Trailbreaker Cider co-owners Trent and Stacie Maier are adding a little foot traffic and branching off with a new location in River Park Square, located at 808 W. Main in downtown Spokane.

“We always try to be appealing to a wide audience,” says Maier.

The new location, which opened in mid-June, is located on the mall’s third floor, between AMC Theatres and the food court. The location has close to 900 square feet of space and a seating capacity for up to 40 people, Maier says.

The downtown location is incorporated under the name Riverbreaker Enterprises LLC and employs five people. The Liberty Lake facility, which Maier co-owns with business partner Brian Augdahl under Whiskey Barrel Cider Co. LLC, has 30 employees and is located at 2204 N. Madson Road. Both locations do business as Trailbreaker Cider. 

At the downtown site, a limited new menu includes cheesy garlic bread dippers, a house salad, a choice of six different pizzas, and fresh cheesecake. Additional items will gradually be added.

“We call it elevated pub food,” Maier says.

The Liberty Lake location offers a more extensive menu, but pizza was always something Maier wanted to add to the selections.

“One of my ambitions for Liberty Lake was to add pizza,” he says. “And the best way I found to do that is to open a place and prove to myself that it works.” 

The new taphouse has four beer handles and 12 cider handles. Beer offerings are sourced locally from Washington-based breweries, including Spokane’s Brickwest Brewery, Uprise Brewery, Lumberbeard Brewery, and Rochester, Wash.-based Talking Cedar. 

Ciders available on tap include blueberry sage, lemon ginger, piña colada, blackberry, dry and crisp, among others. Wine is also available by the glass.

The area is an open space that looks out at the mall area, which was a major draw for Maier.

“What I see in a mall, is people want to watch other people and to be in the public,” he says. “And I think that is something that will help downtown a lot … when we see spaces that others can see folks having a good time in.” 

Aside from a few conversations about franchising in the past, Maier said he never expected to open a location in a leased mall setting, but with what Maier refers to as slow and strategic growth, he saw an opportunity he couldn’t pass over. 

“If you drive from Minneapolis to Seattle, the busiest shopping, four blocks of shopping, is right here,” Maier says. “I really thought about the economic impact this mall has.”

Formerly known as Whiskey Barrel Cider Co., Maier and Augdahl started the cidery in 2012 out of a production facility at the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport. The owners sold the facility to the airport in 2016 and closed. 

In 2018, the duo purchased property and broke ground on what became their Liberty Lake facility. The rebranded 10,000-square-foot space opened in 2019, complete with a restaurant, tasting room, manufacturing facility, and a large outdoor patio which is also used to host large events.

“I love Liberty Lake. I love living in Liberty Lake, and I love owning a business and property there,” says Maier, who acted as the general contractor for the place, as well.

“The primary goal of that facility was to build my dream manufacturing facility, which we’ve done,” Maier says. 

The company invested more than $100,000 into an apple press over a decade ago, which Maier says has since paid for itself. It sources its Washington-grown apples from Excel Fruit Brokerage Co., in Yakima, Wash.    

Both Maier and Augdahl are also electrical engineers, share a small engineering company, and Maier is a trained chef. They met while working at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc. 

“We’ve decided over the last year that it’s probably best if he does engineering work and I do this for a little while,” Maier says. “I try to split my time 50/50.”

Although the business partners had discussed branching outside of Spokane, Maier says he’s content keeping operations local.

“We’re a long way from saturating this market,” Maier says. 

Small Bites

*Maddie’s Corner Café, a restaurant serving breakfast and lunch, has opened at 1825 N. Washington in a building formerly occupied by Dolly’s Café. 

According to a social media post, the restaurant opened on June 25, and the hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

*Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop opened a new location at 264 S. Beck, in Post Falls. The restaurant’s menu centers around cold, grilled and vegetarian subs, including cheesesteak and turkey subs.

Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, a franchise that has over 175 locations across the U. S., was founded in 1976 and has local shops in Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene, both owned by Jameson Angle. Its Coeur d’Alene location, which opened in 2022, is located at 305 W. Appleway.