Deb and Bill Weisgerber, of Spokane, have bought the Grounds & Grub coffee stand at 1402 S. Bowdish, in Spokane Valley, and have renamed it Deb's Espresso, which is also the name of another coffee stand, at 1127 W. Northwest Blvd., that they own.
Deb Weisgerber says she and her husband bought the stand after seeing it advertised on the Craigslist online network, which was the same way they bought their other coffee stand. They've added new signage and a hot pink paint job, the business's signature color, at the Valley stand, Weisgerber says. The stand is open seven days a week and sells coffees, espressos, teas, and some food items such as muffins, croissants, and cookies.
Weisgerber says she will hire two full-time and two part-time employees at the Valley stand, which will begin offering catering services in the fall for special events in both the Spokane and Spokane Valley areas. Catered offerings will include drinks and food items sold at the stand, and possibly lunch foods such as sandwiches, Weisgerber says.
The couple's coffee stand on Northwest Boulevard employs four people, two who work full time, and two part time.
Abel Gonzales, who moved to Spokane from California three months ago, says he has opened a 24-hour eatery, named Abelardos Mexican Restaurant, at 11519 E. Sprague, in Spokane Valley. He says he owns and operates three other restaurants under that name, one of them in California and two in Nevada.
He opened the restaurant here in a leased 3,500-square foot building that formerly housed a Burger King outlet. Abelardos will be open seven days a week and will serve traditional Mexican food, with all items priced at $7 or less, Gonzales says. The menu will feature 23 meal combinations and will include a breakfast buffet, he says.
Gonzales says the restaurant here employs seven employees, including himself and some members of his family. He has installed new signage, but says he has no plans to do any remodeling to the building.Seth Carey, an employee of Seattle-based mobile pizza business Veraci Pizza, has moved from the West Side to begin operating a Spokane branch of the family-owned pizza enterprise.
Carey says he will begin selling Veraci's wood-fired pizzas and advertising its on-site catering services at four farmers' markets here starting the second week in July. He says he currently is working to negotiate leasing by the hour some unused space from a restaurant kitchen here from which he can operate the branch.
Veraci makes its thin-crust, 16-inch pizzas in custom-built mobile carts equipped with wood-fired ovens. For now, it plans to sell its pizzas at the Coeur d'Alene farmers' market on Wednesdays, at the Perry Street market in Spokane on Thursdays, at the Cheney market on Fridays, and at the Liberty Lake market on Saturdays.
Additionally, Veraci Pizza will cater special events such as anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, and corporate events. Its catered food offerings will include pizzas, salads, and appetizer trays. Carey will use the mobile cart to prepare food at event locations. Carey says only pizzas will be sold at farmers' markets.
Veraci Pizza owners Marshall Jett and Erin Byrd Jett started selling their pizza at a farmers' market in Ballard, Wash., in 2004. Over the last five years, the family has sold at farmers' markets throughout the greater Seattle area, and recently also began branch operations in Portland and Bend, Ore. Veraci Pizza has 30 employees, and opened its first pizzeria in Ballard in October 2008Spokane-based Flatbread Pizza Co. LLC, a mobile pizza business launched here last spring by owners Daniel and Audra Lewis, is expanding into catering.
Daniel Lewis says the mobile operation, run by himself and about five part-time employees, uses a custom built pizza cart containing an imported wood-fired oven to bake pizza, and that he buys his dough from Great Harvest Bread Co., of Spokane. Prep work is done at a local restaurant kitchen through a private arrangement with the owner, who is a family friend, Lewis says.
Flatbread Pizza Co. premiered at the Post Falls, Idaho, Days Festival last May, and now is serving its pizzas at farmers' markets, street fairs, and other such gatherings in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, and Sandpoint, Idaho.
Lewis says he hopes to make Flatbread Pizza Co. entirely into a catering operation once it has established enough business. Six available catering packages include pizza varieties and sizes that the business doesn't serve at public venues, where Lewis says it is limited to serving personal-sized pizzas in up to about four types. Examples of private events that he hopes to cater include business and corporate functions, parties, birthdays, and other special occasions.
Airfactz, a Spokane Valley employment and tenant screening company, says it will launch an online applicant-screening process in September for people looking to rent out apartments or homes.
Airfactz compliance officer Lisa Carpine says the company, located at 1213 S. Pines, began formulating plans last year to expand beyond its conventional paperwork application process after receiving requests for an online system from some of its clients, which include real estate groups, property-management companies, and housing authorities.
With the new systems, prospective tenants will meet with a real estate management company representative, who will give them a code to enter the Airfactz Web site to fill out their information. Airfactz will screen for information such as tenants' credit history, employment status, and any criminal history, and send their findings to the companies. Carpine says applicants must agree to pay a screening fee online with a credit or debit card.
For landlords, the benefits of using an online application system include speedier processing, less paperwork, and data entry, Carpine says.
Airfactz, which has 12 full-time employees, is owned by Paulina Millsap, of Spokane, and is managed by Joe Murphy. David Millsap, Paulina Millsap's late husband, founded the business in the early 1980s as a collections agency under the name Affiliated Information Resources Inc. It has provided background checks for employment and tenant screenings since the early 1990s. A new events center, Le Monet, has opened inside the former Moose Lodge, at 6363 N. Lidgerwood here.
Heather and Dion Rozina, of Moab, Wash., have leased the two-level, 12,000-square foot building and have renovated the interior for their events center, Dion Rozina says.
Le Monet may be rented for events such as wedding receptions, anniversaries, reunions, small-sized conventions, or business meetings, he says. It has seating for 300 people and a coat check room, lounge, bridal room, dance floor, sound system, second-floor balcony, and full-sized commercial kitchen. The kitchen is being remodeled and should be ready for use by September, Rozina says.
A photography studio and decoration business also are leasing space within the building separately from Le Monet, which Rozina says will offer services for events.
He says he and Heather are arranging to place on the walls of the second level large images of the Giverny, France, gardens once owned by the impressionist painter, Claude Monet, after whom they named the center. The Rozins don't plan to hire any employees.