I’m using the Five Questions format again (check out this previous post for the story behind Five Questions), so I hope you enjoy it. Here’s some information from my conversation with Dave Scheel, the owner of the Great Harvest bakery in Missoula, MT.
I heard you were in Guatemala a few months ago – what were you doing there?
I was part of a service team that volunteered to work with the 
God's Child Project (GCP). Nineteen of us went down during the University’s winter break for ten days. We worked in a bunch of different places – a hospital, nursing home, and an orphanage. We distributed clothes we’d brought from Missoula. We unloaded vegetables from trucks and distributed to the mothers as they picked up their kids from the GCP school.
Our big project was building a small house (12 feet by 16 feet) on a concrete slab. It’s a wood frame house with one window and one door. There was no electricity, so we used all hand tools. It took three days to build and is a big improvement for a family who lived in a rough shelter with a dirt floor.
I have a couple connections to GCP. My uncle is involved and helped get a second school and neighborhood center built. I also know a guy who volunteered there last year and talking with him sparked my interest.
What was it like?
If I go back, I definitely need to learn Spanish so I can talk with the kids and their families.
All of the people working and volunteering for GCP were amazing. The organization was started by a guy from Bismarck, ND. It’s mission is to “break the bitter chains of poverty through education and formation.” Many people in Guatemala are very poor. Kids are begging, shining shoes, and picking pockets to survive. There is a human trafficking problem. GCP has built schools, a homeless shelter, a medical clinic, a dental clinic and other support systems.
The volunteers are mostly either young or retired. They have lots of energy and are very committed to what they do. We met a “retired” software developer in Silicon Valley who works for $300/month to manage one of the Centers. Some of the other workers grew up in the GCP orphanage and now work for the organization.
What is your “How I found Great Harvest” story?
I helped my brother, Keith, start his Great Harvest bakery in Redmond, WA, thirty years ago. Then I worked for the founders, Pete & Laura Wakeman, to get the franchise side of the business started, but the business was so young that there wasn’t a viable role for me. This was several years before I opened my Great Harvest Bread Co. in Missoula, MT.
You were an architect, right? Why leave that profession to open a whole wheat bread store?
Yes, I worked as an architect for about 10 years. That is a demanding job – lots of nights and weekends. There is deadline stress all the time. You’re coordinating lots of people and information. It’s like a group term paper to the 250th power. There is a high chance of getting sued for mistakes and missed deadlines. I had no life outside of work. My brothers and sisters had super flexible lives as Great Harvest bakery owners (Dave’s siblings own Great Harvest bakeries in Salem, OR, Portland, OR and Redmond, WA.) And they were making more money than me!
You opened your own Great Harvest in 1995. What excites you about the business after 15 years?
I love my employees – we’re like a family and we have people who have worked for us for years. Everyone knows their job well, so I have a lot of freedom and flexiblity. I can be gone for a week at a time and they know what to do and how to handle anything that comes up.
To keep the bakery fresh, I’m working on remodeling the customer area. I really think I’ll run this business forever – well into retirement age, anyway. I like to keep learning new things and applying them to improve the business.
Thanks, Dave!
Are any of our readers customers in Missoula? What do you think of your bakery?
