Spartan Profiles: Michael & Denise Busley
LOVE, PASSION AND PIES
They met at Michigan State, married in southern California, where he was an aerospace engineer and she did medical sales. About 15 years and two children later, they decided on a major career change. They re-settled in Traverse City and, inspired by a pie shop in the resort town of Julian, CA, started to make pies. In 1996, Michael, ’80, and Denise Busley, ’80, opened the Grand Traverse Pie Company on Front Street.
“We were the only pie shop in town,” says Michael. “Folks really loved our products.” Since then, they have added products and upgraded their store to a bakery-café, the fastest growing segment of the quick-casual dining market. “We wanted to leverage our pie crusts,” explains Michael. They added sandwiches, soups, wraps, pot pies, quiches and the like, in the manner of Panera Bread. “It was scary, but in retrospect, it was brilliant,” adds Denise. “After we physically expanded the shop, that’s when it started to get attention.”
Success was swift—they were publicized by HGTV, the Food Network, Business Week, U.S. News & World Report, and Travel Holiday. “We were flooded with calls after that,” recalls Denise. “One customer came in from Texas specifically to try our pies.”
In 2001, Michael formed a franchise organization, of which he is president, and opened stores from Okemos and Ann Arbor to Grand Rapids. By year’s end, they will have 13 bakery-cafés—with new franchises in Troy, East Lansing and Terre Haute, IN, opening this fall, complete with fireplaces, extra lighting and carpeting. “We’ll be employing 500 people in Michigan,” notes Michael, who adds that the business will gross $15 million in annual sales and use one million pounds of Michigan fruits. “All the cherries, apples and blueberries in our pies are grown in Michigan,” he notes.
For the Busleys, the success of their pie-making venture has been a dream come true. “It’s like having children,” says Mike. “There are days. But it’s your life, your passion. That’s what was missing in San Diego.”
