The nature of business is like the nature of, well, nature: it’s all about the survival of the fittest. It’s not always that the best businesses or the most clever or unique ones that thrive just because of their novelty, and it’s not always that the shoddily run ones are doomed to fail. It’s just that, sometimes, things don’t work out for a lot of different reasons.
When Shorty’s Pizza and Smoked Meats on Tower Avenue closed in 2021, it was in the shadow of the ongoing pandemic and its labor shortages. When Bucktales moved into the space and itself closed a few years later, it was because that eatery’s ownership wanted to try a new restaurant in another location. These things happen. But it meant that the building needed a new tenant.
Enter Bear Creek Development, a relatively new shingle that’s been in operation since 2020 and grew out of the Deep Lake property company. That long-running family business owns several properties in the region and spun their building and remodeling skills into Bear Creek, which has taken a huge part in helping to renovate the former Shorty’s/Bucktales building into a new home for the growing Uffda Kombucha and the new Mazi restaurant. The future for Bear Creek and the restaurateurs that they’re helping to foster is bright.
Jason Laurvick is an operating partner in both Bear Creek and Deep Lake. “It’s grown over the years,” he said of his responsibilities in both. “Business is sporadic. You’re busier some times than others. And if we’re going to grow, you don’t want to miss opportunities.”
Those opportunities are coming fast and furious for the Bear Creek folks, now. “Primarily, we do spec homes or remodel homes,” Laurvick said. “We do kitchens and baths for people. In town here on 8th Street, we did the five-home new development. And now we’re doing something similar out in Solon Springs with seven building sites.”
“I mean, our spec homes – we will always have new spec homes going,” Laurvick said. “And then the remodeling – when you’re waiting on inspections or pulling permits or it’s weather dependent – we always try to have a remodel going, as well. Because our promise to our guys is 40 hours a week, no layoffs, hopefully we have work indoors. We like to be very flexible with our projects, so if we’re waiting for something, our guys always still get their time in, you know?”
Bear Creek is the outgrowth of a solid existing business run by a modest amount of people with applicable skills, and they’ve been fortunate enough to leverage relationships with other folks they’ve worked with along the way to help their new venture out.
“The city’s been great to work with,” Laurvick said. “You get to know the inspectors and Jason Serck (Superior’s Economic Development, Planning and Port Director) and other people with the city when you’re down there pulling permits and doing things. They’re looking for people to build homes for the tax base. So that’s where the development in the East End came from, which was a half of a city block – where the tennis courts used to be, there on Eighth Street. So through several single-home [projects] came a development, which worked great, because then you’re moving from one site to another. But we were still doing one home at a time, and now we’re up to where we want to be – doing two, three and four at a time.”
The Uffda Kombucha project came about pretty organically, through conversations amongst friends. “Deep Lake, our property company, is lucky enough to be partnered with Uffda Kombucha and Mazi,” Laurvick said. “It started with [co-owners] Colin Zervas and Mckenna Dagger, and they’re growing. We support them. They run the business day-to-day, and they needed a building because they were outgrowing their incubator spot. Shorty’s came up in auction and everybody seemed to like it, but it was a little too oversized. Ultimately, Colin’s brother, Jeff – he owns the Bridge Cocktail room up in Duluth in the Hoops building – we partnered with him in the restaurant. We’re there for support and guidance as needed, but they run them.”
For the Bear Creek/Deep Lake squad, doing business is all about finding interesting opportunities and collaborating on exciting ideas. “One of the greatest things,” Laurvick said, “is to surround yourself with good people, right? We’re excited with anything that can grow our property company or construction company, and they kind of feed each other. If you surround yourself with good people and opportunities present themselves, jump on the ones you’re courageous enough to go after.”
Interestingly, the Bear Creek folks are all too happy to let the restaurateurs themselves put in a bit of sweat equity into the building that they themselves own. “The whole building has been renovated,” Laurvick said. “Jeff and Colin did a lot of the work themselves, but Bear Creek has worked with getting the new windows and doors cut in. It’s a brick building. We had to have a company come in and saw the walls and do different things. You know, we’ve developed a lot of relationships with subs – plumbers, electricians. We’ve had to redo quite a bit, in there. Uffda themselves, they’ve done a tremendous amount of work. Colin is a very hard worker, as is Jeff. We collaborate with them. If they want us to take on a project to get it off their plate, then we do it.”
Bear Creek crew (left to right): Eric Weinberg, Luke Persons, Cayden Laurvick and Ken Helget.
Cayden Laurvick is Jason’s son and represents the next generation of Bear Creekers. He’s technically only been with the company since October, but he grew up helping out his family with the business and recently went to school to learn the ins and outs of HVAC to bolster his skill set. For him, his life right now is all about just being a sponge and ravenously learning everything he can to prepare for his future.
“We’re out in Solon Springs right now,” Cayden said. “We’re building seven beautiful homes, and what kind of gets me going is that I get to do both sides of it. I do their mini splits and their air exchangers and then I also get to learn from our master foreman, Ron. He has over 25 years of experience. He’s a builder and carpenter. All I wanna do is learn from him.”
Getting to work with his father is also a joy, Cayden said.
One of the things the younger Laurvick enjoys about his new full-time job is that the company doesn’t seem to concern itself with having some master plan that stretches far into the future, but rather takes on projects because they’re exciting and make sense for the moment. “We just kind of do what we can do and, you know, if we can add things to become more successful and help the community out, it’ll grow,” he said.
Cayden’s role in the Shorty’s/Bucktails building was notable. “We built both of their walk-in coolers down in the basement,” he said, “which is basically for their keg lines and their beer taps and stuff like that. It was a lot of minor construction – like painting and drywall – that we did, but we helped them build from the old Shorty’s building to a very fancy, unique restaurant that the owners are very excited to have open.”
“It’s a really good dynamic, there,” Cayden said. “Everybody’s kind of on the same page, there. We combine with them on demo and things like that. We’re always talking, always communicating. Everybody’s always asking questions. Everybody’s always offering ideas. You know, you can be low on the totem pole in the company, and everybody will hear you out, because they love new ideas and just want things to be successful. So, rather than just two people controlling it, we have everybody going off of each other and having ideas.”
Cayden is equally enthused about the Solon Springs development. “We got dozers coming in all the time, clearing new lots,” he said. “I’m doing some sanding for drywall. There’s a lot going on. This is definitely one of our biggest projects, for sure. They started the first house a year and a half ago, and there’s a five-year plan to have all of these finished.”
The company also flips a house now and again, and Cayden and his coworkers take joy in renovations as much as they do building from scratch. “They’re equally satisfying,” he said. “It’s like, oh my goodness – we’re building a beautiful, strong home. We’re making the customer’s dreams a reality, all in all.”
As much as the company likes to not try to game out the future too much, Cayden does have personal goals. He’d like to see the company buy a sizable parcel of land “so we can do what we’re doing out in [Solon Springs] and have two or three houses going up at the same time, rather than just focusing on one. As far as the future, me and my dad talked about how we’d love to see the HVAC branch grow within Bear Creek. Installing mini splits is kind of my niche. More residential HVAC – I’d love to see that in the future.”
“Just as long as we’re staying busy and we’ve got jobs on the docket, then it’s a good future for us,” Cayden said. “Our group works really well together and we really care about quality, honesty and communication – all those good traits that make sure that the customer buys the house very smoothly and they’re happy about it.”
Colin Zervas of Uffda Kombucha has nothing but praise for Bear Creek. The company’s help let him start a whole new chapter of his business.
“We started so small, over at the shared kitchen,” Zervas said, “and then we moved to the Superior Business Center.”
The need to make shipping out their product easier was a big catalyst for the move, and their friendship with Bear Creek helped them make the decision to select the Tower Avenue building. “It was: ‘Hey, we got this space, and it needs some work,’” he recalled.
Once the property was acquired, the decision to open a second eatery in it was made. “This building is massive, and, when we initially purchased it, it was specifically for kombucha,” Zervas said. “Then we moved in, and we’re like ‘This building is gigantic.’ And it came with a bunch of kitchen equipment and all this stuff. My brother is a chef, so we decided to open a restaurant on the other side.”
“It’s really cool, because ‘Mazi’ is ‘together’ in Greek,” Zervas said. “My brother and I are Greek, so we’re just paying homage to our heritage with that. And that name really ties together what we’re doing here – we’re brothers running a restaurant and a kombucha brewery. And you’ve got Bear Creek, which is also a family-owned company. So it’s all local people, all family-owned businesses coming together.”
Jeff Zervas met the Laurvick family by chance when he cooked for them one evening, and they were so taken by his skills that a conversation was started about helping him open his own restaurant. Now, Mazi is a reality.
“We were lucky enough to find the people that really fell in love with our ideas,” he said. “Their company is just incredible. They work so hard and they see the same vision as us. That’s why they chose to support us and build this dream for both me and my brother.”
“Superior is blowing up just in general,” Jeff said, “but to find these kinds of people that want to create something really unique and boost this community and showcase what Superior has to offer is something kind of special. You don’t find that in a lot of people.”
Sam Hoff – son of Ron Hoff, the company co-owner and master foreman aforementioned – does construction and carpentry for Bear Creek and has since he graduated from high school two years ago. Like Cayden Laurvick, he represents the future of the family business and has been helping out since he was younger. Already, he has a good sense of the company’s mission and code of ethics.
“We have pride in our work,” Hoff said. “We use good craftsmanship. We generate good outcomes with our projects. Honestly, just every step of the way – it all sticks with me. I remember all of the experience, and I’m grateful for being able to get the experience because not a lot of people get opportunities like that.”
Hoff is particularly satisfied in knowing that the projects he works on with Bear Creek are done to the highest level of quality possible. “None of us cut corners,” he said. “It’s a Bear Creek standard. I know that, even if no one else can see – they just see the finished house – I know that it’s high-quality. We don’t really settle for less on anything.”
Whatever Bear Creek’s destiny, the close-knit group that keeps it humming along believes fully in their mission and their prospects. Time will tell if the businesses they’re helping to foster will do well, but all involved are putting their hearts and souls into it without reservation.
Tony Bennett is a Duluth-based freelance writer.
