Home     Menus     Photos    Recipes     About Us     Contact Us

Doc Holliday

To us, the Pocketstone Cafe was always more than a restaurant, almost a lifestyle. But how to convey that in an ad? The Doc Holliday ad was the first in our series of what we referred to as whimsically pompous ads, ads that were so over the top in their implication of our importance that you had to know we were joking.

The Doc Holliday ad came together after we snapped a photo of Dr. Harlen Johnson, a retired chiropractor and member of the Bigfork Buscaderos cowboy action shooting group, innocently studying a Pocketstone menu. Was this what that simpler time might have looked like had the real Doc Holliday strolled in? We don't know, but an ad concept was born, nevertheless.

Pocketstone Gothic

Grant Wood's American Gothic is probably America's most iconic and certainly most parodied painting in America. Our version started out as support for a blog entry in which Dave attempted to dispel the rumor that Karie was his daughter. (She's not; she's not his wife, either.)

But, like the original, the Pocketstone Gothic gained traction and appeared on the cover of our first menu. It was a small step to put it in an ad, but in the ad we felt obligated to pay some amount of homage to Grant Wood's home state of Iowa.

Ebenezer Scrooge

Although Santa Claus seems totally in character for the Pocketstone Cafe, Dave's slightly eccentric mind didn't go there for the Christmas ad. The fact that he didn't have a Santa suit or sufficient hair to make a compelling Santa probably also played into the decision to impersonate Scrooge instead.

In retrospect, it seems to have been a good choice. Dave received overwhelmingly positive response to his portrayal of Scrooge. Many doubt that he could have pulled Santa off nearly as well.

True Grits

A contingent of transplanted southerners literally begged us to add grits to the menu. It's not that we didn't like them, but we were relatively unfamiliar with them and it took a few months of being in business before we managed to figure out how to make them in operation.

Our release of grits almost perfectly coincided with Paramount's remake of the movie, True Grit. Gary Reicke, one of the Bigfork Buscaderos had assembled most of a costume from the era and posed for a picture. Obviously, his character is not Rooster Cogburn (note that the eye patch is conspicuously missing), as that character is undoubtedly protected by copyright, trademark, and a pile of other IP law that we'd prefer to not run afoul of.

Bugs Moran

St. Valentine's Day was upon us and we had lighted hearts, heart shaped sugar cookies, and even a special Valentine's Day espresso drink. But when it came time to create an ad for the month, St. Valentine didn't seem an interesting enough character.

Enter George "Bugs" Moran, the Chicago gangster of some note, who miraculously missed the famous St. Valentine's Day Massacre. No one is quite sure where he was at the fateful hour. The Pocketstone Cafe would have been as good a place as any.

Code of the West

Only in Montana can you walk into a quiet cafe like the Pocketstone and find a group of unruly hooligans with their guns drawn. Of course these guys were just showing off for some visitors. But the idea that many of our customers are packing probably helps keep the idea of customer satisfaction close to the front of our minds. Whatever the reason, that's where we like to keep it.

Easter Bunny

We would hard boil eggs if anyone asked us to, but insofar as we can remember, no one ever has. It seems a poor way to use eggs, cooking them to within an inch of their useful lives and then leaving them laying around in lawns and vacant lots. We really didn't have it in for the Easter Bunny, but we couldn't resist the opportunity to poke some fun. And it did get Karie to pose for another ad.

High Noon

We opened for business in June of 2010 with high hopes of serving breakfast and lunch all day, providing service with a smile to happy customers, and ensuring that everyone could be seated immediately and receive their food promptly. We discovered that perhaps we were expecting too much for the crush of business we get in the summer and had to back off on something.

We weren't going to back off on service or quality and we wanted to significantly shorten the wait for tables and speed up the preparation of food. Limiting the menu to breakfast or lunch during the peak season seemed the right idea.

But how were we going to explain it to Jack?

The Nerd

Big Dave has never been shy about appearing in Pocketstone promotional materials. This ad, however, was the result of a confluence of events. We'd intended to run an ad featuring one of the local merchants as Abe Lincoln touting "Honest Home Cooking." But as it turned out, the merchant who was willing to style his beard to match Lincoln's prior to his summer shave was less willing to remove his mustache, which he considered a more permanent part of his countenance.

The fact that this new website was scheduled for release at the about the same time suggested an opportunity to actually advertise something (a feature notably missing from many Pocketstone ads). And what better way to do that than to expose the nerdy fellow behind it?

The Buscaderos

The Bigfork Buscaderos, a cowboy-action shooting group from the Bigfork Gun Club, eat breakfast as a group at the Pocketstone every month or so. Dressed in their western outfits and armed to the teeth with period weapons, it's difficult not to take photos of them. Generally, they're quite a congenial bunch who welcome the attention of our other customers.

The photo in this ad was the culmination of a photo-breakfast in which we got several photographs that we've used in our ads and decorations. The text of the ad, as is characteristic of many of our ads, takes certain liberties with reality. The crack in the bar, for example, resulted from trouble in installation process. And Big Dave both sings and has ridden horses. As a singing cowboy, however, he never achieved either the status or the recognition of say Roy Rogers or Gene Autry. He does a pretty good rendition of Happy Birthday, though.

Life's Questions

The Pocketstone Cafe offers two distinctly different types of pancakes. Dave's are a classic buttermilk recipe that we make from scratch. Karie's are a family recipe, which we also make from scratch, but contain somewhat "healthier" ingredients than those of Dave's.

In this ad, Dave essentially challenged Karie to a duel by initiating a pancake contest. Had the contest propaganda ended with this ad, it would have probably remained a poll of little consequence. But, instead ...

Batter Wars

Sometimes it's difficult to identify the source of ideas for the Pocketstone ads, but this one sprang from the helmet still sitting on Dave's desk from the Nerd ad. Had the idea occurred a week earlier, this ad would have probably run instead of the Great Questions ad, but it seemed too good an idea to dismiss. Thus, we ran this one the next week and the contest took on galactic proportions.

And yes, we know that Leia and Darth never actually duelled with light sabers, spatulas, or anything else. But you have to realize that any similarities you might see between our ad and that movie are purely coincidental.

Final Score

As is obvious from the picture, Dave was still unsure what happened. In a weekly poll, published in the Flathead Beacon, Dave started with an early lead. But then, without explanation, votes for the rebel alliance began to accumulate and Dave's lead dwindled. In the final week of the contest, Karie pulled ahead to take a commanding lead, winning the contest 49-36. As a result, Dave retired the helmet.

Christmas Story

The Pocketstone Cafe is open every day of the year except Christmas. It may seem unusual to advertise not being open for business, but we maintain such a reliable schedule that we worried that someone would be disappointed and hungry on Christmas. So we put this ad, essentially a Pocketstone Christmas card, in the paper the Wednesday before Christmas.

Big Dave is responsible for the poem. There are many things in life that he does well. Regarding his viability as a poet, it appears that the jury is still out.

Sympathy

Although we put beer in our sauerkraut and our cupcakes, we do not serve beer, wine, or hard liquor at the Pocketstone. We do, however, serve coffee and tender care for those suffering from the offerings of others.

This particular ad came about because Dave mentioned the concept at a party (where liquor, coincidentally, was being served) and Dick Donahugh enthusiastically endorsed the concept and offered to star in the ad. It is typical that our ads are driven by a concept, but a good photograph is essential for the ad to take life. And when Dick struck the "sick puppy" look shown in this photo, we knew we had hit pay dirt.

Valentine's Day

This ad is very atypical for a Pocketstone ad. It's beautiful, sensitive, and very economical of words.

The ad came about as a result of a photograph taken of the lighted heart in our front window. Gary and Tammy Riecke of the Bayside Gallery down the street commissioned the hearts last year and we put hangers in the center of our window to support ours. The espresso sign was permanently mounted on the window after the heart had been removed last year. When we hung the heart this year and saw the contrasting espresso sign in the center with the early-morning Pocketstone interior in the background, it just seemed too good an image to waste. So we made an ad out of it.

Espresso Bella

Espresso Bella was the first of our staff ads. We believe that our friendly and competent staff are important in setting us apart from our competition and we wanted to highlight that in our ads.

Trained in fine arts, Paulette spent much of her professional career as a graphic designer. She learned the art of drink making when she joined the Pocketstone staff at the time we opened.

Paulette's drinks are invariably a treat to imbibe, but it's important to look before you drink. That's because Paulette rarely just pours a drink into a cup, mug, or glass. Invariably, she decorates the creation. It's been said that we eat first with our eyes. Apparently we drink that way too.

Old School

Some of the best servers come to us from other professions. Karen is one of those. In college, her plan was to get her degree and become an elementary school teacher. But, as a result of economics and interests, plans change. Karen became a full-time server and joined us at the Pocketstone when we opened.

In addition to being a server, Karen is now an Assistant Manager, trained and certified not only in education but also food safety. On occasions when both Dave and Karie need to be away from the Cafe at the same time, Karen is the one who takes charge. Apparently, running a restaurant is a lot like running a classroom.

Pushy?

Pushy is probably too strong a word to describe Toni. Suggestive might be a better term, but we were afraid that might be too--Well, suggestive.

Toni has a reputation for being able to sell a lot of anything she puts her mind to. Left on her own, she tends to sell a lot of Reuben sandwiches. But with a little direction, she can deplete the soup of the day, for example, in short order.

Cotton Candy

Some of us have lived relatively conventional lives, going to school, getting a job, and settling down. Shari's life was probably a bit less conventional, starting out with a stint in the carnival circuit.

She started out in the ring-toss booth, but she quickly moved to the cotton candy cart, where she stayed for four years. Although that may have provided her with her start in the food service, she likes the fact that, at the Pocketstone, she can walk further than three feet at a time.

Mother Superior

Some people come with ready-to-write stories. For example, if we had a server who moonlighted as a lion tamer, the only question would be whether the server or the lion got first billing in the ad.

Then there are people like Amy. And it's important to point out that we don't mean to imply that Amy's life is any less interesting that that of a lion tamer. In fact, listening to her stories about family members, it's clear a life in the lions' den couldn't be much more entertaining.

But Amy is the quiet, family sort of Mom. Most of the time. And those other times, well ...

On the Fly

A Pocketstone ad requires both a good picture and a good story. Sometimes the two come together in a surprising manner. Matt Williams had established the fact that he could cook and Dave was wandering through the kitchen snapping photos and trying for an interesting pose of Matt with eggs. Dave joked that the picture would be more interesting if Matt juggled them. Having no idea that Matt had this talent, Dave was somewhat surprised to see him take up the challenge.

Matt did indeed juggle eggs, but we decided that colorful fruits and vegetables would make a better picture. And although Matt did exhibit considerable talent throughout the photo session, the fruits and vegetables were a lot easier to clean up.

Science Vs. Art

Nate Bell fell into the culinary arts profession somewhat by accident. Nate arrived at the Pocketstone fresh out of college based on the recommendation of a friend. His intention had been to work the summer cooking soups and gravies and then get a job more in line with his training in biology.

But Nate discovered that he really liked to cook and in fact had considerable talent for it. He found he enjoyed the blending of flavor and visual art and we were thrilled at the visual appeal of his food design. He is shown here with his visual design for our Asian Noodle Salad.

Mona Lisa Smile

Ahna's story turned out to be a challenging one and her ad went through several incarnations before settling into its final form. The problem was that there were a lot of interesting stories about Ahna that circulated among the staff. This led to a series of false starts including one entitled Leaving Las Vegas (turned out she'd left Reno), one based on her impeccable memory for customer names (turned out she renames all of her customers for their drinks, for example Miss Skinny Peppermint Latte), and one based on her employment at a family farm where she worked drawing circles around trees and observing a Sicilian code of silence (we figured no one would believe that one).

But, ultimately it was her photograph that drove the ad. That smile. That Mona Lisa smile.

Chicken Rancher

Leo doesn't have a big flock of chickens. Generally, you can count them on one hand. But they are well fed, probably eating from the Pocketstone, in proportion to body weight, more than most of the staff. Although it seems reasonable that they are what they eat and what comes from the Pocketstone should return to the Pocketstone, we have never seriously discussed that matter.

Leo has been cooking long enough now that she can probably do it in her sleep. Thus, she's taken up some new pastimes, including beading dear and elk heads and learning to play the cello. We anxiously await her fist cello concert at the Pocketstone.

Bounty

Benjamin (Benj) Stafford (Scout) has been a regular fixture at the Pocketstone almost since we opened and it seemed fitting that Ben should be the first of our regular customers to appear in a Pocketstone ad. He reliably occupies the distal seat at the counter, only rarely venturing to another seat or one of our comfortable booths.

But he's always armed, if not literally in the Montana sense, then at least with a good story or two. And Ben is often in colorful garb of some sort, ranging from skin-tight cycling shorts exhibiting his 70-year-old thirty-something body to western attire more fitting of his bounty hunting exploits. And each year he makes his appearance as the maitre'D of our community Thanksgiving dinner, competently and colorfully showing each guest to his or her table. Every restaurant would like to have Ben as a customer. We're glad we do.

Hal and Jake

As the ad notes, it generally takes some time to become a regular at the Pocketstone. There are certain requirements. And, to be honest, had they'd tried it in the middle of summer, it might have taken a bit longer. But during the winter months business at the Pocketstone slows down and it's easier to stand out in a crowd when you are the crowd.

So we took notice of the fact that Hal and Jake were coming in for breakfast every morning (and lunch too, most days) and sitting at booth 10. In fact, given that we conduct staff meetings every morning at booth 11, it began to feel like Hal and Jake were part of the operation. So when it appeared that their work here was about done and they were going to leave, it seemed fitting that we would commemorate their visit with an ad. So we did.