Medical Lake's Lefevre Street Bakery & Café for sale

If you've been pondering on the status of Medical Lake's Lefevre Street Bakery and Café, the cat is now out of the bag: it's for sale.

That's at least one path that co-owner Kevin Gerhart is holding open.

"It's one of the options we thought we would pursue," Gerhart said in a voicemail. "We thought that with us being shut down currently that someone might be interested in coming in with their own staff and doing their own thing."

With the sale advertised with an attention-grabbing headline that reads, in part, "Café 50% Below 2018 Appraised Value," it appears to be a fire sale, according to the business sales website BizQuest.

Gerhart had been circumspect about the status of the business earlier in August after the well-regarded destination restaurant had been closed for nearly a month due to heating and cooling system damage in the kitchen area.

"I can't make any commitment," Kevin said of repairs and a reopening date in an Aug. 8 Cheney Free Press story. "I would have not thought it would take this long, but it has."

The asking price for the business is $300,000 and includes nearly $10,000 in inventory and $57,000 in fixtures, furnishings and equipment, according to BizQuest.

While net earnings were not disclosed, annual gross revenues are listed at $709,000 with a cash flow of $176,000.

The property is owned by BK Properties, LLC, according to Spokane County records. BizQuest lists a $3,000 monthly lease.

While BizQuest lists the business as having 10 "experienced employees ... in place to run the day-to-day operations," Gerhart had said previously that one of the major hurdles to reopening the business for him was finding and training new employees.

He also said restocking the restaurant's inventory would be challenging as well.

The business was a bit of a boon to other local retail businesses in downtown Medical Lake, who said there had been a noticeable drop in walk-in customers since the bakery closed.

Opened in May 2016, the breakfast and lunch establishment is the second of the Gerhart's restaurants.

The first, Petit Chat Village Bakery in the Whitworth University area of North Spokane opened in September 2014. It recently closed, according to an Aug. 10 Facebook post.

The reason for selling the Lefevre Street Bakery is listed as "relocating," according to BizQuest.

"We still don't know what the future holds for us," Gerhart said. "That was one of the things we thought we'd do, is put it up for sale and see if someone else is willing to take it on."

Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].