News Briefs About Food, Crime, Stock Prices, And Fraud Settlement
Koble Owner Expands Dining Choices
Ilias Stovolidis, owner of Westerville’s Koble Grill, is part of the restaurant group behind the newly opened Panini Opa at North Market Bridge Park in Dublin.
Stovolidis partners with founder Orian Trifoni on the concept, which began serving at the end of January. The menu blends Greek and Italian street food influences, including paninis, entrees, burgers, and shareable appetizers such as spanakopita and tzatziki.
Trifoni opened the first Panini Opa in 2012 after launching Greek Corner in 2004. The group also operates Koble Grill in Powell and Stone Bar & Kitchen on Bethel Road.
Maybe More Pizza
Flyers Pizza & Subs is signaling that Westerville is its top choice for its next Central Ohio location, as the locally owned chain continues its measured expansion strategy.
“When someone comes up to us and says, ‘Hey, you should have a store in this area,’ four out of five times they say Westerville,” co-president Scott Ulrey told Columbus Business First, noting the suburb fills a geographic gap between the company’s Powell and Blacklick shops.
The 10-location brand, founded in 1976 in West Jefferson, aims to open one new restaurant every two years. Its most recent opening was in Pickerington in 2023.
“We’re a one-at-a-time place,” CFO Doug May said. “We’re very prudent, pragmatic and intentional.”
Sales rose 1.7% last year, though winter weather and fewer Ohio State football playoff games led to a slower start this year. Still, May said the company is financially positioned to expand.
Marysville and Delaware are also under consideration, but Westerville remains “highest on the wish list,” leadership said.
Charged With Unlawful Detention
A Westerville man has been indicted on federal charges accusing him of impersonating a U.S. officer and unlawfully detaining and searching a person in December 2023, according to court records.
Brendan Conklin, 45, was arrested Jan. 21 and appeared the same day in U.S. District Court in Columbus. A federal grand jury returned a sealed two-count indictment Jan. 15, charging him with impersonating an officer or employee of the United States and performing an arrest or search while acting as an impersonator.
Impersonation Gets Man Arrested
After the arrest of Brendon Conklin, above, for impersonating a police officer and unlawful restraint by using his police interceptor vehicle with flashing police lights to stop a motorist he thought was driving dangerously.
Court filings allege Conklin “unlawfully detained and arrested another person” and searched that individual. He was released on his own recognizance.
The case follows a separate municipal charge in early 2024 involving an SUV modified to resemble a police vehicle. That case was later dismissed at the prosecutor’s request.
Data Infrastructure Supplier’s Stock Jump
Shares of Westerville-based Vertiv Holdings Co. surged 25% to a record high after the company reported $10.3 billion in 2025 sales, fueled by strong demand from AI-driven data center construction.
The stock briefly hit $255 following the earnings release and was trading in the high $230s Friday, nearly five times its 52-week low of $54.
Net income more than doubled year over year to $1.33 billion. CEO Giordano Albertazzi told analysts that larger customer orders reflect broader market trends. “Orders are becoming larger and larger and larger,” he said, adding that Vertiv was able to ramp up production to meet demand.
The company expects 2026 revenue of $13.3 billion to $13.8 billion, exceeding 2025’s 26% organic growth rate. Vertiv entered the Fortune 500 in 2025.
Recent acquisitions include the $1 billion purchase of PurgeRite in January — a deal that could rise to $1.25 billion — and the $203 million acquisition of Great Lakes Data Racks & Cabinets in August.
Vertiv employs more than 5,000 people in Central Ohio and operates 22 manufacturing facilities globally.
Kokosing Pays Settlement For Fraud
Kokosing Materials Inc., headquartered just south of Westerville, has agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle civil allegations that it submitted fraudulent asphalt test results on federally funded road projects for more than a decade, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
The settlement, disclosed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, resolves claims that, between 2012 and 2024, the company failed to perform required quality-control tests and instead submitted copied or falsified data. The agreement includes no finding of liability, and the company does not admit wrongdoing.
Company President Lee Schloss said Kokosing Materials cooperated with investigators and chose to settle “to avoid the time and expense of potential litigation,” adding that the company “stands by the quality of its products.”
The case was brought under the False Claims Act by whistleblowers represented by Helmer, Martins, Tate & Garrett Co. LPA. A separate company, Barrett Paving Materials Inc., agreed to pay $12.5 million as part of the broader $30 million settlement.
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