Featured Company:The Wolf Group

The Wolf Group is a unique business that started out in founder and President Mona Baker Wolf's home.

Today she oversees a 17,000 sq. ft. facility in Blue Ash where dozens of trained palates taste, as well as touch, smell and test a host of food, personal care and other products for companies who want to make them more pleasing to consumers. 

The Wolf Group has made a name for itself across the country in this highly specialized "sensory field" of work. For example, taste testers are trained in 44 attributes of taste, said Wolfe Group office manager Felica Tully. 

"Basically we have professional taste testers who can analyze the ingredients in product taste. They also examine scent, and visual appearance. When companies want to improve or change products, we test those products as part of the change process," Tully said.

Wolf wrote the book - literally - on this field as the co-editor of ASTM Sensory Testing Methods Manual 26, a best practices manual for sensory testing and evaluation.

The company specializes in Sensory Evaluation, Quality Control, Product Matching, Quality Improvement and Concept Testing. And in late 2007, the company underwent a large expansion that included a new conference room, focus group client room, client exercise room and industrial and consumer kitchens among other state-of-the art upgrades.

The Wolf Group in 2006 was named one of Greater Cincinnati's Best Places to Work by the Business Courier, and in 2007 Mona Wolf won the Ohio Small Businessperson of the Year Award. 

New to the City of Blue Ash 

Lee Hecht Harrison moved to the Landings II building on 9985 Carver Road in mid-September. LHH is an international talent solutions company that offers career transition , leadership and workforce solutions for companies.They selected Blue Ash because it is accessible from many parts of the city. "The community is also a positive, calm place for people in transition to come for assistance," said John Farrell, Lee Hecht Harrison vice president.

On the eve of celebrating their third year in Blue Ash, Cincinnati Eye Institute welcomes The Urology Group as a tenant in their 120,000 square foot facility. The Urology Group will occupy 6,100 sq.ft. in the CEI facility, located just off Reed Hartman Highway. "The demographics of the urology practice are very similar to CEI's demographics," said Todd Albertz, CEI  Director of Surgical Services , "which makes them a perfect fit for our facility." The Cincinnati Eye Institute also added a hearing aid specialist earlier this year to provide a continuum of care for their clients.

Steelcraft officials are expanding their operations in Blue Ash, Ohio. Steelcraft, a manufacturer of commercial steel doors and frames, has three facilities in the United States; the Blue Ash facility, a Suwanee, Georgia facility and a plant in Chino, California. While its traditional business model involved several plants throughout the country, the new strategy calls for one large factory to eliminate overhead costs in multiple organizations. This move increases the local site's capacity with the addition of $13 million of equipment. Steelcraft employs approximately 600 people.

The Circuit, the IT association of the Cincinnati Tri-State Region, has moved it's head quarters to the HQ offices in Blue Ash. The Circuit will now be located at 4555 Lake Forest Drive, Suite 650, Blue Ash, Ohio 45242. The Circuit is dedicated to raising awareness for the region’s growing IT community by providing support and services for local technology professionals, companies and institutions. Read more.

Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau will move to Blue Ash in November 2009. Cincinnati USA CVB was in need of a suburban location for it's Greater Cincinnati Sports Corp. operations as well as a sales team who will market the suburbs.

Blue Ash Companies In The News

Blue Ash companies are making headlines: 

DotLoop Co. Austin Allison's newest venture looks to aid Realtors with a new software.

Blue Ash and the Cincinnati area received international coverage in UK-based Pharma magazine where Blue Ash's Camargo Pharmaceutical Services was profiled. Another article "Cincinnati Calling" highlights the area as a global business center with nine Fortune 500 companies and more than 300 foreign-owned firms.

Blue Ash based LSI Industries, Inc. sheds some light on their plans for growth after a tough year in an article in the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Mathews 25: Ministries offers a "global village" at their headquarters in Blue Ash so that the public can get a feel for the charity work they do and the people they serve. Read more.

Former Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher has launched a health care information technology company in Blue Ash, in hopes of transforming the way physicians operate their practices and seizing the momentum of the national health care debate. Fletcher partnered with Belcan Corp. founder Ralph Anderson to purchase Blue Ash-based Virtual Medical Network and create Alton Healthcare LLC. For more on the new company click here.

Need a Place to Eat? Have Your Pick

THE BLUE ASH CAFE- located in the heart of the Recreation Center is now open 11AM to 2PM Monday - Friday. Sandwiches, Salads, Seven Hills Coffee, Smoothies, Ice Blended Coffee drinks and more! Click here to view the Cafe menu.

Looking for something good to eat? Looking for fast, sit-down casual or upscale eateries? You can find it all here. And with several new restaurants recently opening, we've updated our restaurant map listing. Take a look. Blue Ash Restaurants