Twin Cities Business

The electric grid is like the brakes on your car—it’s really important, it can be expensive to fix, and if anything goes wrong, you find out in a hurry and way too late. Electricity that travels along the grid has become much more expensive with the last few years. Households and businesses recognize that energy costs are among the major sources of inflation.

Three weeks ago, our team identified a shortage of cannabis vapes in Minnesota. We had locally grown Gorilla Glue 4, a newly operational manufacturing lab, and employees with the expertise to develop a solution. This week, the finished product passed Minnesota’s required laboratory testing. It is now available for sale. In three weeks, a Minnesota team recognized an opportunity, created a new product and brought it through manufacturing, compliance and testing to the retail market.

In 2026, Twin Cities Business is recognizing a diverse set of five family-owned businesses that have innovated in their fields while defining industry standards. They’ve led with core values, too. The family tenets that shaped Plunkett’s Pest Control in the 1920s, for example, still guide it today—including quality of service and investment in employees.

Artist Adam Turman wasn’t sure he wanted to be “the Minnesota guy”—or, the guy known for drawing and painting local icons: our landmarks (the Gold Medal Flour sign, the Grain Belt sign, Spoonbridge and Cherry) and our characters (Paul and Babe, Poppin’ Fresh, Hamm’s Bear). Turman has painted murals of the Twin Cities—all brightly colored—for corporate clients like 3M, Surly Brewing, and Children’s Minnesota.

For most, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. Decisions made months before a transaction are difficult to undo once the ink dries. The owners who navigate this well treat the sale as the intersection of two goals: personal and business. Separating the two and then finding where they overlap is the most useful starting point. The Personal Side of Selling a Business Before hiring a banker or building a data room, owners need clarity on four key areas: estate planning, legacy, liquidity, and philanthropy.

National political figures have visited Minnesota to acknowledge that farmers are grappling with a severe financial strain that they didn’t create. Some leaders use the term crisis to depict the state of affairs in farm country, while others avoid it. But it’s undeniable that today’s farmers are being hurt by more than the usual risk factors of unpredictable weather and shifting world markets.

I wrote an article exploring the mystery of the $15 side salad, now commonplace at local mid-priced full-service restaurants. Beforehand, I was fortunate to spend a week this summer in both Paris and London, and I returned to the Twin Cities full of envy. Over there, I saw restaurants and bars crowded with locals from happy hour to closing time, even when it was oppressively hot inside because they have no air-conditioning.

We all have our restaurant pricing stories. The $15 side salad is my biggest head-scratcher. (Weren’t they $5 or $6 just a few years ago?) For some, it’s the $14 fast food burger that rankles (we’re looking at you, Shake Shack). For others, it’s the $38 Bolognese at a basic South Minneapolis bistro. That’s $50 with tax and tip, mind you. None of this is to imply said pricing is unjustified, but the value quotient of dining out has gone pear-shaped for many customers.

The torrid pace of data center construction has fueled the rapid growth of nVent, which announced Monday that it’s acquiring a Texas-based company with products that complement nVent’s data center offerings. nVent, with management offices in St. Louis Park, is buying Maverick Power for $1.75 billion. New debt and available cash on hand will be used for the transaction. Bank of America is providing nVent with bridge financing.

Mary Jensen, vice president for enrollment management at Hamline University, was promoted to chief operating officer. She is President Mayme Hostetter’s primary operational partner, overseeing undergraduate admission, graduate admission and advising, financial aid, marketing and communications, human resources and information technology services. Jensen joined Hamline in August 2024 as vice president for enrollment management. She assumed her new role on July 1.