Grand Traverse Pie Co. plans to open Monday in downtown Ann Arbor
Workers install the Grand Traverse Pie Co. sign at the new downtown location on Thursday.
Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com
Franchisee owners Dave and Beth Ziegler — who also own the Grand Traverse Pie Co. on Zeeb Road in the Ann Arbor area — signed a lease for the 3,185-square-foot former @burger space at 505 E. Liberty St. in October 2011.
The opening of the restaurant was then put on hold for several months for personal reasons, Dave Ziegler told AnnArbor.com in December.
Grand Traverse Pie Co. specializes in pie but also makes sandwiches, salads and other items.
Photo courtesy of Grand Traverse Pie Co.
But with everything now ready to go, the restaurant will open at 8 a.m. on Monday with free samples of pie throughout the day, said company founder Mike Busley.
Busley and his wife, Denise, founded Grand Traverse Pie Co. in Traverse City in 1996. There are now 16 locations in Michigan and Indiana, and Busley said the company continues to expand.
“We expand with two or three stores a year,” he said. “There are still opportunities in Michigan, but we are not all about growing fast and making the number big. We want each store to be well-thought out.”
He said renovations at the downtown Ann Arbor space were minimal due to the amount of work @burger invested when it opened in 2010. Big Boy Restaurants launched the @burger concept with the goal of it becoming a national chain, but the concept died when the restaurant closed a year after it opened.
“(Renovations were) mainly cosmetic because of the @burger improvements,” he said. “We changed the finishes, all the counters are reclaimed maple and oak wood from the Ann Arbor area and our pictures will be on the walls.”
Busley said he and the franchisee owners are also looking to get involved with the Ann Arbor community, and Grand Traverse Pie Co. will participate in events such as the Ann Arbor Film Festival and Taste of Ann Arbor.
The restaurant’s menu consists of pies and other sweets, deli sandwiches, salads, soups and breakfast foods. Busley said the company uses many Michigan-made and grown products, including its fruit, flour and coffee — which comes from Traverse City-based Higher Grounds Trading Company.
“If we can form relationships with solid Michigan companies then we feel that were adding value not only to the community but fellow businesses in the state,” he said.
Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.
Comments
Tru2Blu76
Wed, May 9, 2012 : 9:01 p.m.
Pie? I'm sure I heard someone say, "Pie." Pie: Nature's perfect food!! (haw-haw!) I am ready for some pie! Only, I don't think delays should be allowed nor do I believe it's necessary to have "other foods" available in a PIE restaurant. Too much Pie Frustration isn't good for ya and having other dishes besides PIE is just a distraction. As for community participation: Grand Traverse Pie Co. needs only to start an annual pie-eating contest here in Ann Arbor. Invite the Michigan football team to be competitors (in the off season of course). As Ben Franklin famously advised: A pie saved is a pie kept for between pie-times.
HENDRIX242
Wed, May 9, 2012 : 4:45 p.m.
It's interesting to note, that while Ann Arbor is awash in mediocre (at best) restaurants like this over-hyped Schlotzsky's with dessert, Ypsilant has new restaurants whose owners have a real passion for food. Wurst Bar & Red Rock in Ypsi are not only outstanding for their price-point, but serve an interesting menu that is unique & not so Sysco dominated. The one most happy about the Great Traverse Pie Companay opening on Liberty is their Sysco rep. Having eaten their once, I'll never go back. I can get food like that anywhere or make it at home; there is nothing special about it, so that in itself defeats the point of going there. Ann Arbor needs interesting, passionate restaurateurs, serving healthy, local sourced, GREAT food, not another just looking to expand their cash flow. That's a problem with chains; usually monetizing an idea means cheapening the product to gain maximum exploitation.
Jack Bryan
Tue, May 8, 2012 : 3:41 a.m.
It would have been nice to have a better presentation for their grand opening. Serving sample teaspoons of pie in small, paper cups doesn't lend much extravagance for a grand opening. They only had two kinds of pie in the little cups when we went there this afternoon. It really was a sad "Grand Opening."
Julie Woods
Sun, May 6, 2012 : 5:53 p.m.
Wow! A lot of people got out of the wrong side of bed this morning. Perhaps because they are not getting enough EXERCISE!
Julie Woods
Sun, May 6, 2012 : 5:35 p.m.
I think most people in this very educated area can read labels. An occasional "bad for you" treat in small portions is not going to ruin your health.
Ron Granger
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 11:01 p.m.
The cherry pie ingredients, from their website (though rather hard to find in a PDF). Gotta love the transfats and other junk: Cherry Pie Ingredients: dough (water, flour [bleached enriched flour {wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine monoitrate, riboflavin, folic acid}], salt [salt, sodium silicoaluminate, dextrose, potassium Iodide 0.006%, sodium bicarbonate], shortening [partially hydrogenated soybean oil and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil with citric acid added as a preservative]), blueberry, flour (bleached enriched flour [wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine monoitrate, riboflavin, folic acid]), sugar, lemon juice (lemon juice from concentrate [water, concentrated lemon juice], sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfite and sodium sulfite [preservatives], lemon oil), butter (pasteurized cream [milk], salt), apple juice (concentrated apple juice, water, ascorbic acid, natural flavors, potassium citrate, citric acid, caramel color), water, may contain: wheat, soy, milk, nuts Compare with Zingermans Cherry pie ingredients (disclosed prominently on their site): Michigan cherries, cherry juice, flour, real butter, sugar, water, cornstarch, lemon juice, salt, almond extract, egg, demerara sugar.
Jack Bryan
Tue, May 8, 2012 : 3:49 a.m.
It's hard to compare GTPC to Zingerman's. Zingerman's has been--and always will be--the better alternative. Achatz makes a great pie, also.
say it plain
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 3:45 p.m.
@Lewanster (from a reply thread above)....I say, "get your facts straight!" lol. Butter is *not* the source of transfat. Butter is fine fat. It's no health food, but it's not bad for you like transfat is. *partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed* oils and so on...essentially, *margarine* and other partially hydrogenated and *cheap to procure* shortenings are the bad sources of transfats. I also read somewhere that GTPC allegedly tried to make the pies without margarine, but it didn't 'work'. Well, somehow Achatz makes pies with butter that work. Zingerman's does too. It may be harder and take more time and be more 'perishable', not so suited to franchise life, but still, it's totally do-able ;-) And other chains, as @snoopdog has noted, offer foods that at least try to be healthier choices for less money. So the whole 'local' angle only goes so far for me, and indeed it gets kind of irksome when what's on offer is filled with avoidable bad ingredients. Indeed, it seems rather manipulative actually!
schultz2005
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 3:20 p.m.
Cannot wait. Long drive to Zeeb Road location. Tired of the Cupcake Station on Washington. Its about time we had another desserts place to go to. Good luck!!
say it plain
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 3:18 p.m.
You can eat really delicious, totally fat-filled pies that *aren't made with the artificial stuff* that trans-fats represent. Other pie makers in town offer up natural fats that aren't anywhere near as bad for you! I'm finding it amusing that some are saying that to point this out is nagging or life-disaffirming. There is a BIG HEALTH CONCERN about transfats, they are far far worse for you than other fats because they are chemically created and not at all natural. NYC had banned its use, right? Because they were trying to protect the health of their populace who eat a lot in restaurants and they wanted to force these outlets to stop poisoning people. Despite pressures no doubt from the food industry, it has been *required* that food labels reveal transfat content becauser it is such a bad substance that we should be having *none* of it in our diet. People can maintain their ignorance about it, but it won't help them live longer, lol. Not even if they are somehow via their ignorance also supporting very nice people who are offering them food they find just yum yum yummy! I can have myself a lovely piece of pie--and do so, fairly often!--that is made with butter and fresh fruits instead of canned chemical-laden ones--and not even pay any more for it, and mmmm...be happy! I don't understand this equating a desire to avoid foods that are unnatural and demonstrably hugely disease-inducing (transfats stick to artery walls very very well, because they are not natural fats and the body doesn't know how to get rid of them. Surgeons can try, but by then you've already maybe had some serious health issues you could have avoided by not eating fake food!) with somehow being rigid and mean lol. But hey, I guess we don't need to worry, medicare will probably cover the treatments! (And I do think it's an older demo that GTPC tries to market to, actually...)
say it plain
Mon, May 7, 2012 : 1:36 a.m.
Sure, @Julie Woods, I might have mentioned that I like pie too lol... just not with transfats in them. Even MickeyD's has gotten rid of transfats in their foods, because there is no reason for these terrifically unhealthy fats to be *in* them, or anything else. Pie, yum, I like the Achatz blueberry pie a lot. And Zingerman's is also deeelicious. McDonald's apple pies are less bad for you than GTPC, though...just to be clear :-)
Julie Woods
Sun, May 6, 2012 : 5:37 p.m.
I think having an occasional piece of pie as a treat is perfectly all right. But, I am vegetarian, and probably eat far less pie and "bad stuff" than most.
stunhsif
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 3:22 a.m.
Their name is misleading for what they sell. They are limiting themselves with folks who don't know what they sell, especially the lunch crowd. This is marketing 101 and why many of their franchises have failed ! ABO
snoopdog
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 3:14 a.m.
So far 14 posters and only one has mentioned price ? I went to high school with the owner and he is a good guy but the prices at this franchise are just way out of line for what you get. Panera is a bargain compared to this place and they offer healthier choices as well ! I bake my own pies for the most part but if not, Kroger has excellent pies ( especially the berry pies) at less than half the price and they taste just as good. Good Day
Jack Bryan
Tue, May 8, 2012 : 3:51 a.m.
Their prices are reasonable for the quality of their product.
Julie Woods
Sun, May 6, 2012 : 5:29 p.m.
I don't think their prices are out of line, at all. I get a little sick of Panera.
Robert D. Mosley
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 2:07 a.m.
This sounds like a great place to go when I am next in Ann Arbor!
julieswhimsies
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 9:58 p.m.
Oh my God...Grand Traverse Pie Company brownies! HEAVEN!
Tony Dearing
Mon, May 7, 2012 : 4:14 p.m.
Several comments were removed from this side discussion because they became personal in nature.
Julie Woods
Sun, May 6, 2012 : 5:27 p.m.
Just so YOU know, Grand Traverse brownies are not a staple of my diet. I weigh 130 pounds, ride my horse almost every day, and am training for the Coastal Crawl...a 1 mile open swim in Lake Michigan. I also walk my Alaskan Malamute twice a day for 1/2 hour. Treats are healthy to enjoy occasionally, and chocolate is a great anti-depressant. Portion size matters, too. I cut those brownies into 4 pieces...and they'll last more than a week. It is OKAY! If you have health and/or weight issues...talk it over with your doctor or nutritionist.
DBH
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 12:15 a.m.
Just so you know, the brownies (one brownie, by the way) range from 853-989 calories and 42-50 grams of total fat.
Ron Granger
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 9:47 p.m.
It is a pie out of a can. That's where the filling comes from. Go to their site and read the ingredients. It's a long list of stuff I don't want in a pie.
Ron Granger
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 11:03 p.m.
Nice try, grimmk, but the ingredientss disclosure on their website clearly says otherwise. Cherry Pie Ingredients: dough (water, flour [bleached enriched flour {wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine monoitrate, riboflavin, folic acid}], salt [salt, sodium silicoaluminate, dextrose, potassium Iodide 0.006%, sodium bicarbonate], shortening [partially hydrogenated soybean oil and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil with citric acid added as a preservative]), blueberry, flour (bleached enriched flour [wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine monoitrate, riboflavin, folic acid]), sugar, lemon juice (lemon juice from concentrate [water, concentrated lemon juice], sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfite and sodium sulfite [preservatives], lemon oil), butter (pasteurized cream [milk], salt), apple juice (concentrated apple juice, water, ascorbic acid, natural flavors, potassium citrate, citric acid, caramel color), water, may contain: wheat, soy, milk, nuts
say it plain
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 3:24 p.m.
well @grimmk, it must actually be *margarine*, right? Because what else could the source of the transfats be?
grimmk
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 4:24 a.m.
As a former worker for Dave and GTPC - NO. Nothing comes out of a can for these pies. It's frozen fruit, sugar and flour. Maybe some butter. There is a vast difference between stuff in a can and GTPC pies. They take hours to make and bake.
a2citizen
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 12:11 a.m.
"...pie out of can..." Much like many of the comments here from the natterings nabobs of negativity.
mtlaurel
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 8:59 p.m.
depends on how fast they are: the Panera by Hill Aud is ridiculous-lines to the door-for a bowl of soup?? Keep the"fast food" fast: the people will take it. [It is overpriced,actually.}
ArgoC
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 7:43 p.m.
That's nice that they have a new location. I'll go there when and if the pies get a much lower proportion of thickener than they do now. From my three experiences, I don't see what the GTP fuss is about.
meddler76
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 6:07 p.m.
Where is all the vitriol on this board for being a chain restaurant like was directed toward Tim Horton's? http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/tim-hortons-to-open-at-lab-coffee-shop-space-in-downtown-ann-arbor/ The contrast is rather shocking.
RUKiddingMe
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 12:35 p.m.
So I guess if THIS place takes off and winds up having thousands of location, then THEY'LL be evil too, lugemachine? What number store is the one that tips the scales? They're an awesome success story at 100 stores, but when the 101st opens, then it's an evil chain we don't want in our town?
a2citizen
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 12:09 a.m.
Maybe ann arborites don't like hockey players.
lugemachine
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 8:05 p.m.
No comparison! TH has over 4400 locations across Canada and the U.S. GTPC has a total of 15 locations; 13 in Michigan and two in Indiana. Still small potatoes and at least it's an in-state success story.
Bababooey
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 7:01 p.m.
I find it odd too....is there a competing pie shop posting on this board?
JRW
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 5:56 p.m.
Given the high fat and high calorie food served here, it is a food shop geared for college students, which is the dominant demographic in downtown A2. There is an over saturation of restaurants already in downtown A2, and this one may or may not survive. All the best!
Lovaduck
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 3:39 p.m.
Unfortunately just another place for carbo and fat loaded food. I know on campus are mainly young people who don't at this time of their lives care about such things, and I'm a food lover, not a health fanatic, but too much eating of this sort can lead to diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. Believe me, as one who loves most food and would surely love theirs, without being Scolding Sam or your Aunt Florence, I just advise caution. Good luck to the owners!
say it plain
Mon, May 7, 2012 : 1:42 a.m.
No, @Julie Woods, that's very true. I guess you'd count then among the people who don't agree with the bans that NYC, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and other cities have put on allowing restaurants to continue the unnecessary use of transfats in their foods. Even though there are completely satisfactory alternatives, adopted by even the giant cost-conscious chains like KFC and McDonald's and others, some businesses prefer to save whatever little bits of time and money they might save by using fats that are quite detrimental to their patrons' health. We all pay the cost via the surgeries and procedures and prescription drugs that people need to be on because their bodies are so affected by these nasty food products, but, no, there will be no "secondhand pie" ! (But see @Bryan Ellinger's comments about how our view is negatively affected by the high-calorie content of foods on offer so commonly by places like GTPC ;-) )
Julie Woods
Sun, May 6, 2012 : 5:47 p.m.
say it plain...I don't think eating a piece of pie is going to negatively affect the people in your immediate area. "Second hand pie"?!
say it plain
Sun, May 6, 2012 : 3:44 a.m.
Ah, @Bryan Ellinger, I did indeed intend to appeal to emotions with my comments about hydrogenators and reactive metals lol. But the separate facts of transfats being "unnatural" and being "bad for us" are not unrelated! These two attributes are often related, actually, in the realm of food. I don't mean to be down on the nifty tech that allows us as a society to churn out insulin though-- as 'unnatural' as that is, the benefit of *that* sort of technology is obvious. You are free to call it hyperbole of course, and I surely didn't mean to be condescending when I pointed out that it's not just one or two or three or four books or experts who have come to believe that any amount of transfat is too much for a person to be consuming, but rather a compelling consensus conclusion. To the point of it being banned in some cities. To the point of lawsuits against the giant corporations who use it. And, most importantly, to the point of these entities *ending* its use. Should restaurants be free to sell food containing ingredients that have been deemed truly terrible for us, even in small quantities? Well, that's exactly the question that NYC answered with a 'no', and I'm with them on that one! The FDA has decided that consumers should be allowed to know when their foods have *any amount* of this stuff, it is so universally acknowledged to be bad and,now, it is so universally acknowledged that there are alternatives to it. So call me Annie Alarmist or Hannah Hyperbole, but that's what I feel obliged to see served alongside the poison pies! Even McDonald's pies don't have transfats these days, you know...so people are probably assuming that an operation so 'local' as this one might at least meet those standards for poisonlessness ;-)
Bryan Ellinger
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 7:57 p.m.
@say it plain: The nautral-vs-unnatural argument holds no dihydrogen monoxide. It is an emotional appeal, not based on reason. Cobalt is found in a natural salt that is the primary contibutor of cobalt to vitamin B12. We need that, and pretty blue glass. Plant toxins are natural, yet can kill us. How about Clostridium botulinum? Nasty stuff and yet good at helping to numb away unsightly frowns -- for those who are into that kind of thing. It's good for the pie-per-day crowd that there are large-scale chemistry operations able to churn out their required insulin. Trans fats are crap because they harm us, not because they are unnatural. We can always find those who will tell us there is no acceptable level of some bad thing -- even without condescension. We have Robert H. Lustig telling us that sugar is poison, and William Davis telling us that wheat is poison. Can I have my poisionous pie with a scoop of hyperbole, please? Is the lard-industry behind the anti-trans-fat movement? Alright, but they need to appeal to people's stomachs, and not people's fear of death. Death by pie is doable with or without trans fats. Pies are better prepared with basic ingredients, without a doubt. But, shouldn't people be able to buy inferior pies for inflated prices if they want? If they don't, won't that encourage the peddlars of inferior pies to up their quality?
say it plain
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 5:49 p.m.
Yes, we are talking about pie @Bryan Ellinger :-) But specifically about pie that contains transfats at very very high levels, and unlike wheat or sugar, which in moderate quantities are fine and dandy, it has been determined and even allowed to become common wisdom *despite the efforts of the food industry* which stood a lot to lose by eliminating cheap easy-to-use transfat-laden products, that--and this is the really important part now so read carefully!--*there is no acceptable level of transfat in the diet*! Because it's not merely "not paleo" and thusly deleterious to our views at the beaches lol, and man oh man can we use some improvement in this nation yikes are we large lol... but transfat is made in vats using cobalt. No, really. It is created in large-scale chemistry operations, and not like anything that occurs in nature. It is vegetable fat that is chemically altered so as to do things natural fats do not do, like stay solid at room temperature. There are some new replacements that don't have the transfatty acids created in the partial hydrogenation processes. The goodness of those are debated perhaps. But there is no doubt that the transfats of old are bad, as in, don't eat *any*, *ever* if you can help it. And we can help it. Indeed, huge chains like KFC have recently been sued and in response *stopped* using transfats for their products. I just hate to see a store ballyhooing its 'local' connections, but it's not even abiding by the newly discovered 'regard' the big corporations have managed to find for their patrons' health, is all :-) And there are local alternatives that make perhaps slightly more expensive pies (though by the slice, probably not really!), like Achatz and Zingerman's, that don't have the arterial-sclerosis-with-crumb-topping for sale. The "slippery slope" argument about sugar or wheat doesn't work too well, also, I think.
Bryan Ellinger
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 5:11 p.m.
Aren't we talking about pie? Why focus on the trans fats? What about the sugar or the wheat? One could label sugar or wheat "poison". Let's ban pie. While we're at it, let's enforce the paleo diet by rule of law. It would certainly improve the view at our beaches.
say it plain
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 4:11 p.m.
Transfat is essentially poison though lol... You know it's true, if the FDA actually became convinced from the medical evidence of its badness, instead of the 'counter-claims' from the food-industry lobbyists, that labels needed to change ;-) ! Partially hydrogenated oils are completely avoidable and as @DBH says, the ignorance even here is amazing...people seem to believe it comes from butter, d'oh! Yes, of course we can leave it to individual citizens to know, but we can also do like NYC did and ban the stuff, because it is just. that. bad. (and easily avoidable in applications like restaurant food, where *presumably* anyway shelf-life concerns shouldn't be the paramount consideration?!) I'm not proposing Ann Arbor start one lol, but I am not enjoying the oh, look, *local*!, angle on a place that purveys truly nasty stuff. You can claim NYC has become a nanny state and all, but if people have accepted that in MI there is no smoking in restaurants and bars and that UM can ban smoking on their entire campus, it seems to me to be totally fair game to call out a 'local' purveyor of what some scientists call "heart attack in a box" (transfats). The evidence with transfats is much closer to *WILL* lead to ill health effects, rather than *CAN* lol.
Gretchen Ridenour
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 8:35 p.m.
Again, don't eat there if you don't want to. Let college students be reponsible for their own food choices.
Bryan Ellinger
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 7:58 p.m.
Sorry, I meant Laurie, but Jojo can probably be safely included with we who are "in the know."
Bryan Ellinger
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 7:17 p.m.
You're right DBH. Jojo and I don't need a lesson in proper diet. Perhaps the remaining readership learned a valuable lesson in diabetes prevention.
DBH
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 5:51 p.m.
"I can't imagine there are ANY adults in this area who are not aware that 'too much eating of this sort can lead to diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure.'" (@Laurie Burg) "We've known for thirty plus years that hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated oils are crap." (@Bryan Ellinger) You both seem to be making a similar error. There is a difference between knowledge existing (and you yourselves knowing it) that ingesting saturated and, especially, trans-saturated fat can have negative consequences for one's health, and all of the general populace being aware of this knowledge. Just ask any Public Health nurse (or dietitian) who provides nutritional counseling. The amount of ignorance about nutrition that exists among some adults can be appalling.
Bryan Ellinger
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 5:29 p.m.
Any baker worth their salt agrees with Jojo that, "[...A] delicious fatty pie with old-fashioned butter and lard[...]," is the way to go. Laurie's sentiment rings true. We've known for thirty plus years that hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated oils are crap. Nothing to see here, move along.
Jojo B
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 5:07 p.m.
Laurie - It's hardly worth replying to either of your posts, except to say that I don't think that any of the comments above where unhappy and unpleasant as you describe. I feel like we're back in the 1960s when anybody who mentioned that smoking is bad for your health is going to get mauled and plowed over by all of the happy smokers who don't want to hear it. Trans fats (the artificially-manufactured fats that foot providers use because it's cheap and increases the shelf-life of food) most definitely CAN lead to bad health, just like smoking CAN lead to bad health, and driving drunk CAN lead to a horrific car crash. Give me a delicious fatty pie with old-fashioned butter and lard, and I would enjoy it in moderation every now and then, but I'm deliberately staying away from the "trans." Perhaps a decade from now, this could be discussed without the same angry diatribe that the smoking debate had for decades. And I'm surprised that so many people are downvoting anybody who wants to talk about health. Smoke up, Johnny; it's good for the economy! :) Take care.
Laurie Burg
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 3:45 p.m.
"without being Scolding Sam or your Aunt Florence" You failed. I can't imagine there are ANY adults in this area who are not aware that "too much eating of this sort can lead to diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure." Note that it CAN lead to bad health, it is not a given.
jgold47
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 3:15 p.m.
wish them the best of luck. I have seen other GTPC closing around the midwest. Hopefully this is a good one. They just need to do a better job of advertising and explaining to customers what they are all about. I had no idea this was a panera type place until I finally went into one. I've always said that if you have to explain to customers what your all about, you've already lost.
anna schnitzr
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 2:08 p.m.
Looking forward to Grand Traverse Company pie! The piece in the photo looks very tempting.
lovecraft3000
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 2:03 p.m.
Good riddance to @Burger, the dumbest attempt at a burger stand I've ever seen. The place had flat screen HD menus for a cheesburger joint and a web 2.0 aesthetic for overpriced junk food. I'm glad they turfed out within a year of opening.
say it plain
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 2:10 p.m.
lol, I'd never been inside, but that sounds like what BigBoy's attempt at the burger-chain-of-the-future might look like indeed! I guess we should all be grateful their test-marketing failed!
say it plain
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 1:44 p.m.
Mmm...Transfats :-) ! Seriously folks...the owners may be as lovely as all get out, I don't doubt. But a good deal of the food has massive amounts of transfats... beware the apple dumplings! The nutritional info has one of those at over 20 grams per each, wow! And that Manitou sandwich has *a whole day's worth of sodium*, wow!
5c0++ H4d13y
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 2:53 p.m.
Fortunately, you will find that many people don't care.
Gretchen Ridenour
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 8:32 p.m.
Then don't eat there if you have nutritional concerns!
JRW
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 5:53 p.m.
Unfortunately, I have to agree that the huge amounts of transfats make their food very unhealthy. One can bake pies without transfats, by using whole butter. The crusts are very flaky and tender if made using only butter. But that would make the pie more expensive. Every company makes its own decisions about the ingredients it uses.
Lewanster
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 5:42 p.m.
It is fun Michigan food and because the sandwiches are made to order, you can do a veggie on whole grain. You have to look at the menu. Not everything is bad for you. And what fun is life if you can't have a slice of delicious cherry pie once a month ? Just don't eat the whole pie. And...FYI, several years ago I believe they tried to make the pie crusts sans trans fats...but they just tasted yucky and fell apart. You need that nice creamy butter to make the wonderful crust. Seriously, having a local person who lives here open a new store downtown and all people can do is complain ? I say - Get a Life !
Laurie Burg
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 3:20 p.m.
Hmmmmph. I may not be as "heart healthy" as some posters (which I doubt, as my numbers are all very good), but I am nowhere near as unpleasant and judgmental. I may live longer (doubt that too, my parents are in their late 80s) if I "eat healthier" but who wants to live longer and be an unhappy, unpleasant, nanny of what others are eating?
Jojo B
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 2:54 p.m.
Holy smokes. Saturated fats I can understand. But, holy smokes, the artificial trans fats are really disturbing. And yes, while many people don't care, their hearts may at some point. But you don't go to a place like a "Pie Company" or a "Cheesecake Factory" for your health.
DBH
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 1:54 p.m.
Unfortunately, you will find that many people don't care. For those that do care what they put in their bodies, the nutritional information can be found at http://gtpie.com/downloads/gtpie-nutrition.pdf .
Lewanster
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 12:08 p.m.
They will be successful. Dave and Beth are sweet and awesome people. At that location it is so hard to find parking, that I suggest they have a "GT Pie To Go" promotion where you call in and they can bring out to your car like they do at Applebees. That way they would get people to stop by on their way home for dinner to go.
81wolverine
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 11:21 a.m.
This is good news. I hope they succeed. My wife and I really like the GTPC on Zeeb Road. The pot pies, regular pies, and sandwiches are all great. I especially like the Manitou sandwich.