After a decade of building Common Good Bakery into a major local brand – with two locations, over 20 employees, and more than 9,500 members in the Rebel’s Bread Club – founder Jason Gollan is looking for a new owner. The Ticker has the details, plus more updates from across the region.

Common Good Bakery
Whether an “experienced hospitality operator, a professional seeking a lifestyle investment, or someone passionate about craft baking who wants a proven concept,” Common Good Bakery founder Jason Gollan is on the hunt for the right buyer.

Launched in 2017, Common Good Bakery started out on Fourteenth Street before expanding to a second location on Eighth Street in 2023. Both locations offer European-style retail bakeries, with the Eighth Street location also operating a café and a full bar. That location is part of the city’s new East Side Social District, which allows customers to drink alcohol in outdoor designated areas.

This week, Gollan listed the business – including the brand, all recipes, two trademarks, two liquor licenses, an operations manual, all equipment, and the assumption of long-term leases for both buildings – for sale for $2.45 million.

Gollan is planning to focus on personal pursuits and intentionally scaled back his work presence the past few years to prepare the company and his employees for his exit. “If I was 35 instead of 55, it’d be a whole different thing, but I have to think about the big picture with my family,” he says. Common Good is profitable, Gollan emphasizes, and primed for growth – whether in retail expansion, grocery distribution, or a partnership deal like Stone House Bread just struck with the world’s largest baking company.

“This is not a distress sale…it is the planned final step of a strategy that has been underway for years: building a business that does not need its founder,” Gollan says. 

Finding the right person could take time – and Gollan is not in a rush. “We're looking for the right buyer, not the fastest one,” he says. “Someone who sees what this is and wants to carry it forward.” Until then, Gollan says customers can expect “business as usual” at both Common Good locations.

More updates from across the region…
In other bakery news, Lake Ann’s The Bread Lady is opening a new bakery and coffee shop inside TCH Gear in Interlochen. The partnership will bring all of baker Rachel Beckwith’s breads and treats to the outdoor sporting goods store, in addition to a full-service coffee counter. TCH Gear said in a post the store was committed to featuring a wide variety of “local products whenever possible.” Beckwith started the process of relocating her business from Lake Ann Monday, posting that she hoped to reopen inside TCH Gear by July 24 or sooner.

A new Venezuelan food truck has opened outside Earthen Ales at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons. Maddi’s Little Kitchen – which has also been a featured vendor at the Village and Interlochen farmers markets – will be posted up at the brewery Tuesday-Saturday 12pm-8pm in July and August. Featured menu items include arepas, empanadas, pastelitos (fried potatoes), and tequenos (fried cheese).

Halloween Superstores, which started in 2002 in Traverse City, will have a new larger location this fall. Located at Buffalo Ridge Center for the past 14 years, the company is moving this year to the former Bill Marsh Hyundai Dealership on US-31 across from the Great Wolf Lodge and Panera Bread. The store will open for the season on September 1, according to a company email.

Filling the former Halloween Superstores space at Buffalo Ridge Center is D-BAT, a national indoor baseball and softball training franchise that opened its new Traverse City location Monday. The business offers a pro shop, cage rentals, pitching machines, training sessions with instructors, birthday parties, memberships, and camps and clinics. Posted business hours are Monday-Friday 10am-9pm, Saturday 10am-6pm, and Sunday 12pm-6pm.

Some brewpub and tavern updates: Rare Bird Brewpub will officially reopen its doors today (Thursday) at noon after being closed for renovations since April 16 due to a fire. “The sign is up, the beer is pouring cold, and there are new comfy barstools waiting,” the owners posted on Facebook. On Monday, Traverse City commissioners approved a liquor license for Stone Hound Brewing Company’s planned new second location on East Eighth Street in the former McLain building. Owner Brent Faber originally hoped to open this summer but says the targeted launch will now likely be closer toward fall/end of year. In Peninsula Township on Center Road, Old Mission Tavern announced this week that it will expand into lunch service starting Friday, July 17, with planned lunch hours of 11am-2pm Friday-Sunday.

Finally, some nonprofit news. Up North Pride has found a new home in the Commongrounds Cooperative building on Eighth Street. The LGBTQ+ advocacy group had a previous temporary headquarters in the former Copy Central building on Eighth Street, but that site is targeted for a future workforce housing development. Up North Pride will be both a tenant and programming partner at Commongrounds, offering a variety of events and services in collaboration with other building occupants. One of those fellow tenants is The Folded Leaf, which announced this week that it is becoming a nonprofit bookstore.