Franchise success rates are often touted online as being wildly successful, but further examination has shown attaining reliable data is difficult. The franchise arrangement is inherently risky for both parties — but some Sacramento-based small businesses are going for it regardless.

California remains a top manufacturing center in the U.S. despite local employers grappling with a serious worker shortage. Will state investment in makerspaces help fill the need?

Envoy’s launch in Sacramento ties in well with the “Green City” initiative by Volkswagen’s subsidiary Electrify America, in which $44 million in investment in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure, car-sharing services, delivery fleet and education is set to occur.

Shiloh London is an early riser of the extreme variety. She wakes up at 4 a.m., spends a few minutes in silence over black coffee, laces her sneakers and literally trains for a marathon. Afterward she connects with her running mates over coffee — all before a full day’s work.

Raised in Oakland by a family entrenched in drugs, alcohol and a notorious biker gang, Michael Vercelli says he’s been an alcoholic since age 12. He didn’t attend school until the fourth grade. At age 18, Vercelli says he made the best decision of his life by joining the U.S. Navy.

When N’Gina Kavookjian was asked to speak at the local chapter of an international monthly breakfast lecture series for creative communities, she was hesitant to accept the invitation. The co-owner of South restaurant doesn’t typically find herself in front of a captive audience, and she was unsure how she would connect with people outside her industry.

Last summer, Sacramento learned it would become Volkswagen’s first “Green City,” earning millions in investment from the tarnished brand’s subsidiary, Electrify America. Where will this money go, and what does it mean for the local auto technology industry?

Ask Elena Katnik’s advice on opening a family-run business, and she’ll caution against it. But not because it hasn’t worked at TEAMride, a popular Sacramento-based spin studio.

Chris Barnum-Dann is meticulous, driven and creative. A little OCD with a rocker persona, those close to him say, but in a way that’s an asset for the man focused on shaking the Sacramento culinary scene. He’s unapologetic about his restaurant’s changing menu or pricey offerings. Barnum-Dann is making his mark, not pleasing the masses.

Infrastructure improvements are costly, and with too few customers spread over too great a distance, are usually not worth the return on investment for business.

But some ISPs are finding ways.

It began when an online discussion about the Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento that devolved into what typically happens on these forums — personal blows, attacks and a palpable sense of us vs. them. No surprise there, but instead of engaging in the same behavior manifesting from behind the safety of screens, a local business owner offered another setting for such a conversation: At his brewery, over beer — and he’s buying.

Two weeks after the Golden 1 Center opened last September, Pizza Rock stopped taking group reservations. The K Street restaurant that blends its food appeal with a nightlife scene had been dealing with empty tables and lines spilling out the door, as parties failed to arrive.

April Walker made her first $10 as a musician on the wooden sidewalks of Old Sacramento five years ago. A then-transplant from Fairfield, Walker — whose stage name is SpaceWalker — carried her guitar case and a desire to expand her artistic roots to the historic district, the K Street tunnel and other downtown spots.

Today, Sacramento is home to nearly a dozen vegetarian and vegan restaurants, a shift that’s reflective of evolving dietary trends nationwide.

Based on the notion that entrepreneurs network and discover solutions over a million cups of coffee, 1 Million Cups is a free, weekly gathering that helps elevate startup communities on a grassroots level.

The lavish, invite-only Diner en Blanc, is a private, international pop-up picnic party that prides itself on its secrecy and fashionability. According to the official website, “Thousands of people, dressed in all white, and conducting themselves with the greatest decorum, elegance, and etiquette, all meet for a mass ‘chic picnic’ in a public space.”

When a woman drove a Lexus SUV through Fruitridge and Power Inn Road earlier this year, there were no obvious signs that it was hot and teaming with drugs. Within moments a police observation device returned a hit on the stolen vehicle, and Sacramento Police Department Officer Patrick Mulligan had her pulled over.

Cookie dough, chocolate bars, entertainment books and gift wrap — 20 years ago, the Waldorf school David Sobon’s son was attending had students peddling all of these wares, yet they couldn’t fundraise even $10,000 in a given year. Frustrated that these “ridiculously painful fundraisers” were being placed on his child’s shoulders, the then-30-something decided on a whim to host his first live auction — which eventually led him to launch David Sobon Auctions.