Global Peace Factory opened its doors as a coffee house a little more than six weeks ago with the motto that every cup counts and they are now trying to get the word out that when someone orders a cup of their coffee it really does count.

Global Peace Factory owner, Bernard Lucien Nussbaumer, wants to make a difference in the world and he wants his customers to feel like they are making a difference too.

Nussbaumer donates two percent of every dollar that is spent in his store to charity. His current charity of choice is Chance2give.org. He wants to find a Frisco charity to donate to at some point so the donation can benefit the community that helps his business.

Nussbaumer was going to originally open his coffee house in Dallas, where he lives, but he couldn't find a space that he liked. His realtor suggested Frisco and showed him his current space. He said when he saw it he like it a lot.

"There is no coffee around here and with word of mouth I think we can do good," Nussbaumer said. 

He has made to shop in a very comfortable place. There is both inside and outside seating and a loft upstairs with additional seating. He encourages people to use to shop for meetings and social gatherings. He also wants to add entertainment and yoga at some point too.

This is Nussbaumer's first coffee shop. He used to live in Los Angeles and work in a different industry but when he left there he wanted to do something new.

He came up with the name Global Peace Factory before the actual coffee part.  He wants Global Peace Factory to be a whole brand with multiple divisions. He wants there to be a music division, yoga division, coffee division and social network.

He decided to focus on developing the coffee portion of the brand first. After deciding on coffee he went to Barista School in Oregon to learn everything he possibly could about making coffee and running a coffee shop. Then he brought people from the Barista School to Dallas to train his staff. His staff is trained in the technique and precision in making a great cup of coffee, espresso or latté.

The shop offers Paninis and other light foods for those customers that come in hungry. There is free WiFi for those wanting to have coffee and bring there work with them.  The shop is open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. seven days a week.

Nussbaumer said as word spreads about the coffee shop he will be expanding the menu to add more food and beer and wine.

Global Peace Factory is located at 1377 Legacy Drive, suite 100

There is a little piece of France right here in Frisco and it can be found at Bonnie Ruth's café. The cafe, that opened three years ago, has a French themed menu along with more traditional items for those that aren't as daring.

The idea for a French café in Frisco came after one of the proprietors, Bonnie Ianace,made a trip to Paris. The food had such an effect on her that she wanted to bring it home to the metroplex.  Restaurants were a family business so upon returning from Paris she set about incorporating French foods into a menu at a restaurant the family already owned, but that wasn’t enough.  Bonnie wanted an entire French Bistro.

Frisco was chosen as the location and Bonnie Ruth's was born.

Manager Liz Brown said Frisco was chosen for the location because it’s an upcoming area.Brown manages the restaurant with her son Ernie Ianace. The location was built by Brown’s husband and the menu put together by Bonnie, her daughter-in-law. The menu incorporates all of Bonnie's favorite French foods. Among the French items on the menu is Moules Mariniere (mussels), Steak Au Poive (pepper crusted filet with cognac demi glaze, potato leek gratin and sautéed’ asparagus), Steak Frites and more.

The bistro also has an extensive bakery with cakes, pastries and more. Everything from the croissants to the pizza sauce is made from scratch in-house. Brown along with the rest of the family takes great pride in the restaurant.

“We have a lot of regular customers and our customers are great,” she said. “This is very much a neighborhood restaurant and there is a lot of fellowship.”

In January the restaurant expanded to make room for their growing customer base.  The restaurant doubled in indoor space and Brown hopes to do another front patio addition in the future. In addition to a full lunch and dinner menu, the restaurant opens at 9 a.m. for coffee and pastries. They also host events for between five and 100 people. They have hosted baby showers, dinner parties and even wedding receptions. The restaurant has a great happy hour and several other specials throughout the week.

For French food with a French bistro feel, Bonnie Ruth's Café is worth the trip.

www.bonnieruths.com

The father son team of Pete and Chad Figueiredo have taken  the next step in helping their business, Global Repair Solutions, grow.  Global Repair Solutions is an iPhone, iPod and Blackberry repair business.

The company has recently hired SEOTA, a Frisco based company, which specializes in search engine optimization to boost traffic to their Web site.  SEOTA will strategically help Global Repair Solutions grow their revenue by using search engine optimization to ensure that the company appears on the first page of Google searches.

The family business aims to please customers by repairing their media devices that are not able to be repaired by the stores where they bought them. For example, Pete explained that when someone breaks their screen on their iPhone and they take it to Apple, Apple does not actually replace the screen but rather gives them a different refurbished phone from the back for a cost.

Global Repair Solutions is able to repair that cracked screen and give the customer back their same phone in half an hour. The company also can change the casing on Blackberries, replace track balls, and fix various pieces on iPods and iPhones.

Chad has been trained to fix all of the devices the business deals with and has hand trained each technician on staff to fix things the same way. If customers are unsure what is wrong with their phone they can bring it into the store for a free diagnostic analysis, if Global Repair Solutions are unable to fix your iPhone, iPod or BlackBerry then there is no charge to the client.

The company has recently moved from an industrial location to a retail friendly location in Hurst near the Northeast Mall. Pete said the move has opened up the store to a lot of walk-in traffic and he has also done marketing and promotions for the company.

With the change of locations also came other modifications within the company. They made updates to their Web site. Customers can now mail-in their device from anywhere in the country and they will repair it and mail it back. Instate mail in items have about a  three day turn around rate while outside items have a five day turn around rate. Also recently they have formed  partnerships with corporations to give clients who do bulk business a price break. When one of their partnership corporations brings in an item for repair they are given a discounted rate. Some of their newest corporate partners include Mansfield ISD, City of Hurst and the American Airlines employee benefits page. Pete hopes to expand these partnerships in the future and serve more companies.

Global Repair Solutions is the biggest company of its kind in the metroplex. They are able to repair more items and in faster time than other similar services.

“Our focus is to make sure that every customer we interface with walks away satisfied,” Pete said. “You are dealing with a company based on honesty and integrity and it is important to us that every person have a great experience.”

Visit www.globalrepairsolutions.com for more information