Spokane baker makes a sweet move

POST FALLS - If there is anything sweeter than fresh-baked pastries, it could be the two dozen-plus new Idaho taxpayers who will be whipping them up beginning Sunday morning.

That's when Sweetwater Bakery opens, with its first retail operation serving up the treats made on site.

"We have a very full product line," said Sandy VasDias, who with husband Tom and son Peter have run the bakery in Spokane for the past six of the eight years the company has been in business.

Bread, cakes and doughnuts are about the only bakery items not being prepared in the newly rebuilt space at 119 E. Third Ave.

Bagels are their specialty, but muffins, croissants, cinnamon rolls, Danish, scones, cookies and brownies are just some of the items offered at Sweetwater.

"We make all kinds of bars," VasDias said, including oat, huckleberry, raspberry and cherry cobbler. Banana nut loaves are also available.

The company has been primarily a wholesale operation, providing those items along with sandwiches and individual pizzas to grocery stores, hotels, schools, convenience stores and coffee kiosks in the region.

Success led them to look at a different location and a slightly different business model. Their Spokane operation was small and hidden behind another building near Gonzaga University. And the state of Washington is not the best place to do business.

Enter Jobs Plus, Kootenai County's economic development corporation, and a few other agencies, and they were sold on a border crossing.

"Idaho is a very business-friendly state," VasDias said.

They found a spot they liked in a building purchased and renovated by Dan Eloe of Triple E Technologies, who moved his company from a 10th Street location to the new spot formerly occupied by Q's Customs.

Up front is a small retail space, the company's first, but where the action takes place is in back, where the bakers and others prepare, package and ship their product in about 6,000 square feet of production area.

Anyone living downwind from Sweetwater Bakery may well be treated to the scent of fresh pastries as a large fan vents the heat from the ovens in the very back of the building.

It will open by 7 a.m. each day, and stay open until around mid-afternoon except for Friday and Saturday, which will be mornings only. Sweetwater produces Sunday through Thursday for weekday deliveries to its wholesale accounts.

"We have never before been retail, so we're still figuring out the hours," VasDias said.

Fresh Cravens drip coffee will be available, and soon sandwiches will be added to the selection.

Visa, Mastercard and checks are accepted.

Sweetwater's 25 employees transferred from Spokane to the Post Falls operation, and a few plan to move to the city, VasDias said.

And all will pay Idaho income taxes.

"We are grateful and happy to have them in the area," said Steve Griffitts, president of Jobs Plus. "We worked hard with them, and are glad to have their support for Idaho's economy."

Information: (877) 579-9573 or http://www.sweetwaterbakery.com. Call-ahead orders are welcome.