Clark’s Automotive opens second shop

 

Clark’s Tire & Automotive LLC, a Spokane Valley-based automotive repair and tire sales business, has opened a second store due to what it says is growing demand.

“It’s actually incredible right now,” owner Chris Clark says of business volume at his two stores. He opened his first store at 16010 E. Sprague in August 2009.

The new store opened at the beginning of June at 710 W. Francis, in 5,500 square feet of space just west of the intersection of Wall Street and Francis Avenue. A Meineke Car Care Center formerly occupied the building, Clark says.

Clark, who has an undergraduate degree in criminology and planned for a career in law enforcement, says the closest he now comes to police is the fact he has a contract with the Washington State Patrol to provide service for WSP vehicles.

“We’ve gotten so busy at both locations that I had to hire three extras guys in the Valley store to improve the work flow,” Clark says.

The three new workers bring Clark’s total employee count to 21, a number he says is an all-time high for the company.

—Kevin Blocker

 

Couple of Chefs to open eatery 

 

Husband and wife duo Allen Skelton and Joile Forral, owners of Couple of Chefs Catering & Food Truck, plan to open the company’s first brick-and-mortar location, Bruncheonette, at 1011 W. Broadway in September, says Forral.

Bruncheonette will serve breakfast and lunch in the 2,400-square-foot space, she says. 

“We do try to make everything from scratch as much as possible,” says Forral. “Serving the best quality food that we can is very important to us.”

The restaurant also will serve some of the most popular options from the food truck, including its 82nd Burger, The Rude-Ben: Reuben’s Drunk Uncle, and Burrito Pommes Frites menu items, says Skelton.

As of July 20, Couple of Chefs Catering & Food Truck employed one full-time and five seasonal workers, says Forral. The company estimates that will grow to about four full-time, four part-time, and five seasonal employees in September, not including the owners, she says.

The couple opened the catering business in 2011 and the food truck in 2012, and will continue to operate both, she says.

—Samantha Howard

 

Boat flooring vendor joins SeaDek network

 

Contemporary Marine Flooring, a Spokane Valley-based company that fabricates and installs nonslip flooring for pleasure boats and related uses, says it has become a certified fabricator for Florida-based SeaDek Marine Products.  

Scott Kurtz, who co-owns Contemporary Marine Flooring with his wife, Jeanne, says the business began producing SeaDek products in late May. 

It shares a 10,000-square-foot space at 10907 E. Marietta with another company the couple owns, Contemporary Fiberglass & Marine Inc., a custom swim platform and boat repair business.

Kurtz says Contemporary Marine Flooring will be the SeaDek’s first fabricator to serve exclusively the Pacific Northwest and parts of western Canada.

SeaDek manufactures a range of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) nonskid products for marine and sports use. EVA products consist of a “rubber-like” material with softness and flexibility. The material is stress-crack resistant, with waterproof properties and resistance to ultraviolet radiation.

SeaDek’s markets its products to original equipment manufacturer boat builders, resellers, and end-users.

Kurtz says Contemporary Fiberglass has had a longstanding relationship with SeaDek, having previously templated and installed the company’s products on boats and swim platforms. 

“Previously, I would create a template of the area to be surfaced, mail it to SeaDek, and they would send me the product to install,” he says. “Now, through Contemporary Marine Flooring, we do all three—templates, fabrication, and installation, so there’s no manufacturing or mailing delay.” 

As the business’s only two employees, the Kurtzes template boats, create computer-aided design (CAD) drawings, cut SeaDek EVA material using computer numerical control (CNC) technology, and install the final products.

--LeAnn Bjerken

 

Fitness club moves, grows membership

 

The Lab fitness center has grown to 120 members in large part due to moving recently to a larger, 4,800-square-foot space at 6501 N. Cedar in north Spokane, owner Luke Lollis says.

“We’re up 30 members since the move at the beginning of May, and we expect to see another surge in membership in the fall,” Lollis says.

The fitness center previously had been located in a 2,700-square-foot space at 208 W. Francis. 

The Lab is a “strength-oriented” club, where members use weights and kettlebells in their workout regimens, Lollis says.

He says he added three new employees to the fitness club, which employs five total. Lollis and his wife, Chelsea Lollis, opened The Lab almost three years ago, he says. He has been in the fitness industry since 1995 as a personal trainer and manager for large national chains.

“There was just a desire on my part to have a training environment in a more personalized setting,” Lollis says.

In addition to more room, The Lab’s new location has higher ceilings and more restrooms. 

“We can now have multiple classes going on at once,” Lollis says.

Club memberships range from $99 to $149 per month, he says.

Club hours are from 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday.

—Kevin Blocker

 

Coffee startup here to fund education 

 

School Grounds Community Coffee & Agriculture has started here as a social purpose corporation that aims to reinvest in the community. 

A social purpose corporation is a new designation for Washington state that defines a business as a for-profit entity focusing on social and environmental issues in decision making, rather than profit goals. 

School Grounds founder Mike Lentz says the business, which launched online this month, will sell coffee produced by Spokane-area roasters, donating 50 percent of the resulting net profits to school and community garden programs in the area. 

“We have three roasters onboard right now—Cravens, Indaba, and 4 Seasons,” says Lentz. “Our primary goal is to begin building a network of coffee roasters and consumers, along with teachers and students.” 

  He says the remaining 50 percent of profits will go toward down payment on a loan to fund a drive-thru and processing location to help generate further funds for the business’s cause.

School Grounds made its debut at the 38th Annual Cherry Picker’s Trot at the Green Bluff Grange last week and hopes to continue promoting the various coffee roasts at upcoming farmer’s markets and area fairs. 

“Right now, we’re operating out of our garage space. It may take a while, but if we can save up about $30,000, that would allow us to open a location,” Lentz says. 

Lentz, who co-owns the business with his wife, Kristine, says the couple came up with the idea while scrolling through social media. 

“We saw a discussion on how people are willing to spend $5 on a coffee but not on community programs,” he says. “So we figured, why not give people the coffee they want, and donate the proceeds to those programs?”

He says the couple’s goal in creating School Grounds is to help get gardening into schools, upgrade public lunches to include local and whole foods, and to address social issues.

To start, the first organization the School Grounds will be donating to is Project Hope, an organization that works with at-risk youth.

—LeAnn Bjerken