Traverse City’s bakery scene is on a roll. The owners of Modern Bird have purchased the former Mary’s Kitchen Port building and are planning a late fall opening of new bakery and café DayMade. Meanwhile, Bay Bread Company is opening a second location soon inside the former Hagerty Cavallino Café space on Lake Avenue ahead of the company’s planned closure on Randolph Street next year.

DayMade
It’s been a big year for Andy Elliott and Emily Stewart. The husband-and-wife chef team saw their eatery Modern Bird named one of the 50 Best Restaurants in America by The New York Times in September – the only Michigan restaurant to make the list – and were named semifinalists for the 2026 James Beard Awards this spring. Now, they’re ready to expand their hospitality footprint with a new venture next to Modern Bird.

The restaurant’s ownership team has purchased the former Mary’s Kitchen Port building directly next door to Modern Bird. Mary’s, a beloved institution in Traverse City for over four decades, closed its doors last August. The sudden availability of the space accelerated plans Elliott and Stewart were already nurturing to “grow in the hospitality world up here,” Stewart tells The Ticker. “We had plans to continue (expanding), but with that happening next door, it helped make the decision clearer. It’s such a great space and lends itself so well to what we’re doing.”

What they’re doing is launching DayMade, a daytime bakery and café that will showcase Stewart’s background as a pastry chef. A former pastry lead at Bang Bang Pie and alum of BOKA and Blackbird in Chicago, Stewart first made a name for Modern Bird in Traverse City though pop-ups at the Sara Hardy Downtown Farmers Market. There, she and Elliott developed a loyal following for their handmade scones, buns, pop-tarts, and other pastries. When Modern Bird opened on West Front Street, baked goods – delicate desserts, flaky cheddar bread – became popular staples on the menu.

Now the duo will have a dedicated space to highlight their baking. Stewart says DayMade will specialize in brioche donuts, pastries, sandwiches (including breakfast sandwiches), and a coffee/espresso program. “Brioche donuts take a lot of time and effort, so they’re something simple but also special,” Stewart says. “The goal is to make the best version of some of these classics, but also have our own creative take on them. There will be high quality, seasonal local ingredients to make it a delicious and dependable menu.”

That will include some popular throwback items – look out for the return of pop-tarts – along with all homemade breads on the menu. There will be some “light crossover” between Modern Bird and DayMade, Stewart says, such as using the restaurant’s popular fried chicken in bakery sandwiches. However, the two establishments will primarily operate independently – though their proximity will make it “much easier” to run both businesses simultaneously, Stewart says.

Renovations are planned to start on the space soon, with a targeted late fall opening. Once open, Stewart says DayMade will likely operate five days a week – including weekends – from early morning to mid-afternoon. “We want to be a spot that meets a variety of needs, whether it’s getting a cup of joe or grabbing a baker’s dozen for the office or hanging out to eat some sandwiches,” Stewart says.

Bay Bread Company
A trio of factors – an upcoming expiring lease, a building for sale, and a need for more space – has prompted Bay Bread Company to secure a new location in the former Cavallino Café space in the Hagerty building on Lake Avenue.

Krystal and Scott Fluette are targeting a June 1 opening for the new location, called Bay Bread on Lake Avenue. The space will serve as a second retail location for Bay Bread, which will also continue to operate its original retail location and production facility on Randolph Street until the duo’s lease expires there in October 2027. The Randolph Street building is currently listed on the market for $1.4 million. That listing – and Bay Bread’s growing need for more space – prompted the company to seek out other options for when the company’s lease expires, says Krystal Fluette.

Hagerty ended up being the ideal location, she says – especially with that company’s employees returning to work this spring. With a focus on that employee crowd and other foot traffic in downtown Traverse City, Bay Bread on Lake Avenue will exclusively serve grab-and-go options, Fluette says.

“We’ll have sandwiches, salads, pasta salads, breakfast grab-and-go, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and packaged bread for sale,” she says. That will mirror many of the options of Randolph, though some offerings – like bread hot out of the oven and Bay Bread’s full lineup of sweets – will only be at the original store. Still, Fluette anticipates strong demand on Lake Avenue since many of the surrounding grab-and-go options, like Maxbauer and Swiches Deli, have closed in recent years.

The Fluettes have signed a one-year lease at Hagerty but hope to be at that location long-term provided it works for everyone involved, Krystal says. She’s also on the hunt for another long-term production facility and a second retail store that will replace Randolph Street once Bay Bread departs there. The new space means Bay Bread will be available six days a week now – closed only Sunday – with the Randolph location open Tuesday-Saturday and the Lake Avenue location planned to operate Monday-Friday 8am-3pm.

While Fluette says she knows it will be “hard for the town to let go of the Randolph location, the opportunity to expand is an incredible feeling.” She adds: “Grab-and-go is where the demand is, so it’s exciting to lean more into those opportunities as a business.”