Golden Brown Bakery owner David Braschler says it’s a ‘good news, bad news’ story that has led to the closing of the bakery’s St. Joseph location this week after 54 years downtown.
Braschler told MoodyOnTheMarket.com that his business at the Golden Brown Bakery headquarters location in South Haven is growing so briskly that they can barely keep up day to day. And their custom baking operation for special occasions, large orders, and the like is growing as well. Meanwhile, the St. Joseph location, despite its popularity with the coffee and lunch crowd, was occupying much more management time than could be justified.
“South Haven is booming,” he commented. “Between the retail bakery and our production operation, we’re almost overwhelmed.” Echoing so many owners in the food and beverage industry, he said it’s almost impossible to find good people to work and that has hit the St. Joseph location hard.
“Covid changed everything,” Braschler said. “Key people left and then staff left. In June, a manager left without notice and he began evaluating whether he could continue to operate both locations.
“Around the 4th of July, we decided we needed to focus on South Haven to do the best job for our customers,” he told us.
Golden Brown Bakery items will continue to be available at the St. Joseph Harding’s Market, as well as Harding’s in Hartford and Bangor. In addition, Braschler points out that almost any Golden Brown Bakery item can be ordered by phone from the South Haven bakery and delivered to Harding’s for pickup by the local customer the next day.
Braschler told us he is grateful and appreciative of the support Golden Brown has received from St. Joe since 1969, when it opened as Mackenzie’s Bakery in the Courthouse Square (near the present Biggby Coffee shop). Braschler’s father, Don, was in charge then—and continued to help out long after his retirement, frequently visiting the St. Joe store until he fell victim to Alzheimer’s disease a few years ago.
David Braschler summed it up this way: “We’ve had a great history in St. Joe, the town has been good to us! It’s nobody’s fault. It was just time.”
Looking ahead, Braschler said he already has strong interest from a potential buyer of the Golden Brown building at State and Ship Streets. He got a call from a prospective new owner almost as soon as he posted a ‘Closing Tuesday’ sign in the window. Discussions are underway on the sale of the property for a food-related business. However, Braschler suggested if the deal works out, it won’t be another bakery…more likely “a business focused on later in the day.”
