Owner expands to take on bakery business

Stumptown Marketplace owner David Gatton hadn’t planned on running the candy store inside the market when he bought the building in Whitefish three years ago. And he certainly hadn’t planned on taking on the bakery next door.

But when the Polebridge Bakery moved out in October, it was an opportunity Gatton refused to let pass.

He has always had in interest in baking, he said. Gatton even wanted to be a chef at one point, but after completing two internships — one in hospitality and the other a culinary internship for Greenbrier — he decided that the long hard hours of a chef weren’t right for his lifestyle at the time. He instead chose to enter into the hospitality industry, and went to school in Virginia.

Gatton grew up in Maryland, but had his sights set on Montana at an early age.

“When I was 12, I came out to Montana for the first time. I told my parents I was going to run Many Glacier, and they laughed at me,” Gatton said.

He spent 15 years at the Many Glacier Hotel, and was the general manager of both Many Glacier Hotel and the Izaak Walton Inn before leaving the hospitality industry.

“I was frustrated. I kept seeing articles saying that people were trying to do something with the [Stumptown Marketplace] building, but the city kept denying them,” Gatton said. “I went to the bank to see if it was even possible, and I was approved. And then, I just had to do it.”

After purchasing the building, located at 12 Spokane Ave., Gatton said it took eight months of renovating before the building was ready. Stumptown Marketplace opened with 12 different vendors, including a candy store.

Gatton describes the marketplace as constantly evolving, with a design to fit the needs of many vendors. People are continuously coming in and out, he said. His taking over the candy store, and now the bakery, was no different.

Gatton had made candy as a kid, and had family recipes to get him started.

“The great thing about chocolate is, even if you mess it up, it’s still good,” he said.

The bakery was another decision that took little consideration. The previous owners had been driving down from Polebridge every day, and when their lease was up they chose not to renew it, Gatton said.

“As soon as they moved out, I just knew,” he said. “They were out on October 1, and I opened on December 15.”

He tore down the wall separating the bakery from the candy store, Whitefish Sweets and Treats, and went through a minor renovation to add the bakery to his existing business.

“The two pair really well together, I can make cookies in the bakery, and then dip them in chocolate from the candy store,” he said.

Gatton’s sister gave him a cookbook of family recipes as a wedding gift, which he then took to his lead baker, Haley Parker. The two combined their efforts to create the baked goods now for sale.

“I’m still in the testing phase,” he said. “I really want to take some time to refine the recipes.”

Gatton tries to source his ingredients locally as much as possible from places such as Wheat Montana, though he makes exceptions for higher quality, gourmet products like chocolate, which he gets from Belgium.

Though Gatton is still working to add more products to the bakery menu, he currently sells huckleberry bear claws, cheese Danishes, cinnamon rolls, raspberry coffee cake muffins, huckleberry shortbread cookies, double chocolate peanut-butter cookies and whatever else he happens to be experimenting with that day.

His huckleberry bear claws have been the most popular, he says. Each morning he bakes a batch of 16, and more often than not, they are gone before noon. Gatton said his cinnamon rolls, his mother’s recipe made from mashed potatoes, and his cookies, weighing 4 ounces each, also have been a hit.

“I’m after the world’s best cookie, and I think I’ve come pretty close,” he said.

Haley Parker, a North Carolina native, moved to Montana three years ago to work in Glacier National Park. During the winter season last year, Parker moved to Whitefish and started working at the Polebridge Bakery. After it closed in October, Gatton offered her the position of lead baker.

Parker said she brought a couple of her own recipes to the table, including a coffee-cake recipe, but she really loves to make pies and hopes to eventually add those to the menu as well.

“We’ve just been basing most of our recipes off of his (Gatton’s) family’s recipes,” Parker said. “We’re definitely trying to offer things that people are going to enjoy as much as the Polebridge Bakery, and we’re really trying to stand up with their reputation.”

Reporter Alyssa Gray may be reached at 758-4433 or by email at agray@dailyinterlake.com.