Business

Urban Strategies Inc. (USI) will launch a small business loan fund to support new and growing locally owned businesses in Baltimore and two other cities through a $1.5 million grant from the Truist Foundation, it was announced Tuesday. USI will use the funding to support its Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in establishing a bridge to capital and wealth creation for women- and Black-, Latine- and Indigenous-owned small businesses in Baltimore, Norfolk, Virginia and Ft. Myers, Florida.

Potbelly Corporation signed a deal with its founder and his son to create 15 new locations and rebrand 12 more in Maryland, the sandwich restaurant chain announced Monday. The company signed the deal with its founder Bryant Keil and his son, Hampden Keil, which grants Bryant Keil exclusive territory rights in seven Maryland counties – Washington, Frederick, Montgomery, Prince George, Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s – to develop 15 new Potbelly shops in the next eight years.

It all started with a nonalcoholic beer. Darryl Collins cracked open a can from Athletic Brewing Co. about a year ago and liked what he tasted. Athletic, the Connecticut-based manufacturer of beers with less than 0.5% alcohol by volume, is a rising star in the rapidly expanding field of nonalcoholic drinks, ranking second on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing food and beverage companies of 2022.

Lidl plans to open at least one new store in Prince George’s County, perhaps more, offsetting the recent closure of its Oxon Hill store. The German discount grocer has signed a lease for the roughly 40,451 square feet that had housed the former Price Rite at 3104 Queens Chapel Road, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Lidl filed interior demolition plans for the space earlier this year, according to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

Most of the destruction from a tornado that tore through eastern North Carolina Wednesday and struck a large Pfizer pharmaceutical plant affected its storage facility, rather than its medicine production areas, the company said Friday. The drugmaker’s ability to salvage production equipment and other essential materials could mitigate what experts feared would be a major blow to an already strained system as the United States grapples with existing drug shortages.

The best lacrosse players in the world don’t have a home. Or rather, they have a home, but they’re gone from it almost every summer weekend and don’t necessarily share that city with teammates. The Premier Lacrosse League — now in its fifth season — is a barnstorming tour with teams untethered to regions. Instead, in a model more similar to pro tennis or golf than to traditional American team sports, squads with one-word names such as the Waterdogs and the Atlas take their show on the road with a 14-week season spanning June to September.

Football fans in the nation’s capital are enjoying their biggest victory since Joe Gibbs’ Hogs won their third Super Bowl 31 years ago. It might take a while before Washington celebrates similar on-field success. Getting rid of owner Dan Snyder is the first step toward rebuilding a once-proud franchise, but it won’t be easy after decades of decline. The Commanders’ new ownership led by Josh Harris and including Magic Johnson has plenty of major challenges ahead. Harris outlined his priorities Friday.

Health care institutions continue to be Greater Baltimore’s leading employers, taking six of the top 10 spots on the Baltimore Business Journal’s Largest Private-Sector Employers List. At the top of the BBJ’s newly released List sits Johns Hopkins Health System, dethroning last year’s leader, the University of Maryland Medical System. It’s the ninth consecutive year that Johns Hopkins was ranked as one of Greater Baltimore’s largest employers and the first time since 2020 it was ranked No. 1.