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Hey Michiganders,
Michigan is not short on incredible small businesses. It is short on people talking about them.
That ends today.
Every week Michigan Small Business Spotlight finds the businesses worth knowing about, worth supporting, and worth driving to. This week we are covering all five regions of Michigan. One business per region. All of them extraordinary.
Let us get into it.
Upper Peninsula — Yooper Pasty Company, Sault Ste. Marie
Jeff spent 24 years in the U.S. Coast Guard before he and his wife Heidi decided to plant roots in the UP and open the first and only shop in the Sault dedicated solely to the unofficial food of the Upper Peninsula. The pasty.
But not just the traditional kind. Yooper Pasty Company makes breakfast hand pies, spicy beef twists, pot pie hybrids, and enough creative variations to make even a lifelong Yooper say something they have never said before. You can sit in a rocking chair next to a vintage Zenith TV playing old episodes of Andy Griffith. You can browse a museum collection of mining, nautical, Finnish, hockey, and Yooper treasures. You can argue about ketchup versus gravy.
This is the UP at its absolute best. Find them at 951 East Portage Avenue in Sault Ste. Marie.
Northern Lower Peninsula — Right Brain Brewery, Traverse City
Russell Springsteen started Right Brain Brewery in 2007 with one rule. Keep Beer Curious.
No extracts. No shortcuts. Real ingredients only. Asparagus. Cherry pie. Pecan pie. Real pig. If it goes into a Right Brain beer it came from the ground not a lab. The result is a Gold Medal winning brewery named one of the top five local breweries in the nation sitting inside a Traverse City brewpub filled with Michigan art and over 30 vintage pinball machines.
If you are heading north this spring Right Brain belongs on the list. Visit rightbrainbrewery.com or find them on Instagram at @rightbrainbrewery.
West Michigan — Donkey Taqueria, Grand Rapids
When Paul and Jessica Lee opened Donkey Taqueria in a former 1920s service garage on Wealthy Street they decided against posting signage or even sharing a telephone number. That is how much they believed in what they built.
They were right. Over 17,000 Facebook followers and 40,000 visits logged later Donkey Taqueria is one of the most beloved restaurants in Grand Rapids. Authentic Mexican street food, all tortillas and chips made in house daily, an epic tequila and mezcal selection, and a year round patio complete with heated igloos in the winter.
This is Grand Rapids doing what Grand Rapids does best. Visit donkeygr.com or find them at 665 Wealthy Street SE.
Mid Michigan — Rhea Lana's of Jackson
Ashley spent five years telling her husband that Jackson needed this. Then she built it herself.
Rhea Lana's of Jackson is a children's consignment event at Westwood Mall where local families earn money from kids items their children have outgrown and other families shop name brand clothes, shoes, toys, and baby gear at 60 to 90 percent off retail. When the sale ends donated items go directly to foster families and local charities.
The spring sale is almost here. Presale April 10th and 11th. Public sale April 12th through 18th at Westwood Mall in Jackson. Half price days April 17th and 18th. Consign or grab presale tickets at jackson.rhealana.com.
Southeast Michigan — Ackroyd's Scottish Bakery, Redford Township
Some businesses become legends quietly. Ackroyd's Scottish Bakery in Redford Township has been one of Metro Detroit's best kept secrets for decades until the internet found it.
A food creator posted about Ackroyd's and the video got 282,000 views. The bakery gained thousands of new followers overnight. But none of that surprised the people of Redford who have known about this place for years. Scotch pies. Bridies. Sausage rolls. Shortbread. Authentic Scottish baked goods made the right way in a Metro Detroit neighborhood bakery that refuses to cut corners.
This is exactly the kind of place Michigan Small Business Spotlight was built to celebrate.
One more thing before you go and this one matters.
Sixteen days. That is all that is left for Zac from Welcome Home History to hit 10,000 newsletter subscribers and trigger a $1,000 donation to a Michigan Book Bank.
Zac built Welcome Home History from the ground up into a Michigan history community of over 40,000 people because he genuinely loves this state and wants to keep its stories alive. And this March instead of spending $1,000 on social media ads to reach his own followers he decided to donate that money to Michigan kids who need books instead.
That is the kind of Michigan person worth showing up for.
Every single subscriber between now and March 31st puts us one step closer to keeping that $1,000 right here where it belongs. It is completely free to subscribe. It takes thirty seconds. And it means a Michigan child gets a book they might not have had otherwise.
Subscribe at michigan.welcomehomehistory.com and share it with everyone you know who loves Michigan.
Let us go get him there.
Until next week keep supporting Michigan small businesses. Every dollar you spend locally stays right here where it belongs.
David Michigan Local Spotlight
P.S. Know a Michigan business that deserves a spotlight? Just reply to this email. I read every single one.
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