Nov. 7—The former Merry-Ann's Diner at 1 E. Main St., in downtown Champaign, will become the home of a new restaurant/bar/music venue with hot sauce tasting called The Space.

The owners, Ian Nutting and Douglas Hodge, are already in business as Weird Meat Boyz selling their original hot sauces online, at local farmers markets and in several local grocery stores and as Weird Meat Boyz Kitchen cooking food at Collective Pour, 340 N. Neil St., C.

Then Hodge "started booking bands pretty aggressively" — mostly performing at Brass Rail, also in downtown Champaign at 15 E. University Ave., Nutting said.

They decided to consolidate all three of their endeavors and create a place for a restaurant and bar, a music venue for bands and a hot sauce tasting area that will also sell full bottles of the sauces they sell online, he said.

Hodge is a brewer at JT Walker's, Mahomet, and Nutting is a doctoral student in music at the University of Illinois, Nutting said.

They met through the UI College of Music, where both their wives are also students.

Nutting said he and Hodge hope to get The Space up and running in January next year.

There's not a lot of work that needs to be done in the former Merry-Ann's, he said, though they are planning some improvements.

Nutting and Hodge launched their Weird Meat Boyz hot sauce business last year with the help of a Kickstarter campaign, and they've started another Kickstarter campaign to help fund The Space.

Here's how they describe The Space on Kick Starter:

"Guests will be able to sample hot sauce and other locally-made condiments, browse a free book library and purchase records and local band merch — all while waiting for an incredible smash burger made right behind the ordering counter by the Boyz themselves. And, who knows, maybe there'll be enough time to grab a couple of beers with a touring band before they step on stage for the raddest show you've ever experienced."

Pledges, which will come with perks for donors, will help purchase equipment, wall murals to be commissioned from local artists and more.

Bowling back in Rantoul

Two Rantoul businesses are poised to get new owners and expand.

Aaron and Cindy Tuller of rural Rantoul are planning to purchase Country Tyme Lanes, 1568 E. Grove Ave., and hope to have it renovated and reopened by January or February of next year, Aaron Tuller said. The plan, he said, is to "make it the good old-fashioned bowling alley like it used to be."

The bowling alley closed this past spring, and the building needs a lot of work, he said. He and his wife plan to do some upgrades to the bar, get the snack bar up and running, have 18-20 of the 24 lanes operational, remodel the banquet rooms and bring everything up to code, Tuller said.

He currently works for the U.S. Postal Service and serves as Harwood Township road commissioner, and his wife is a bar manager at the VFW in Rantoul.

Another pending Rantoul business project is awaiting final approval of a $450,000 loan by the village board on Tuesday. The loan will be made to the owners of Agave Mexican Restaurant to cover the cost of purchasing their building, property, equipment and contents at 1668 E. Grove Ave. and to make improvements.

Formerly at 405 S. Century, Agave relocated in May to its current location — a former El Toro restaurant — and the Agave owners have been leasing the space with an option to buy.

Since moving to the new, larger location, owners Carlos Angel and Stefanie Williams told village officials in a letter that their sales have grown 35 percent each month.

"We anticipate additional growth with our upgraded private dining room and the promotion and marketing of the Agave name," they said.

Village Administrator Scott Eisenhauer said there haven't been any objections on the board to approving funding for Agave through the village's EDA Revolving Loan program — which is intended to provide gap financing to new and existing businesses for the purpose of creating and retaining jobs.

The owners said 15 full-time and two part-time jobs would be created or retained.

"It's an incredibly popular place," Eisenhauer said.

Cash prizes for employees

In a challenging job market for employers, Spherion Staffing and Recruiting has been giving out cash prizes to employees — and three of the recent winners work for local-area Spherion offices.

"This is a recruiting and retention effort across all our offices," said Cindy Somers, owner of Spherion's offices in Savoy, Rantoul and Decatur.

A $500 prize was awarded to one employee in each of her three offices as part of the seven-week Spherion Works Sweepstakes campaign launched Sept. 19.

The campaign included 36 $500-prize winners a week, with a guaranteed winner at every Spherion location during the campaign, plus weekly grand prizes from $1,000 to $6,000 and a national grand prize of a 2022 Ford Maverick truck.

Somers said all staffing employees were eligible for the drawings, and they each got one entry for every week they worked during the seven weeks.

Spherion came up with the campaign earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, Somers said, "and we've kept it going because we know our employees need that little extra boost in cash, and it's an incentive for them to work for Spherion."

Each of her three winning employees — Koven Thomas, Roshawn Ford and Kat Woods — were excited to be winners, she said.

"We recorded each and every one getting the money," Somers said.

Her three Spherion offices are hiring and always on the look-out for good employees. Part of the reason is that her good employees are often snatched up by the companies where they were sent to fill temporary positions, she said.

That's an opportunity for the employees, according to Somers.

"There are opportunities to get hired on full-time at the companies where they're placed," she said.

Correct times

Some of the times included in a recent column for the Country Spirit antique shows Nov. 11-12 in Arcola were incorrect, so here's the rundown again on all the times for the three locations.

The preview shows Friday: from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Arcola Masonic Lodge 366, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Arcola Center, 107 W. Main St., and 5 to 8 p.m. at the Best Western Plus Green Mill Village Hotel & Suites at the Interstate 57 Exit 203.

On Saturday, the shows will be held again at all three locations from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.