Company:  Princess Café
Address:    8445 E. Hartford Drive, #2, Scottsdale
Phone:       (480) 513-2116
Hours:       7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat.

Hungry employees working near the Perimeter Center or driving through the area have a new noshing option: the new Princess Café, well worth a stop for breakfast, lunch, cup of fresh coffee or a snack.

Opened in February by a restaurant-savvy family, the café targets business diners as well as local residents. “I wanted to be in a business park,” says owner Dee Radulovic, who certainly came to right place. Though the commerce center bristles with various industries and offices—including one gym—grabbing a quick bite nearby is no easy task.

Radulovic buys her fresh ingredients and baked goods from local producers. For example, the coffee is purchased from Firecreek Coffee Company in Cave Creek. “We have to support each other, especially in these hard times,” she says.

Late Lunch
Lunch has developed a solid following, and customers appreciate that it’s available until 4 p.m. “Our most popular lunch menu items are the Princess #1 Sandwich [ciabatta bread, turkey, Swiss cheese, roasted pepper, avocado and condiments, served hot with chips or either pasta or potato salad and a pickle spear]; the Greek Princess Salad [feta cheese, olives, onions, grape tomatoes, hot pepperocinis, romaine lettuce and Greek dressing]; and Dee’s Turkey Wrap [sun-dried tomato tortilla, smoked turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce and tomato and mayonnaise, lightly grilled].”

The lunch menu features a variety of cold sandwiches with ample portions of meat on soft fresh bread. Menu items include smoked turkey, ham and cheese, roast beef, albacore tuna, creamy chicken salad, and the tomato and mozzarella. Signature hot sandwiches include a classic Reuben, veggie monster, royal club and the Italian. Sandwiches can be paired with soup or chili, pasta salad, potato salad, a small garden salad or chips.

Patrons can also choose from fresh entrée-sized salads accompanied by bread or a dinner roll, or smaller versions. For dessert, consider cookies, brownies, opera cake, moist carrot cake, chocolate cake, cheese cake or a coffee drink—hot or iced. Other beverages include sodas, bottled water, iced tea and energy drinks.

Breakfast is served all day. Among the favorites are the breakfast bagel sandwich (with egg, cheese and a choice of ham or bacon); muffins, Danish, scones, bagels and croissants, toast with butter and jelly, fruit cup, juices and cereal bars. The menu invites diners to enjoy a free 12-ounce cup of brewed coffee with any breakfast sandwich.

The cafe also offers catering services. “We can bake custom cakes for parties, and we have a catalog of all our cake decorations,” Radulovic says. “We deliver to a wide area, also, well beyond the Airpark and Perimeter Center.”

Speaking of parties, The Princess Café’s main dining area is adjacent to a large private room, available for party bookings. Radulovic hopes to open a wine bar in the space soon.


— Joan Fudala

Company:  Postal Strategies Corporation
Address:    10105 E. Via Linda, Suite 103-292
Phone:       480-268-9395
Website:    www.postalstrategies.com

The cost of a stamp rose to 44 cents in May, dealing small business owners another dent to the pocketbook. But one Scottsdale businesswoman has come up with a way to make up the difference and then some. Sandy Smith, president of Postal Strategies, offers presort mail discounts to businesses that wouldn’t ordinarily qualify for the 500-piece minimum rate.

On each 2-ounce piece of mail, businesses that use Postal Strategies save 7 cents, and the savings keep increasing with weight. “I think people are surprised at how much they can save on each piece of mail they send out,” says Smith. “If a business mails just 100 pieces a day, they can save almost $700 a year. That’s significant.”

Most of Postal Strategies’ clients are in Scottsdale, particularly the city’s north sector. The average customer mails about 25 pieces a day, though some have a smaller volume. If a business lies on an established Postal Strategies route, drivers will stop by daily and pick up almost any amount of mail, which will then be tagged and put on a plane that day. Large mailings warrant their own stop.

Typical savings for clients is $14 a month, or $170 per year—not to mention the value of keeping their employees in the office rather than standing in line at the post office or sorting and barcoding mail.

Postal Strategies makes its profit on the backend, explains Smith. “We’re contracted with a presorting house. At the end of the day, the larger the volume, the deeper the discount.” Smith loves the simplicity of her business model: no billing and invoicing; customers save before the mail is picked up, and if they don’t want to do the service again, they can call and quit at any time. “It’s a no risk program,” she says.

Clients include Mayo Clinic and the Airpark’s DBG Benefits, UAIG Insurance and Pulte Homes. If you aren’t sure whether your business is on a Postal Strategies route or has enough mail volume for a special stop, just inquire “The service is really good,” Smith says. “We’re on time, and our drivers are amazing.”

— Kimberly Hundley

Company:  Jin H. Yuk, M.D.
Address:    9377 E. Bell Road, #343, Scottsdale
Phone:       (480) 515-9444

Most of us invest in our own retirement. We all want to be comfortable as we get older. Why then, do so few of us invest in our health? Why don’t we do more to ensure we have a good quality of life as we age? It seems other than a gym membership and popping a vitamin after breakfast, most folks put little effort into preventative medicine. In a nation with the best health care system in the world, why do so many of us just accept aches and pains as something we have to live with?

Those are questions asked by Dr. Jin Yuk, a Scottsdale-based anesthesiologist and pain management specialist. “In the past, some conditions were assumed to be lifelong ailments,” says Dr. Yuk. “Today, because of advances in treatments, medicines and therapies, people don’t have to accept pain as a way of life.”

Back and neck pain, spinal pain and chronic pain can all be treated to some extent now. Dr. Yuk uses a special multi-treatment approach that focuses on rehabilitation and interventional treatments rather than invasive surgeries. “Because we’re living longer and are involved with more high-impact sports and activities, we’re suffering more ailments,” Dr. Yuk says. “Also, the use of computers has increased neck and back pains as well as carpal tunnel syndrome. Chronic pain may not be curable, but it certainly is relievable.”

Pain Reliever
The Korean-born doctor grew up in Lakewood, Colo., and attended college at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Rush Medical College in Chicago, and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He is one of few physicians specializing and certified in pain management. “I treat degenerative conditions, arthritis, disc problems and slipped conditions,” says Dr. Yuk. “I get great gratification out of returning a patient to their life’s activities. It makes their life complete again.”

Obesity is a major contributing factor to problems with hips, knees, back and spine, acknowledges Dr. Yuk. “We’re a result of our excesses,” he says. “We’ve too often become the consequence of the luxury our wealth provides.” Although pain stemming from obesity issues can be relieved, long-term lifestyle modification with an emphasis on proactive exercise and diet is also important, he adds.

Many people suffering chronic back pain turn quickly to surgery, but Dr. Yuk stresses that a conservative approach should be tried first. If noninvasive treatments and interventional injections prove unsatisfactory, then surgery is a viable option—even for older patients.

“You’re never too old to get pain relief. In the past, we rarely operated on people over 70,” says Dr. Yuk. “Today, people are in good enough general health, even into their 80s, to seek treatment.”

For those dealing with chronic pain, there is ever-increasing hope for a better way of life.


— Pete Christensen