Website veterans launch Switch Up

Switch Up Inc., which does business as Switch Up Web, launched Aug. 1 as a local Web development service. The company is located at 418 E. Pacific, east of downtown Spokane, and occupies about 600 square feet within Interlink Advantage Inc.'s office space.

Co-owners Jennifer Ferrero and Kirt Runolfson started the company in May and worked on development until this month's launch. Switch Up focuses on developing website infrastructures and programming, with a focus on medium-sized companies. Fererro says. Interlink provides tech support and Web hosting for the company.

Switch Up employs a client relation specialist in addition to Ferrero and Runolfson, Fererro says. The company outsources most of its design and programming work but hopes to do everything in-house in the future.

Runolfson has been the president of Interlink since 2008. Fererro previously had been president and co-owner of Spokane Web Communications and currently also owns Vanilla Bean Consulting, which she uses to do freelance and contract copy writing.

Company plans INW luxury travel guide

Byrdnest Publishing Inc., of Santa Fe, N.M., which publishes an annual luxury travel book there called "The Essential Guide," says it plans to introduce one next year focusing on the Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, and Walla Walla markets.

Ruthie Dearing, a former consulting firm owner here who moved to the Southwest 10 years ago, has returned to Spokane as an account executive for Byrdnest and is selling advertising for the planned new guide.

Dearing says Byrdnest, owned by Chip and Patricia Byrd, expects to publish its first edition of the Inland Northwest-focused guide early next summer, a few months after launching one serving the Savannah, Ga.-Charleston, S.C. area. She estimates it will print 70,000 to 100,000 copies of the one here for distribution through such outlets as advertisers' locations, hotels, and other tourism- and hospitality-related businesses and organizations.

"The Essential Guide," which Byrdnest calls "the Little Black Book of luxury travel," is a 7-inch-by-7-inch, black-covered, but color-filled lifestyle publication focusing on the arts, home design and dcor, upscale shopping, and dining and recreational activities. The 23-year-old company says the mix and variety of advertisers and editorial content is designed to communicate the heritage, culture, and traditions of the area in which it's published.

The guide serving the Santa Fe-Taos market is the only one the company currently publishes. It says it plans to launch one later next year serving the Durango, Telluride, and San Juan Skyway area of southwest Colorado.

Beer-and-wine bar to open this fall

Cedar House Tap Room LLC is slated to open in a leased 500-square-foot space at 1928 W. York, in northwest Spokane.

Ed Bedell, who owns Cedar House with his wife, Amanda, says the beer-and-wine bar is expected to open in September or October. The company currently is performing a light remodel on the space, near the corner of York and Northwest Boulevard, after receiving funding to start the business through Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners. Remodeling costs will be between $5,000 and $10,000, Bedell says.

Cedar House will offer a selection of microbrews and fine wines, with the majority of beer on tap, Bedell says. He says he and his wife plan to rotate taps regularly, and have thought about using smaller-sized kegs to help with the speed of the rotation. Cedar House will also feature local beers, such as crafts from Northern Ales Inc., in Kettle Falls.

While they won't be selling beer they brew, the Bedells are members of Inland Brewers Unite, a home brewers club in Spokane. Amanda Bedell currently is a pharmacy technician, and Ed Bedell is finishing his bachelor's degree in business and marketing from the University of Phoenix. The Bedells will be involved in the day-to-day operations and hope to hire a part-time employee after three months of business.

Cd'A restaurant opens in former Fisher's spot

North Idaho businessmen Don Smock and Pat Krug have opened Seasons of Coeur d'Alene Fresh Grill & Bar in the Coeur d'Alene location where T.W. Fisher's Brew Pub and then Coeur d'Alene Brewing Co. formerly operated for many years.

The remodeled 9,000-square-foot structure, which the businessmen own at 209 Lakeside, includes a dining room, bar, patio, and banquet and meeting space.
Momentum Architecture Inc., of Coeur d'Alene, designed the improvements, and Ginno Construction Inc., also of Coeur d'Alene, was the general contractor for the project.

The remodeling project involved extensive demolition and reconstruction work, says Nancy White, general manager of Seasons. She declines to disclose renovation costs.

Scott Miller is the executive chef in charge of the restaurant's menu, which features seasonal specialties and traditional foods, such as burgers, pasta, and steak. Smock and Krug wanted to focus on local talent and products, so many of the ingredients used in Seasons' dishes are purchased from local and regional sources, White says.

The restaurant is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.

Kenpo Karate offers classes on Washington

Spokane Kenpo Karate LLC has opened in an 840-square-foot leased space at 164 S. Washington, in downtown Spokane, where a Curves women's fitness center formerly was located.

Bryan Whitaker and Tom Black, the school's lead instructors and co-owners with Mike Charter and Colin Conway, are both third-degree black belts. Spokane Kenpo teaches karate, ju-jitsu, judo, and kung fu, and offers classes for children and adults. Right now, everyone in Spokane Kenpo classes is at brown belt level, Whitaker says.

Whitaker, who also is a solo-practice attorney, says he taught private Kenpo lessons at his home before joining with the other co-owners to open the business.

The students at Spokane Kenpo are a combination of his private-lesson students and people who needed a place to practice after other martial arts studios in town closed, Whitaker says.

"Kenpo is a way to challenge yourself daily to become better physically, emotionally, and psychologically."