When announcing the new Pizza Hut off of Hwy. 12 East across from Wal-Mart last year, Great Falls-based High Plains Pizza hinted there may be additional changes to its franchise layout in Helena.

Some of those changes are upon us. The Pizza Hut at 1133 Helena Ave., right near Malfunction Junction, is closing this Friday, with the new Hwy. 12 location opening the following Tuesday.

More changes are in the works. Angie Romeo of High Plains said the franchisee plans another Helena location on North Montana Avenue to open sometime this summer. She declined to specify the location for the new restaurant, saying that the lease hasn’t been finalized yet.

Resources: Abundant Montana, the biennial directory to sustainably grown food published by the Alternative Energy Resources Organization, rolled off the presses this month.

The fifth edition of the statewide guide to sustainably grown agriculture products and retail outlets that feature locally grown food features everything from chickens and eggs to gladiolas and milk thistle. You can look up producers in your area, or look up the product you’re seeking and see who produces it across the state. Retailers and restaurants that sell sustainably produced Montana foods are also included.

The latest edition is also indexed by delivery area, to restaurants or others in the food service business can determine what farm and ranch products are available for their businesses to use.

For more on Abundant Montana, call AERO at 443-7272 or go to www.aeromt.org. The directory is free though there’s a $3.00 charge to get it in the mail.

More Resources: According to the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s annual look at the oil and natural gas industry in the 33 states that produce these fuels, Montana ranked eighth in the country in crude oil wells drilled and 10th in natural gas wells drilled in 2005 — 839 total new wells, compared to 561 in 2002.

The IPAA says Montana ranks 12th in the country in crude oil production and 20th in natural gas production, and that 8,255 people here are employed by the petroleum industry.

Market Close: County Market’s presence in Montana continues to shrink. Spokane-based Tidyman’s, which owns the County Market stores in Montana, announced two more store closings last week, Central County Market in Billings and West County Market in Great Falls. The closures leave the chain with 11 groceries.

Helena’s County Market at the corner of Custer and North Montana closed last year.

Email your Open for Business ideas to john.harrington@helenair.com.