Midland’s Pizza Baker serves meals, supports people today with disabilities
Jim Baker, 62, owns Pizza Baker, LLC, situated on Most important Street close to Rodd Street in downtown Midland. They supply sour dough, wood-fired pizza, for dine-in and take-out though Jim mentioned the pizzas are ideal eaten in the dining area “fresh out of the oven.” You can order in individual or on line at www.pizzabaker.net. The shop is open Tuesdays from four:00-eight:00pm and Wednesdays via Saturdays from 11 a.m.-eight p.m. They are closed on Sunday and Monday.
In addition to Jim’s wife, Janet, and their son, Jameson, who each function at Pizza Baker, they have ten personnel. Jim and Janet have been married for 34 years.
Jim’s a graduate of New Lothrop Higher College. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and public well being education from CMU and a master’s in well being solutions administration from the University of Detroit. They came to Midland in 1997 when he was the manager of the Household Practice Center at the Mid-Michigan Regional Health-related Center.
How extended have you owned your small business? We began this as a component-time mobile small business in 2014. We have an oven on a trailer. Initially began carrying out private catering, we nonetheless do that. Just after a couple of summers, we got the licenses to do public events and set-up at the Farmers Market place and festivals.
What inspired you to personal the small business? To give my son a summer time job. In 2014, I constructed this small oven on a trailer. We did pizza parties for mates and households, had no intention of getting a small business. We began receiving telephone calls from people today I didn’t know. It began evolving. I was downsized from a job in the summer time of ’14 so my wife and I decided to give the small business a opportunity to develop. We opened downtown in August 2019.
When I began carrying out these parties, occasionally it was just me and Jameson, or all 3 of us. He thrived. He very first began taking orders. He helped reduce pizzas and provide them to the buffet tables. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, an intellectual disability on the autism spectrum, but he’s physically match. Pretty sharp thoughts. When some thing hits his thoughts, it under no circumstances leaves. If you are a creature of habit, he will ring up your order ahead of you spot it and confirm that is what you want. Jameson knows the customers’ names. He’s definitely the face of Pizza Baker. If he’s not there, people today ask exactly where he’s at. He participates in Specific Olympics and the Kiwanis Aktion Club, a neighborhood group for people today with disabilities.
What tends to make Midland a fantastic spot to personal a small business? The neighborhood supports tiny small business in basic and, in distinct, they help our mission of not only pizza, but supporting people today with disabilities. Jameson’s not the only individual with a disability who performs for Pizza Baker.
What are some methods your small business is active in the neighborhood neighborhood? We help the Arnold Center. We acquire our greens for our salads, that are grown hydroponically at Arnold Farms. We participate in Shelterhouse’s Restaurant Week. We have students from the ESA (Educational Service Agency). We’re a function website.
What are some of your interests and hobbies? I appreciate spending time with my wife and my son. Outdoors of the small business, I appreciate cooking, experimenting with diverse flavors. I play guitar. I not too long ago got into tinkering with guitars, purchased a extremely affordable Chinese guitar, tore it apart and rebuilt it.
What are some neighborhood enterprises you function with that assist make your small business a good results?
We have a formal arrangement with 3 Bridges Distillery and Taproom, subsequent door. When you dine at Pizza Baker, you dine with soft drinks, but you can go to 3 Bridges and order with your server our pizza and appreciate it with your cocktail or beer. Grape Beginnings Winery will let people today take our pizza more than there. We’ve carried out exchanges with other tiny enterprises about town, present card swaps. Supports them and supports us.
Final thoughts to share? A huge thank you-we have a extremely loyal buyer base. These clients refer new clients to us. It is our clients who enable us to thrive.
