Never mind the snow and chilly conditions in the forecast for this week. Spring is upon us in Leelanau County, and that means the area’s seasonal businesses are starting to emerge from hibernation for the upcoming summer. From Northport down to the county’s southern border, the Leelanau Ticker has your guide to the spring reopening calendar.

Traverse City/Base of Leelanau/Benzie

>Paradise Cove Bar & Grill will open Thursday, May 22, just in time for Memorial Day weekend. “As a new addition, we now have soft serve ice cream – and other treats – which will be served out of the Sugar Shack,” business owners tell the Leelanau Ticker.

>Jacob’s Farm kicks off its 2025 season on Thursday, June 5. Owner Mike Witkop says the business executed “a pretty substantial addition to our kitchen” over the winter, which will allow for greater efficiencies, expanded menu offerings, and better bandwidth to support large events. Witkop also teases “renewed energy for the corn maze” – which will mark its 18th year at Jacob’s Farm this year – as well as “other cool new things, including some collaborations with other ag-oriented places and other new types of event experiences.”

>Glendale Burgers no longer has a roadside sign, thanks to ongoing construction on the new M-22/M-72 roundabout, but the business has assured customers via Facebook that it is still operating as usual.

>Also in the construction zone, Buchan’s West Bay is doing business as usual, and has even introduced a special “Construction Zone Sundae” to commemorate the roundabout buildout.

>Across the county line into Benzie County, the Cherry Bowl Drive-In will open for the summer – its first season with new owners – on Friday, May 16.

Suttons Bay/Lake Leelanau

>The Bahle Farms golf course has announced an opening day of April 27.

>Bear Den Gallery, formerly a Suttons Bay retail shop, won’t have a physical location this year, but is still operating and selling wares online.

>9 Bean Rows closed down for spring break from March 24-27, but is now back up and running as usual.

>Hive Coffee also took a mini spring break, from March 23-31, but is open again with regular business hours as of April 1.

>North Country Kitchen & Bar has shifted into its spring schedule, adding Sunday operations, and is now open Thursdaya through Mondays every week.

>Farm Club has begun announcing its spring 2025 events, including a “how to build a strong pantry” event with chef/author Abra Berens, a concert featuring Chicago-based alt-country singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks, and a roundtable conversation with four local visual artists.

>Bay Burrito teased Suttons Bay customers last weekend with a one-day pop-up, but has not yet announced a proper spring reopening date. Sister restaurant Bay Pizzeria, meanwhile, has been up and running all winter.

>Capital Dog has also not announced its return date for 2025, but the restaurant’s website says the goal is to reopen sometime in May. For reference, in 2024, the hot dog establishment reopened on May 17.

>Several key Suttons Bay seasonal businesses did not respond to the Leelanau Ticker’s inquiries about their opening dates, including Dalzell Dairy (which will be back for its second season this year) and Taqueria Las Lagunas (which has indicated plans to keep its Suttons Bay food truck operating this year, despite now having a brick-and-mortar location in Traverse City).

Northport/Omena

>Launched in 2024, FARO Northport will return for its second season on Thursday, April 17.

>Barb’s Bakery closed for a break after the Valentine’s Day rush, but plans to reopen “mid-April.”

>New Bohemian Café took a spring break from March 24 to April 3, but reopened this past Friday.

>Dune Bird Winery took a one-day break on March 20 for a “first round of Dune Bird spring cleaning,” but is currently open for regular business hours.

>Yard & Lake recently shared on Instagram that it is “starting to hire for the upcoming season,” with positions available for assistant manager, bartenders and bar backs, and retail staff. The business will reopen for the season sometime the week before Memorial Day.

Leland

>The Village Cheese Shanty will reopen for the 2025 season next Friday, April 18. “We can’t wait to start this next season! Lots of exciting things IN STORE for you,” the popular sandwich shop teased on social media last month.

>Leelanau Goods owner Laura Siladke tells the Leelanau Ticker that the business will mark its official opening day on Thursday, May 15, with a spring reopening party to follow the next day, featuring “special sales, refreshments, and entertainment.”

Glen Arbor

>River Club Glen Arbor (RCGA) will kick off its sophomore season on Friday, May 2 with a Cinco de Mayo weekend celebration. Owner Mike Sheldon says the business is “adding a bunch of new stuff to our offering” this season, including new menu items, a margarita bar with six frozen marg varieties, and the “River Lounge,” which Sheldon describes as “an all-new enclosed tent featuring outdoor lounge furniture, lanterns, and tables for rehearsal dinners, birthday parties, etc.” RCGA will also “start offering breakfast sometime around mid-June,” in addition to lunch and dinner service.

Sheldon says RCGA will also be adding several new events to its slate this spring, with the goal of getting locals “out of the house before the tourist season.” Those events include a Mother’s Day weekend promotion where moms golf and eat for free from Friday, May 9 through Sunday, May 11; a “hospitality appreciation day” on Sunday, May 18, offering free food and golf for hospitality workers; a summer kickoff on Saturday, June 7, where all kids under 18 golf for free all day; and an M22 Challenge Post Party pn June 14, with free food and $1 beer drafts for participating triathletes.

>The Crystal River Outfitters Recreational District will open May 16 for the 2025 kayaking and canoeing season, with reservations now open online. The M22 wine patio – another part of the district – “will be fully staffed beginning Memorial Day weekend, with live music events all summer long,” according to Crystal River Outfitters owner Katy Wiesen. Other parts of the district, Wiesen notes, are already ready for springtime business, including bike rentals and bike mechanic services at The Cyclery and “new spring and summer merchandise fully stocked” at Coastal Glen Arbor.

>Blu has been shut down since early March for a break, but will reopen this Wednesday, April 9 for the spring/summer season.

>Funistrada closed for the second half of March “to rest, rejuvenate, and prepare for a fantastic spring season,” but reopened last week, and announced on Saturday that “the reservation book for summer 2025 is now OPEN.”

>The Mill Glen Arbor will shift into its spring/summer menu starting next Tuesday, April 15, making this the last week of the restaurant’s winter menu offerings. The affiliated Millie’s Pizza already rolled out a “refreshed” menu in late February.

>Good Harbor Grill will open for the 2025 season on Friday, April 25. The restaurant has been closed since late-October.

>Cottonseed Apparel will open its doors for the season this Saturday, April 12, “and will be open daily from 11am-4pm for the remainder of the month.”

>L’Chayim Delicatessen, which is marking its 33rd season in 2025, is now up and running for the year at its Frankfort and Beulah locations; the Glen Lake store isn’t set to open until May.

Cedar/Maple City

>Le Bécasse has been closed for a spring break since March 2, but will return this Wednesday, April 9. A special reopening celebration dubbed “An Island Evening” will follow at 6pm on Thursday.

Empire

>Sleeping Bear Surf has flagged the weekend of June 20-22 as the date for its “2nd Annual Shindig of Summer,” called Beryl Days. More details are forthcoming.

>The Secret Garden, a seasonal art gallery, kicks off its season in May, after which it will be open daily through the end of the year.

Reopening date set for early March

This article first appeared on HaltonHillsToday Feb. 24.

Building on the recipe for success that has made the Sugar Shack a Georgetown staple, owner Michelle Rogerson is moving her business to a larger spot.

The new shop will be located just up the road at 54 Mill St. – the former location of Hub K9 – and is set to open on March 8.

The move is a marker of growth for Rogerson’s business that specializes in desserts and cakes, which has garnered many loyal customers over its years at 78 Mill St.

“We just outgrew the space. It’s a very, very small location. It didn’t fit a lot of equipment,” Rogerson explained, noting she’s “very excited” about the move.

“It’s nice to see my dream come to fruition.”

The space will afford her the ability to build upon what made customers fall in love with the original shop, as well as offer new products for them to try.

New to the location will be more ready-made cakes and not just made-to-order ones. Catering will be expanded as well.

Additional seating will no doubt be a hit too.

So what makes Sugar Shack’s regulars keep coming back?

“I believe it’s because all of our product is made on-site. Everything’s fresh and homemade and like grandma used to make,” said Rogerson.

Further details about the Sugar Shack are available on its Facebook page.

Essex County, Ont., couple Leslie and Bob Meloche have been perfecting a unique delicacy for their bed and breakfast guests over the past five years: black walnut tree syrup.

Afternoon Drive 6:04 Black walnut trees can make syrup too Leslie and Bob Meloche run The Walnut Grove B&B in Essex County and have crafted a sweet specialty: walnut tree syrup. It’s like maple, but much more labour-intensive. Afternoon Drive’s Josiah Sinanan pays them a visit to learn more and have a taste test.

“Taste-wise, it’s as sweet as maple syrup, but it has a different flavour profile,” Bob said.

Sitting in the sugar shack at the back of The Walnut Grove Bed and Breakfast, near Harrow, the evaporator is boiling, processing what may be the last batch of the walnut tree sap for the season. The couple also taps their maple trees, which they have fewer of on the property.

The Meloches’ sugar shack stands in the background of their sugar bush, where they process both maple and black walnut sap. (Josiah Sinanan/CBC)

“That’s why we moved here specifically from Windsor, to run this [bed and breakfast]. And we were blessed to have this five-acre bush [in the back],” Bob said.

Like with maple trees, sap from walnut trees needs to be tapped under specific conditions: when the temperature is above zero degrees during the day and below zero at night.

Inside of the sugar shack, the Meloches boil black walnut sap, which takes about seven times more trees to process than maple. (Josiah Sinanan/CBC)

But despite similar processes, creating walnut syrup requires a little more elbow grease.

“We tap about seven times the number of walnut trees to collect the same amount of sap that the maples are spitting out. It takes about 90 litres of walnut sap to get one litre of syrup.”

Only 40 litres of sap is needed to render the same return with maple, which Bob says has a more distinct taste that people are familiar with. He describes the walnut syrup as more “sponge toffee-like.”

For his wife Leslie, the extra work is all worth it.

The Meloche couple transfers the drippings of black walnut sap into a larger bucket to prepare for processing. Walnut trees can be tapped in the same season as maples, usually early spring, when the daytime temperatures are above zero degrees and the overnight temperatures drop below zero. (Josiah Sinanan/CBC)

“We started with maple trees and then the following year decided, ‘hey, we’ve got walnuts, let’s make walnut syrup.’ After all, we are The Walnut Grove.”

The couple bottles their maple syrup for $15, while the same amount of walnut syrup is priced at $45. But rather than rely on bottle sales, they use the delicacy as a special offering for their guests.

Maple syrup (left) stands next to a bottle of walnut syrup (right). The walnut syrup holds a distinct sweetness, reminiscent of toffee and notably lacking the distinct maple taste. (Josiah Sinanan/CBC)

“It is a lot more expensive and probably doesn’t even really reflect the amount of work behind it,” Leslie said. “Instead, we tend to incorporate the walnut syrup in our desserts in some fashion. Drizzled over ice cream, it’s very nice.”

Buckets still hang from maple and walnut trees alike as the season winds down for the Meloches. The walnut trees have a notably thicker bark, which the couple says needs to be chiseled away first to ensure a good tap.

The bark of the black walnut tree is significantly thicker than a maple tree, thus requiring some chiseling before placing a spile in to tap for sap. (Josiah Sinanan/CBC)

“We apologize as we’re doing it,” Leslie said.

“It’s kind of a funny thing to do in a way, but when I take a bucket off of a tree, I [also] thank them, because they’re giving us some of their life blood for our enjoyment.”

It’s part of the learning process the couple adapts to year after year — and while it might sound romantic, it’s hard work.

“I suppose people would think that, getting out into the woods, [but] we’re out here working. There’s nothing romantic about this,” Leslie said.

“Do we walk hand in hand through the woods? Absolutely. But not while we’re schlepping buckets.”

DEADWOOD, S.D. (KELO) — Back in late 2023, a popular western South Dakota restaurant burned down.

After over a year of planning and building, the Sugar Shack is closer to opening back up.

The Sugar Shack is known for having some of the best food the Black Hills has to offer, and it could be back open just in time for the summer rush.

A couple of weeks ago the Sugar Shack didn’t even have walls and now they have a roof over their head. And while this is going to be a complete rebuild, they are still working to make sure that the Sugar Shack has the same authentic feel.

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Milbank natural gas leak

They are even working to have the outside resemble parts of the old building.

“I made it bigger so we have more room to work, a little more seating, nothing crazy. We’re kind of going for that old-school look and feel. So like the siding on the front will be that board and batten kind of looks old-school. I mean it’s modern but I’ve tried to keep it as true to the old building as I possibly could,” Owner Trevor Kautzman said.

Customers and staff will also enjoy a lot more space. The new restaurant will be more than three times larger than the original.

“Our staff are going to love it. So we have a huge prep area now in the back, before we prepped up in that tiny little kitchen. I mean, so now just a lot more room, easier to walk around, we were always on top of each other. We made it work, I mean my staff is awesome, we always made it work but a lot more room now,” Kautzman said.

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Kautzman said that soon people will be able to enjoy the same food that put this place on the map.

The current timeline is for the Sugar Shack to be up and running around Memorial Day Weekend.

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On paper, Shake Shack didn’t look like it would recover well after it was slammed by the pandemic. The fast-casual burger chain is based in New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic during the first months, and has traditionally relied on foot traffic in central business districts of large cities, the areas across the country that were hardest hit by restrictions and by the decline in foot traffic as office workers stayed home. Nonetheless, the chain shifted its focus to suburban locations, upgraded its technology to interface better with customers, and developed new restaurant formats, including drive-thrus, that helped it open 36 new locations in 2021 and increase domestic sales by 41.5% to $739.9 million.

Shake Shack’s chief financial officer, Katie Fogertey, said the chain had to adapt quickly as the pandemic hit.

“Many people, especially our loyal guests, sometimes forget that Shake Shack’s digital channels are still very new,” she said in an email. “We started to lay the groundwork for a digital channel in 2017 with the launch of our Shake Shack mobile app. But really, digital was a small part of our sales. When 2020 came around and demand for Shake Shack through digital channels surged, we doubled down on our support and growth of our digital transformation so that we could deliver our guests an uplifting experience through these new channels.”

Now, as customers are increasingly returning to the restaurants, digital sales remain robust; in the first quarter of 2022 they accounted for 43% of sales, including the app, website and delivery.

Fogertey said digital sales peaked in January of 2021, but are still at 80% of that level, even as on-premises ordering is up by 400%.

“It really is amazing when you think that just since March 2020 we have welcomed nearly 4 million total purchases on our company-owned app and web channels,” she said.

Usage of the app didn’t just come naturally. When Shake Shack launched delivery via its app in March of 2021, it offered free delivery for orders of more than $35 and 99-cent delivery on other orders, Fogertey said. Prices were also lower than if ordered via third-party apps.

The chain also promoted the app by offering limited-time offers, such as the Black Truffle Burger and Parmesan Garlic Fries with Black Truffle Sauce introduced in October, to app users a few days before making them available to everyone else.

Shake Shack’s digital infrastructure, which includes setting up the restaurants to respond to the rapid demands of remote customers, is termed the “Shack Track” and includes everything from ordering to delivery.

“It aims to tackle many challenges that have arisen from building a rapidly growing digital business while maintaining our commitment to the traditional dine-in business,” Fogertey said. That has include implementing curbside pickup and shelves dedicated to mobile orders, as well as partnering with multiple third-party delivery companies. The chain has also introduced walk-up windows and dedicated entrances for pick-up orders in urban markets. It’s also started to open drive-thru windows in the suburbs.

Although Shake Shack’s first drive-thru opened in December of 2021 and therefore didn’t have much of an impact on sales for the year, five of them are now open, and at least another five are planned by the end of 2021, Fogertey said.

“We are really excited about early guest feedback on our drive-thru as we have strived to infuse hospitality in this channel and bring something new to the guest experience,” she said. “Drive-thru is a major area of innovation for the business, not only how you traditionally view the drive-thru experience in America, but now through the lens of digital integration throughout the entirety of our operations and guest experience.

“We want to make it seamless for our guests, while still delivering on everything that we stand for today,” she added. “Even with drive-thru, we stand committed to using premium ingredients and cooking techniques, so our guests will have the same eating experience as those dining in-Shack, just in their cars.”

Shake Shack has also introduced more ordering kiosks both in urban and suburban restaurants, and customers have responded with enthusiasm: Fogertey said that more than 75% of sales at restaurants with the option to order from kiosks come from them and digital channels.

“Kiosks also help our team members be more efficient, and over the long term our investments will allow us to expand our digital and omnichannel system,” she said.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

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