Beyond the gaming table

PLUMMER, Idaho – Eight months ago, Andy Barrett and Chief Allan looked each other over, and liked what they saw.

Barrett is managing partner of Berg Integrated Systems, a small manufacturing firm with goals of expanding its work in government contracts.

Allan is chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, a 1,900-member tribe with aims of growing its business portfolio beyond a successful casino.

The initial meeting, brokered by Kootenai County’s Jobs Plus, led to a recent announcement that the tribe has purchased a majority stake in Berg Integrated Systems. No financial data was disclosed, but Berg will get a 50,000-square-foot facility in Plummer from the deal, and capital to expand.

“They’re young, motivated guys and that’s what attracted me,” Allan said last week. “I was ready to sign on the dotted line eight months ago.”

In the last two weeks, the tribe has purchased two manufacturing firms. In addition to Berg, a steel fabricator in Coeur d’Alene, the tribe purchased a majority stake in HearthBread BakeHouse, a Spokane bakery.

It’s a small beginning for the tribe’s efforts to diversify a portfolio heavily weighted toward gaming and tourism.

With 800 workers at its Coeur d’Alene Casino & Resort, the 1,900-member tribe is already one of North Idaho’s largest employers. The purchase of the two companies adds 50 manufacturing jobs to its portfolio.

More announcements are likely, Allan said. The tribal council is in the conceptual stage of developing a business park along U.S. Highway 95, north of Plummer. Allan anticipates filling it with light-manufacturing firms.

“I’ve always thought that the Coeur d’Alene Tribe was an underutilized resource in North Idaho,” he said.

The tribe’s leadership views gaming as a vehicle for economic diversification, Allan said. With 5 percent of gaming profits set aside for economic development, the tribe has the potential to dramatically expand its role as a regional employer, Allan said.

Allan said the tribal council is looking for fast-growing firms that could benefit from a partnership with the tribe. Berg and HearthBread are perfect examples, he said.

Berg wants to expand its sales in government and military contracts, according to Barrett. Native American ownership will help the firm achieve those goals, by making it more competitive in the government contracting process, he said. By relocating to a vacant plant on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, Berg will also be able to tap federal contracting opportunities for small companies in economically depressed areas.

Berg and the tribe are already starting in-house training efforts for the 250 workers they anticipate hiring over the next several years.

“We’ll be able to put high-end manufacturing jobs on the reservation,” Allan said.

Both the tribe and the surrounding communities will benefit, he said.

Benewah County’s unemployment of 8.2 percent ranks among the highest in the state. During the 2000 Census, unemployment among members of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe was estimated at 21 percent.

HearthBread BakeHouse is another firm on the cusp of expansion, Allan said. The bakery, which produces more than 300 products, employs 40 people. It was started in 1999 by two brothers, Larry and Bob Condon.

The bakery has lined up an impressive list of retail clients, including Hagadone Hospitality and other restaurants, as well as hospitals and retail grocers, Allan said. But HearthBread was a little too small to retain the Starbucks account that it wanted, he said.

Financial backing from the tribe “will help get them over the hump,” Allan said. “We could also grow the frozen food line … there’s a lot of potential.”

HearthBread will remain in Spokane for the time being, but could be a candidate for the tribe’s business park.

The council will review potential sites for a business park this fall, said Frances SiJohn, vice chairman of tribal council, and the tribe’s planning director. It will be located somewhere along U.S. Highway 95, north of Plummer, he said.

North Idaho’s travel corridors have been magnets for development in recent years, SiJohn noted, with growth spreading from Spokane to Post Falls; from Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint; and from Coeur d’Alene to the Silver Valley.

The Highway 95 corridor south of Coeur d’Alene to the reservation is next in line for population growth, SiJohn said.

“We want to be the ones leading that development,” he said.