to Restaurant
farm-fresh restaurant fare
Photos by: Brian Powers

Schultz Fruitridge Farms orchard

Bill smiles and recounts stories of Dan playing contentedly with toy tractors and trucks for hours as a child. “That boy’s going to be a tractor driver,” he recalls saying. “And it turned out to be that way exactly.”
Which is important. Each Schultz possesses certain strengths that make the farm and restaurant operation a success. Bill, who is in a managerial role, says his oldest son Billy, the farm’s vice president—off delivering produce at the moment—does a bit of everything, which “stretches Billy thin.” But Billy enjoys staying busy.
Andrew attended Michigan State University, receiving a degree in agri-business management, and worked as a sourcing specialist at Nestle in Dallas. He returned to oversee the 21-table TCBC.
“It takes a team to make this happen. And Andrew is a key part of that,” Billy says when he arrives back at the farm. “Everybody is a key part.”
They keep the TCBC chef updated on the answers, and menus shift seasonally. Daily features are also dependent on field reports, like a plum pear sauce for Wings Wednesday. It takes more coordination and work than typical restaurants, Billy admits, but it’s worth the effort.
“To be able to say, ‘I picked it’ or ‘my brother picked it at the farm today or yesterday’—I mean, talk about fresh,” Andrew says.




Adding extra facets is par for the course. The Schultz family is also known for taking chances: Bill’s father, Victor, and his wife, Dorothy, sold everything in 1951 to purchase the farm, then 80 acres. In the 1970s, Bill and Denise added a farm market, and in 1994, a buffalo herd. Then, around 2012, the family established Schultz’s Donut Depot, a rustic log cabin on wheels that makes apple cinnamon donuts on the spot. And in 2013, the family started brewing hard cider.

“We stepped out of our comfort zone a long time ago,” Bill says, laughing.
By 14, Bill displayed entrepreneurial spirit and boldness to try new things. He launched a chicken business on his father’s vegetable farm that swiftly grew into a 600-egg incubator operation to hatch chicks.


“We stepped out of our comfort zone a long time ago,” Bill says, laughing.
By 14, Bill displayed entrepreneurial spirit and boldness to try new things. He launched a chicken business on his father’s vegetable farm that swiftly grew into a 600-egg incubator operation to hatch chicks.
Lisa Mackinder is a freelance writer based in Portage, Michigan.
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