneys have launched a new law firm, Smiley Wang-Ekvall LLP, based at 3200 Park Center Drive, Suite 250, Costa Mesa.

The firm, which also has an office in Los Angeles, specializes in insolvency, real estate transactions and business litigation.

*

Real estate brokerage opens Corona del Mar office

The Boutique Real Estate Group has opened an office in Corona del Mar at 3653 E. Coast Hwy. The brokerage also has a location in Brea.

Advertisement