New Medical Lake bakery is an early success

They spent the better part of 35 years going their separate ways during the day in their early careers.

Now Kevin and Brenda Gerhart love the idea of spending 24 hours a day, seven days a week together, particularly in their newest venture, The Lefevre Street Bakery Café in Medical Lake.

Opened May 25, the former Chan's Restaurant seems to have been an instant hit in a town that has not had a place to grab a sit-down breakfast or lunch in a couple of years since LindaBee's Diner closed.

"We were so extremely tired of both of us going off in different directions each day, coming home at different times each day and raising our boys without both of us present for dinner each night," Brenda Gerhart said.

It's an interesting and unlikely story of how this new eatery came to be.

Kevin Gerhart worked for 35 years in dairy processing plants, the most recent as chief operating officer at Darigold in Spokane. After a series of sales to various parties, and then returning the company to employee ownership, he had the opportunity to transfer, but it was to the Seattle area. "We were like na, na, na, na, na," Kevin said.

Brenda Gerhart also worked in a series of administrative positions, but after her husband decided to leave corporate life, they realized a longtime dream of opening a small bakery business. Their choice was to either go to school and learn, or buy a business and "Learn it by fire," Kevin said.

The Gerharts chose the learning by doing path and opened the Petit Chat Village Bakery located in North Spokane near Whitworth University. After building it into a smashing success the Gerharts sold the business in September 2014.

The couple actually thought about leaving the area until their two sons ended up back in Spokane. Their oldest, in the U.S. Air Force, landed at Fairchild, so they decided to stay, but certainly not retire.

"We just started looking for different opportunities, and I actually saw the Chan's Restaurant (was) for sale," Kevin said.

Surveying the town, and from their experience in Spokane where much of their support came from the older neighborhood, they saw similar potential in Medical Lake.

They commute daily from four miles west of Davenport. "We commute, but there's no stoplights," Brenda said. As trained staff is put into place the Gerharts can sleep in, so-to-speak, waking at 4:30 a.m. now versus 1 a.m.

The in-house bakery produces a wide array of pastries and breads and if the line out the door June 13 was any indicator, the move to Medical Lake was a good one.

"My term was that we attempted to 'soft open,' but we hit the ground running, literally," Kevin said. "Fast and hard," Brenda added.

The homey feel to the eatery is evident with a glance at the menu on the wall above the kitchen and bakery. It's all hand-lettered.

And that "homemade" concept extends to the food, which currently is limited to breakfast, but will soon add lunch.

"Kevin and I, when we started Petit Chat our philosophy was, and still is to this day, 'If it's not good enough for us it's not good enough for our guests," Brenda said.

The two signature breakfast items have family roots.

There's "The Carl," named after Brenda's father and is a serving of biscuits and gravy and then Si's Special, a dish of sage sausage stuffing.

Lefevre Street Bakery Café is located at 123 S. Lefevre St. Business hours are Monday through Sunday from 6-11:30 a.m.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.