Midland’s Pizza Baker serves meals, supports folks with disabilities

Jim Baker, 62, owns Pizza Baker, LLC, positioned on Key Street close to Rhode Street in downtown Midland. They provide sourdough, wood-fired pizza, for dine-in and take-out, although Jim mentioned the pizzas are most effective eaten in the dining space “fresh from the oven.” You can order in individual or on line at www.pizzabaker.net. The shop is open Tuesdays from four:00 p.m. to eight:00 p.m. and from Wednesday to Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to eight:00 p.m. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

In addition to Jim’s wife, Janet, and their son, Jameson, who each operate at Pizza Baker, they have ten staff. Jim and Janet have been married for 34 years.

Jim graduated from New Lothrop Higher College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and public overall health education from CMU and a master’s degree in overall health solutions administration from the University of Detroit. They came to Midland in 1997 when he was director of the Center for Family members Practice at Mid-Michigan Regional Healthcare Center.

How extended have you had your job?? We began this as a portion-time mobile small business in 2014. We have a stove on a trailer. We initially began to deal with private catering, and we continue to do so. Just after a handful of summers, we got permits for public events and set up at the Farmer’s Market place and festivals.

What inspired you to personal a small business?? To give my son a summer season job. In 2014 I constructed this tiny oven on a trailer. We did pizzerias for pals and households, we had no intention of getting a small business. We began having telephone calls from folks I did not know. It began to create. In the summer season of the year 14, my job was canceled, so my wife and I decided to give the small business a likelihood to develop. We opened the center in August 2019.

When I began performing these parties, from time to time it was just me and Jameson, or all 3 of us. He produced progress. Initially he began taking orders. He helped reduce the pizzas and delivered them to the buffet. He has Asperger’s syndrome, an intellectual disability on the autism spectrum, but he is physically capable. A incredibly sharp thoughts. After he sets his thoughts to a thing, he under no circumstances leaves. If you are a creature of habit, he’ll contact your order ahead of you send it and confirm it is what you want. Jameson knows the customers’ names. He is the genuine face of Pizza Baker. If he is not there, folks ask exactly where he is. He participates in the Specific Olympics and the Kiwanis Action Club, a social group for folks with disabilities.

What tends to make Midland a fantastic spot to personal a small business? The neighborhood supports compact companies in basic, and in certain they assistance our mission of not only pizza, but also supporting folks with disabilities. Jameson is not the only individual with a disability who functions for Pizza Baker.

In what approaches is your small business active in the nearby neighborhood? We assistance the Arnold Center. We acquire our greens for our salads, which are grown hydroponically at Arnold Farms. We are taking portion in Shelterhouse’s Restaurant Week. We have students from the ESA (Educational Solutions Agency). We are a workplace.

What are some of your interests and hobbies? I take pleasure in spending time with my wife and son. Outdoors of operate, I take pleasure in cooking, experimenting with diverse flavors. I am playing a guitar. I lately began tinkering with guitars, I purchased a incredibly affordable Chinese guitar, tore it apart and rebuilt it.

What are some nearby companies you operate with that enable make your small business thriving?

We have a formal arrangement with the 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 our pizza with your server and take pleasure in it with a cocktail or beer. Grape Beginnings Winery will enable folks to take our pizza there. We’ve accomplished exchanges with other compact companies about town, present card exchanges. It supports them and it supports us.

Final thoughts to share? Lots of thanks – we have a incredibly loyal client base. These prospects refer new prospects to us. It is our prospects who allow us to thrive.