Business focus: Staggering Ox moves to bigger location

You will want to bring an appetite the size of Montana when sitting down for a sandwich at Staggering Ox, the Big Sky transplant that has fed hungry Spokane Valley residents for the past five years.

Each densely packed sandwich comes stuffed with fresh ingredients and sauce made from scratch and served in a barrel of bread baked that day. The bread is shaped like a large tumbler or soup can – a unique presentation called the clubfoot – that owner Jason Crippen brought to Spokane after co-owning two Staggering Ox restaurants in Missoula with his brother.

This week Staggering Ox reopened after moving less than a half mile east on the Sprague strip, to 14415 E. Sprague Ave., across from Valley Rockwood Clinic.

While the move was necessitated when they lost their lease, Crippen said he is excited about expanding the business and the menu with 4,000 more square feet to make and serve their signature clubfoot sandwiches.

“We were like bumblebees in a hive,” he said of the previous location, noting the new kitchen has room for stations so it won’t be all arms and elbows clashing while making the clubfoots. “It’s 10 times more efficient – everything has its space.”

The move cost $20,000, Crippen estimated, adding with a laugh that it cost “my life, my leg, my first-born.”

But that expense, he said, while high for a small, family owned business, would have been higher without the many hours of free labor provided by friends, family and even customers – who helped them muscle through the move.

On Wednesday ham supplier and friend George Gaboury, and Realtor Bruce Baldwin took a short break to rave about the sandwiches and service.

“I helped paint the back floor,” said Gaboury, after putting down a shelving unit. “Most of this has been done by volunteers … maybe for a sandwich down the road.”

Customer Pat Himelspach, who gets regular cravings for the Mount St. Helen’s sandwich – a hearty meal with five meats and five cheeses – brought his truck to transport four loads of equipment and supplies.

“My brother has a small business. I know sometimes it is hard to do things like that and financially and stuff, it is a burden,” said Himelspach. “I want to do whatever I can to see they succeed at their new location. It was fun. I did it because I liked the people and I like that family a lot.”

Over the past two plus years eating at the Staggering Ox, Himelspach said he feels like family, describing how Crippen’s mom Lona – who works four to five days a week – visited him in the hospital after back surgery and brought sandwiches to his home during his recovery.

While always family friendly, it was hard to capture the ambiance they wanted in the old location, which was built for a fast-food restaurant, said Crippen, noting with apology that the new location doesn’t have a drive-through window.

For those convenience-loving customers, Crippen plans to offer curbside take-away for call-in orders in June, when the building remodel should be complete. Also in June he plans to open a coffee bar and lounge at the front of the restaurant, with Wi-Fi, a stage for live music, and couches and tables for the casual, sit-down-and-stay-awhile ambiance they couldn’t achieve in the old location.

The menu will expand along with the restaurant, with light breakfast items and a Spokane exclusive sandwich to represent our area, said Crippen, adding an invitation for Valley residents to “come in the door and bring your hunger.”

“It is the best sandwiches in the world,” said Himelspach. “I mention it to everyone.”