Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/180153
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT We should see if they are out there in bottle form," says Tim Pappin, owner of Arty's with his nephew, Ryan Mijal. They looked and couldn't find a bottled version of the quintessential Wisconsin drink so the duo decided to do it themselves. Pappin has a background in manufacturing and bar ownership and was a bartender, so he whipped up the recipe. "For a while, we were working our day jobs and doing this on the side" until they got the taste just right. From there, it was all about finding the equipment necessary to mass manufacture and bottle the beverage. "Once we had it figured out how to successfully capture the taste, it took a while to get some distributors on board, but we were able to get two in the same week," Pappin says. "We haven't looked back since." Arty's Old Fashioned Sweet drinks are now available at 700 locations and 46 | Insight • O c t o b e r 2 013 New Shawano economic development leader S hawano County Economic Progress Inc. (SCEPI) named a new chief economic development officer who will head up the office, as well as take charge of the Shawano Country Vision 2017 program, a five-year economic program designed to create 1,000 jobs in the Shawano area. In mid-August, SCEPI hired Dennis Heling to the owners continue to find ways to help the small manufacturer grow. Pappin is working on creating a mix the company can sell so people just have to add their own alcohol. "If we can do that, we can then sell it online and it can go anywhere," Pappin says. "There are fans of how old-fashioneds are made all over Wisconsin. What we have here is very unique. If you order an old-fashioned somewhere else, it's a different drink than it is in Wisconsin." the newly-created post. About a week after Heling's hiring, executive director Steve Sengstock, who had led the organization, resigned. Heling led the Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium, an intergovernmental agency focused on economic and community development, for the past 10 years. He originally is from Shawano County. Arty's has three full-time employees, plus its two owners. Pappin is optimistic about future growth. Thiel feels the same way, too. "This is the kind of project you get excited about as an economic development leader. This business really has the potential to grow and become a large business employing a lot of people," he says. "And it was all started right here in Waupaca County. It's been very exciting." w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m