A high-end beef supplier is expanding its plant in Charlotte, creating as many as 100 jobs over five years, the company announced Monday.

Buckhead Beef Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sysco Corp., will open the new 24,000-square-foot facility in southwest Charlotte late this summer, it said in a news release Monday. The plant will distribute Certified Angus Beef, veal, poultry, seafood, wild game and other foods to chefs, restaurateurs and Sysco-operating companies across the Carolinas.

Buckhead Beef, whose main plant is in Atlanta, will hire 40 workers initially, including butchers, delivery drivers, warehouse staff and sales representatives, with 80 to 100 hires likely by the fifth year, the company said.

Company President Chad Stine said the new facility will give local restaurants more personal service, allowing chefs to request unique cuts with little lead time. The new facility will feature high-tech slicing, packaging and refrigeration equipment, the company said. Kirsten Pittman

Yadkin Valley raises $6.4 million in stock offering

Elkin-based Yadkin Valley Financial Corp., which has branches in Charlotte, on Monday said it raised $6.4 million through a private stock offering.

In a filing Friday, Yadkin Valley said the proceeds will be used for interest payments on trust preferred securities, dividends on government bailout loans and general corporate purposes. The bank received a total of $49.3 million from the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2009.

Yadkin Valley chief executive Joe Towell said in an interview that the bank could eventually pay back TARP if approved for the U.S. Treasury's Small Business Lending Fund, which provides capital to community banks in an effort to promote small business lending. The bank could also reimburse the government after another larger capital-raising once the bank shows improved earnings and loan performance, Towell said.

In the latest capital raising, directors, executives and employees provided about half of the money at a price of $2.25 per share. Other accredited investors bought shares at a 10 percent discount. At the bank's annual meeting in June, shareholders will vote on whether directors, executives and employees can instead buy in at the discounted rate, giving them more shares to raise the same amount of money. Rick Rothacker

The Observer to lay off 26 employees

The Charlotte Observer will lay off 26 employees in an effort to battle continued revenue declines, publisher Ann Caulkins announced Monday.

More than half of the cuts will come from operations; Caulkins said the Observer is transferring some of its pre-run printing to a sister paper in Columbia, S.C.

The job cuts include four in the newsroom. The company is also freezing 25 vacant positions companywide, she said.

Caulkins said the paper continues to experience year-over-year revenue declines. Local advertising has improved, but national accounts are still weak, and it's difficult to predict when those sales will rebound, she said.

"The revenue picture remains challenging for us, but there are signs of recovery, and we remain optimistic," she said in an e-mail to employees.

The changes come as the Observer reaches more readers than ever - more than 1 million online and in print each week. Yet the newspaper, like others across the country, hasn't been able to generate comparable revenue from its online product. The company currently has about 500 employees. Kirsten Pittman

Wake Forest names associate MBA dean

Yvonne Hinson, a Charlotte native, has been named associate dean of Wake Forest University's Charlotte MBA programs. The school is moving its Saturday and evening programs from Morrocroft near SouthPark to uptown.

A member of the faculty since 1997, Hinson received her bachelor's degree and MBA from UNC Charlotte and started her career as an accountant at Arthur Andersen. There are currently about 180 students in Wake Forest's Charlotte MBA programs. Ely Portillo