Embarking on her career as a supervisor with Northern Quest Resort & Casino in 2016, Victoria R. Shoemaker holds considerable expertise in team management and restaurant management. Working with Northern Quest until 2020, she also spent time as an assistant store manager with Tuesday Morning in Spokane, Washington, from 2019 to 2020. During this time, she pursued coursework at Missouri State University and earned an Associate of Science in accounting and business management from Spokane Falls Community College in 2019.
Throughout the early years of her career, Ms. Shoemaker witnessed firsthand the mistreatment of employees at the hands of their higher-ups and she became determined to establish her own business where she could ensure that her employees were taken care of. She achieved this goal in January 2020, when she established Lefevre Street Bakery and Cafe in Medical Lake, Washington. Her priorities are to have the best food and menus, the best environment, the best décor and lighting, and, above all, the happiest employees. Her everyday duties include the business accounting; working in the restaurant itself, taking and delivering orders as a barista; cleaning; and all of the behind the scenes business needs.
Having accomplished much over the course of her career, Ms. Shoemaker considers her most notable achievement to be going from bouncing from job to job as a military spouse to owning her own restaurant. Also incredibly proud for surviving all of the shut downs due to COVID-19, she stands out in her field for her relationship with her employees. She does her utmost to cultivate a good environment for her employees and to ensure they are paid a living wage. Above everything, she hopes that her employees consider her a good boss and that they think back fondly on their time with Lefevre Street once they’ve moved on. In terms of her daily tasks, Ms. Shoemaker loves being recognized by repeat customers who come in excited to see her and eat her food.
Attributing much of her success to the support of her parents, who encouraged her to do what made her happy, Ms. Shoemaker’s plans for the future involve opening a new business location within the next five years. As she continues to excel, she hopes to leave a legacy that will make her family, particularly her children, Aurora and Denali, proud. For all of her excellence, Ms. Shoemaker was named Best of the West by the West Plains Chamber of Commerce in 2021.