Short’s Brewing Company is midway through a planned $3.5 million expansion, eateries Benedict and Fig’s are on the move in downtown Traverse City, food truck Bergstrom’s Burgers is expanding to a brick-and-mortar restaurant, and more business changes are underway in The Ticker’s latest look at retail and restaurant news.

Short’s Expands
Despite the pandemic, Short’s Brewing Company is on track for a banner year – with the company seeing a 30 percent increase in sales this June over 2019, the company’s busiest Fourth of July holiday ever, and an overall 14 percent increase in summer sales compared to the previous year. With business ramping up, Short’s is planning to invest $3.5 million in improvement projects in 2020 and 2021, including production and packaging upgrades and an expansion of the brewery’s Elk Rapids tasting room.

The company is nearly finished with construction on the expansion of the Pull Barn, its outdoor tasting facility on the Short’s Elk Rapids production facility property. The renovation will convert the tasting room from a three-season facility into an indoor, year-round location including bathrooms and a custom bar. Short’s plans to open the Pull Barn for indoor service sometime this month, featuring 20 drafts on tap from its various product lines (including Starcut Hard Cider, Beaches Hard Seltzer, and the recently acquired Arcadia Brewing Company brands).

Short’s has also built a new 6,000 square-foot warehouse, adding three loading docks and infrastructure that will improve shipping and logistics to help with distribution issues. A new packaging line – under construction in California for the last four months – will be installed soon, doubling the company’s packaging rate for beer and eliminating the need to use plastic rings in packaging. A new kettle will also allow Short’s to produce multiple products at a time. All of the changes will help the brewery keep up with demand, with Short’s having to bump back production of some specialty products from 2020 to 2021 in order to produce enough flagship varietals this year, according to Sales Director Pauline Knighton-Prueter.

Short’s CEO Scott Newman-Bale says the demand on the brewery in 2020 “has been insane,” noting staff have “literally been working around the clock to try to keep our products stocked for our distribution and retail partners.” While Newman-Bale says Short’s “definitely experienced some bumps and setbacks along the way due to COVID,” the improvement projects are coming at an ideal time to help the brewery move forward, according to the CEO. “We plan to implement one of the fastest expansions we have ever undertaken and continually increase capacity throughout 2021,” he says. “We’re ready for 2021 to be our biggest year yet.”

Changes Underway In Downtown TC
The closure of Patisserie Amie at 237 Lake Avenue – a decision made to allow owner Eric Fritch to focus on new restaurant Brasserie Amie on Front Street – will allow another restaurateur to expand. Owner Leslie Elsen is planning to relocate her breakfast and lunch café Benedict from its current digs on Union Street to the former Patisserie Amie space at the beginning of the new year. Elsen says the move will triple Benedict’s capacity – even with COVID-19 restrictions – and allow the café to expand its pastry and to-go programs, as well as add espresso beverages. Elsen will also obtain a liquor license at the new location, offering a “small curated drink menu” to customers. She says the eatery will keep its same menu, but expand to add more rotating specials each week.

Elsen, who has been hunting for space since early summer, says she was happy to find a new location close to her existing space so neighborhood regulars can continue visiting. “We’ve just been overwhelmed with demand and excitement, and this summer on the weekends we had two-hour wait times,” Elsen says. “I had to take an opportunity to grow for my team, even if it is a risky time (during the pandemic).” Benedict will remain open on Union Street until the restaurant transitions over to Lake Avenue.

After closing its doors in Lake Leelanau in September, Fig’s is preparing to open a new location in State Street Market in downtown Traverse City. According to the Leelanau Ticker – sister publication of The Ticker – owners Bryon and Jaimee Figueroa just passed a final inspection and have the official green light to open, with plans to begin service on Wednesday. The restaurant will operate Wednesday-Friday 3pm-8pm, Saturday 12pm-9pm, and Sunday 12-6pm. Because of its new hours, the restaurant won’t be a breakfast and lunch spot, as it was previously. “We will rewrite the menu every day, source locally, and offer bar snacks, and lots of ethnic foods, including tacos and Thai,” Bryon Figueroa told the Leelanau Ticker.

On East Front Street, Happy’s Tacos will open inside The Little Fleet this Wednesday. The company previously operated a food truck in The Little Fleet parking lot – in addition to a Petoskey location – selling an array of street-style tacos, burritos, and side dishes like chorizo and cheese dip. Happy’s Tacos will occupy the space previously held by Milkweed inside the bar. Further down East Front Street, Wild Pages has opened its doors next to The Coin Slot. The “marketplace of radical goods for writers, artists, and thinkers” sells its own hand-bound blank journals, art supplies, paper, fine writing instruments – like fountain pens – and a selection of books.

In other restaurant and retail news…
Food truck Bergstrom’s Burgers – which operated in the Menards parking lot on US-31 this summer – is opening a brick-and-mortar location at 903 US-31 in Chums Corner near McDonald’s. Chef and owner Tim Bergstrom says the restaurant menu will be “upgraded slightly to include specialty burgers, as well as the original specialty sliders list,” with a focus on using locally sourced ingredients and daily fresh-made products. The company is in the process of hiring staff and plans to open sometime between mid-November and early December, according to Bergstrom.

Top Drawer Resale is closing its doors on Eighth Street in Traverse City in late December after 19 years in business. The company posted on social media that it would no longer be accepting clothing consignments and would be offering shopping deals as long as products last. Top Drawer Consignment Furniture, located across the street, will remain open.

Mundos Eat House in Suttons Bay is moving to takeout orders only for the winter season in Suttons Bay. Management posted that effective today (Monday), all orders will be accepted either through the Mundos coffee house or by phone. “Our front door will be locked, but Eat House will still be open,” the company wrote.

Finally, To Have & To Hold Bridal Boutique has been listed for sale. The $150,000 listing – which includes the business only, not any real estate – includes inventory and exclusive rights to designers including Ashley & Justin, EddyK Italia, Jasmine Bride, WTOO, and Willowby. The boutique is located at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons.