LIFT UP LOCAL 015
Written by Pamela Patton
📷 courtesy of [Peasant Life]
Entrepreneurs can start young. And there’s no better example than brothers Hunter and Gavin Green. Just 22 and 19, respectively, they are the two behind the push to get Bros ‘n Dough into Meijer Market Stores.
How did Bros ‘n Dough get started? “Our mom started a bakery in 2016, Evergreens Coffee and Bake Shop. It was kind of off the beaten path in our little town of Oxford. After a couple of years, she had this idea to reinvent the bagel, and they took off. They became so popular that she had to move to a bigger location right downtown,” Hunter says.
📷 courtesy of [Peasant Life]
What are Bros ‘n Dough bagels? Hunter explains, “They are not made like traditional bagels in the sense that they are not boiled. The bagel dough is prepared, the cream cheese and other delicious ingredients are placed inside, and then the whole thing is pursed closed like an apple dumpling. They're then topped with egg wash and put into the oven. Afterwards what you get is a scrumptious treat exploding with your favorite flavors. Some of the top flavors include Bacon Cheddar, Jalapeño Cheddar and Apple Cinnamon.”
“The Apple Cinnamon tastes just like my grandma’s apple pie. It’s the one I eat when making deliveries.””
The Green family knew that if their town loved them so much, the rest of the world would too, so they set out to spread Bros ‘n Dough across the map. "Bros ‘n Dough started off in local coffee shops around the metro Detroit area. They've since gotten into other locations such as Chillbox Convenience Store and MSU Dairy Store."
But the Green family wanted to go bigger. They took Bros ‘n Dough to the Making it in Michigan food show hosted by The MSU Product Center, where more than 100 vendors offered product tastings for distributors and grocers, such as Meijer. “We had interviews with several stores, including [Woodward Corner Market]. We had just started our presentation when the [Rivertown Market] people joined it. Their interview in the same time slot had canceled, so they dropped into ours. It went really well. A few hours later, we hear an announcement that awards will be given. We didn’t think much of it. We thought it might be for cool booth or something. But then we were awarded a Golden Ticket by Meijer,” said Hunter.
📷 courtesy of [Peasant Life]
The Golden Ticket guaranteed that Bros ‘n Dough would be at all four Meijer Market stores. Usually, local vendors must work individually with each store to pitch their products to sell at each location.
“It’s really cool,” adds Gavin. “We’re also getting a media spotlight, a photo shoot, social posts, and even some help with our packaging. It’s super exciting!”
📷 courtesy of [Peasant Life]
Bros ‘n Dough bagels are sold individually in microwave-safe packaging and must be refrigerated, but consumers can freeze them too. “They need to be refrigerated because of the cream cheese,” Hunter says. “And we do use really simple and pretty clean ingredients. For the bacon cheddar, you’ll only find flour, cream cheese, cheddar, cheese, bacon, yeast, salt, and egg. They’re not super processed, and we don’t do anything weird like grinding everything up into some sort of injectable paste.”
Meijer Markets will carry the three most popular flavors: Bacon Cheddar, Jalapeño Cheddar, and Apple Cinnamon. “The Apple Cinnamon tastes just like my grandma’s apple pie. It’s the one I eat when making deliveries,” Gavin adds.
📷 courtesy of [Peasant Life]
Hunter recently graduated from Ohio State with a degree in statistics. “I keep an eye on the finances and numbers,” while Gavin is currently a sophomore majoring in marketing at MSU. “I’m learning so much about marketing from Meijer,” he says. And is their mom still making the Bros ‘n Dough bagels? “She had to hire a few people because they make about 250 a day, and sometimes up to 500 in a day. But yeah, she’s still rockin’ it.”