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A new eatery serving up Chicago-style hot dogs, fresh-fired steakburgers and frozen custard has opened in Round Rock.

San Antonio franchise company South Texas Custard Ltd. opened a Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers shop at 707 Round Rock Ave. The restaurant sells a mix of savory entrees, custard and custard cakes, a frozen dessert similar to ice cream.

The Round Rock store employs about 35 employees and is the Texas partners' third Austin area location. The owners James Oberg, Ron Oberg, Jeff Rochelle and George Shaw III also operate locations in Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Georgetown, Bastrop, South Padre Island, Seguin, Del Rio and Kerrville personal loans for bad credit.

Freddy's Frozen Custard LLC is based in Wichita, Kan. and was founded in 2002. The restaurant is named after World War II veteran and Purple Heart recipient Freddy Simon.

The Round Rock store opens 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, except Friday and Saturday until 11 p.m.

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Pacific Business News named the winners of its 17th-annual Fastest 50 businesses-growth competition Thursday at a sold-out event at the Halekulani.

To qualify for the Fastest 50, companies had to have been in business since at least Jan. 1, 2007; had 2009 revenue that surpassed 2007 revenue; generated more than $100,000 in each of the past three years (but not more than $15 million); and, be a privately held business based in Hawaii.

Winners, ranked by growth between 2007 and 2009, are:

1. Makaha Studios
2. The Wedding Café
3. Hawaii Tech Support
4. Cam Security Inc.
5. ComCon Technologies Inc.
6. Ventura Technology Enterprises Ltd.
7. Pacific Defense Solutions
8. Rising Sun Solar Electric
9. Leather Soul
10. Soul Construction Inc.
11. 21st Century Technologies Hawaii
12. Elite Pacific Construction Inc.
13. Big Island Power
14. Dunhill Professional Staffing of Hawaii
15. H Nu Photonics
16. Aloha Technical Solutions
17. Archinoetics
18. Prototype Ops
19. Jennings Pacific
20. Pacific Instruments Inc.
21. S. Reeve Designs Inc payday loans no teletrack.
22. Bubble Shack Hawaiian Soap Co.
23. PRTech
24. Mac Made Easy Inc.
25. Surfing Goat Dairy
26. Allana Buick & Bers Inc.
27. Corner Pharmacy Corp.
28. Kina Ole Estate Ltd.
29. Richard Matsunaga & Associates Architects Inc.
30. Yogi Kwong Engineers
31. Pukoa Scientific
32. Prudential Advantage Realty
33. Big Island Electric
34. The KNG Group
35. Matsumoto & Clapperton Advertising
36. Starcom Builders Inc.
37. Aloha Habilitation Services Inc.
38. Bump Networks Inc.
39. 101 Financial Group
40. K&J Tire Center Inc.
41. Hawaii Holiday Vacation Rentals
42. Drs. Lee & Leong
43. Tropical Dreams Ice Cream
44. Wilson Homecare
45. Lehua Physical Therapy & Rehab
46. Integration Technologies Inc.
47. Flagship Fastlube Inc.
48. Big Island Mechanical & Construction
49. Tropical Air Conditioning Inc.
50. Divine Planet Inc.

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This looks like a banner year for grape producers in New York, according to the latest federal forecast.

The state’s producers, who are concentrated in Western New York and in the Finger Lakes, are expected to harvest 170,000 tons of grapes, based on the report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. That’s up 28 percent from 133,000 tons a year ago.

The increase was attributed to unusually good growing conditions, with warm days, plenty of sunshine, and a sufficient amount of precipitation.

The national outlook for the grape industry is not as strong, with U.S. grape production expected to decline 3 percent this year.

New York is the nation’s third-largest producer of grapes, trailing only California and Washington state.

The forecasts are not as strong for other large fruit crops. The National Agricultural Statistics Service says that the 2010 apple crop will be 13 percent smaller in New York and 4 percent smaller nationwide. And the pear crop is expected to shrink by 20 percent in New York and 11 percent nationwide.

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway posted a second-quarter profit that tumbled 40% from a year ago, as the company suffered a $1.4 billion paper loss on its derivatives bets.

The conglomerate reported quarterly net income of $1.97 billion, or $1,195 per Class A share compared with last year’s $3.3 billion, or $2,123 per share, during the same quarter.

Berkshire’s $1.4 billion decline in the market value of its derivatives bets on stock market indexes and other financial instruments followed a gain of $1.5 billion a year ago.

Excluding its investment and derivative business, the Omaha, Neb.-based company booked operating earnings per share of $1,866, a 63% rise from $1,147 in the same period last year.

Berkshire’s book value, which includes capital gains and losses whether they are realized or not, rose 2.6% to $86,661 per share.

While CEO Warren Buffett has famously criticized derivatives as "financial weapons of mass destruction," he has lately expressed opposition to Wall Street regulation designed to make derivative trading safer.

Under the federal government’s proposed derivatives rules, companies like Berkshire would likely be required to produce collateral for any new derivatives contracts, whereas Buffett has said Berkshire rarely engages in deals requiring collateral up front payday loan.

Led by investing legend Buffett, Berkshire owns companies ranging from insurance provider Geico to private jet operator NetJets to the railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. Berkshire also has stakes in companies including Kraft Foods (KFT, Fortune 500), Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500) and American Express (AXP, Fortune 500).

Berkshire (BRKA, Fortune 500) made itself appealing to a wider investor audience by creating more affordable shares through its 50-for-1 stock split earlier this year. While its Class B shares (BRKB) once traded for more than $3,300 apiece, they now run at about $80 a pop and trade on the S&P 500 Index (SPX).

Year-to-date, Berkshire Hathaway’s class A and class B shares are up more than 20%, but shares were down modestly at the close of trading Friday. 

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The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance jumped last week to the highest level in 3 months, the government said Thursday.

There were 479,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended July 31, up 19,000 from a upwardly revised 460,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said. The weekly figure is the highest since the week ended April 10, when 480,000 initial claims were filed.

The number of claims was higher than the 455,000 claims expected in a consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

The 4-week moving average of initial claims, which is calculated to smooth out volatility, was 458,500, up 5,250 from the previous week’s upwardly revised average of 453,250.

"The job market is pretty muted," said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at Channel Capital Research. "It’s not getting much worse, but it’s not getting any better either."

Roberts said the monthly employment report will provide a clearer picture of trends in the labor market, but it’s clear that a long road still lies ahead of a jobs recovery.

"The government has been driving the improvements we’ve seen in unemployment so far, so as soon as it stops spending, we’ll be back to where we were before," Roberts said.

As census jobs and the stimulus continue to fade, Roberts said jobless claims will increase.

Continuing claims: The government said 4,537,000 people filed continuing claims in the week ended July 24, the most recent data available. That’s down 34,000 from the preceding week’s upwardly revised 4,571,000 claims.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were looking for 4,530,000 ongoing claims.

The 4-week moving average for ongoing claims climbed by 25,750 to 4,575,500 from the preceding week’s upwardly revised 4,549,750.

State by state: Jobless claims in 19 states declined by more than 1,000 in the week ended July 24, the most recent state data available. Claims in California dropped the most, by 19,107, which the state attributed to fewer layoffs in the service industries.  

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Craft Brewers Alliance, the Portland, Ore.-based operator of the Redhook brewery in Woodinville, has acquired Kona Brewing Co. of Hawaii for an undisclosed price.

The Big Island-based brewery will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Craft Brewers Alliance (NASDAQ: HOOK).

Three years ago, Redhook and Widmer Bros. Brewing Co. of Oregon merged in a $50 million deal and corporate headquarters of the new Craft Brewers Alliance company was located in Portland.

Click here to see a release on the Craft Brewers Alliance-Kona deal.

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The California High-Speed Rail Authority will seek up to $1 billion in a new application for federal funding for the state’s high-speed train project.

For this round of funding, the U.S. Department of Transportation has made $2.3 billion in additional funds available for high-speed and intercity rail projects nationwide. The funds would help complete engineering and other work on the project not covered by previous federal stimulus grants.

Last January, California’s high-speed train project won $2.25 billion, the largest share of federal funding set aside for such projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

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