Brainerd's newest restaurant has a bit of whimsy in menu names and includes the three clocks on the wall that indicate the time of day in Cairo, Brainerd/Baxter and Venus.
The Erbert & Gerbert's restaurant opened to big crowds Thursday on the corner of Washington and Northwest Fourth streets. Daylight Donuts and Brainerd Lakes Cakes are expected to open this coming Thursday.
Sandwiches have names like Comet Morehouse, Girf, Narmer, Pudder, Bornk, Geeter and Jacob Bluefinger.
Book displays inside the restaurant provide a glimpse at the characters behind the names of the sandwiches and the restaurant. The Herbert brothers - yes that would be Erbert and Gerbert - sprang from imaginary tales a story-telling father created for children. Those names and tales created the inspiration for the eatery.
Customers placed orders last week at Erbert & Gerbert's Subs and Clubs restaurant in Brainerd. The clocks indicating time on the wall in the background give a sense of the whimsical that is evident from the menu names for sandwiches.
Brainerd Dispatch/Renee Richardson
Tom and Beth Perttula and Glen "Pat" Smith and Alice Smith are behind the business development effort here.
Last week Tom Perttula was on hand during a soft opening where "friends and family" were invited to try the restaurant and give employees on-the-job training. The restaurant has been giving samples to neighboring businesses in west Brainerd as a way to raise interest and announce the opening.
Perttula said they've been able to gauge early interest from window washing. People have been coming by and pressing their hands and faces up to the glass to get a better look inside and leaving the tell-tale marks.
Last Wednesday, Perttula said the opening was going smoothly. Twenty-five people were hired for the restaurant.
"It's a high energy, exciting atmosphere, an excellent product," Perttula said.
Reports are they ran out of bread by 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The restaurant is scheduled to stay open until 10:30. p.m.
The restaurant offers catering services and delivery.
There is seating for about 44 for the subs and clubs section in booths and tables and roughly another 32 in the bakery section. Additionally, the building has a meeting room for use just off the bakery seating area.
Erbert & Gerbert's Subs and Clubs opened Thursday on the corner of Washington and Northwest Fourth streets in Brainerd. Brainerd Lakes Cakes and the Daylight Donuts bakery, which share the building, are expected to open this coming Thursday. Brainerd Dispatch/Renee Richardson
Customers will be able to custom order desserts or pick them up on the spur of the moment, including birthday cakes and birthday cupcakes. Daylight Donuts will include traditional sweets like cinnamon rolls and Bismarcks.
Erbert & Gerbert's, self-described as a quick service sandwich shop, began in Eau Claire, Wis., with founder Kevin Schippers and his wife, Beth. They began franchising the business in 1992. According to the company's Web site, they now have 47 stores from the Midwest to Denver.
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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