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THE WORKSHOP BREWING COMPANY's KATIE LYNN TO THE RESCUE
BY Jon Becker FOR mibrew trail
brewery owner is concerned the longtime food and beverage professional is in a class by herself.
Drawn by her passion for food and beverage establishments where music is a big part of the venue, Lynn left her corporate job in the Windy City to go to work for Pete Kirkwood, owner and founder of The Workshop Brewing Co., a Traverse City brewery whose entire business philosophy is tied to the region’s breathtaking natural environment. Lynn, the company’s assistant general manager, has only been there since September of 2020. But to say she’s had an indelible impact is like saying there may be some lakes and cherries around the Traverse City region.
Lynn may very well be John Tapper-like, star of the television show “Bar Rescue.” This is not to say The Workshop Brewing Co., established in 2012, was mismanaged by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just that stepping into one of the hardest hit industries during the pandemic, (in Michigan, no less, with its strict mitigation measures) and playing a lead role in figuring out ways to remain afloat when so many businesses were going under had to be every bit as challenging a scenario as celebrity bar-restaurant fixer Tapper ever faced.
hicago native Katie Lynn may not sport a cape or possess superpowers, but as far as a Traverse City
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“She saved my sanity this year, and she may well have saved our business too,” Kirkwood said without a trace of hyperbole. “She’s amazing.”
The business philosophy Kirkwood refers to centers around what the company likes to call “Trifidelity.”
Said Kirkwood, “We call our philosophy Trifidelity because we are motivated by these three things: nature, community and craft. We are in business to preserve Northern Michigan’s spectacular natural environment, to reinforce Traverse City’s warm and vital community, and to honor traditional craft. We do not consider our business to be a success unless we are demonstrably doing all three."
Lynn comes from a tight-knit family. She said she is extremely close with her parents, Mary and Tom, and has an identical twin named Bridget and a younger sister, Maureen. When she decided to leave Chicago for Traverse City it was a homecoming of sorts for the family. When Katie Lynn was five they moved to Chelsea when her father took a job there. The family had vacationed every summer in Petoskey and Harbor Springs, “so we were very familiar with Traverse City,” she said. “We always stopped there on our way home for lunch and a beer.”
As much as the thought of living and working in Traverse City appealed to Lynn, there was something else that convinced her that it was time to leave Chicago.
“I lived in Chicago with my twin and near my younger sister for almost 10 years,” she said. “The pandemic actually more or less moved my sisters and me back to Michigan. Chicago was just not the same Chicago.”
Lynn spent the last seven years there working a full-time corporate job but never totally got away from the restaurant business that she’s been involved in since her first job working as a dishwasher when she was about 13 years old. She was still working weekends at restaurants in Chicago but came to realize that wasn’t enough to quench her thirst for a vibrant work life.
“Corporate was not for me,” she said. “I was not meant to be sitting behind a computer screen. I’ve worked almost every job you can think of at a restaurant.”
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Seeking to return to the food & beverage industry in Chicago, Lynn made it to the final rounds of an interview process for a position with a restaurant/music venue but that opportunity went out the window when COVID-19 hit. It did, however, reinforce her desire to work in management at a place where music and food and beverage went together like a burger and a brew.
“That’s how The Workshop fell into place,” she said. “I started looking up restaurants/breweries that were also very involved in the music industry, specifically in Michigan. The Workshop was the first place that came up.”
Lynn reached out to Kirkwood. The two met, did a coffee hike and everything fell into place after that.
“I owe all my success and happiness to the owner, Pete,” she said. “He is a great boss and owner.”
Finding the perfect job may seem like an exercise in futility, but Lynn is convincing when she tells you she’s found just that at The Workshop.
“My co-workers have been great to work with and lean on,” she said. “The job is different every day. I thrive on that. Go-go-go fits my personality very well.”
Opinions vary, from both a personal and business perspective, on how to deal with COVID-19. At The Workshop, “We have taken COVID very seriously. Plexiglass around the bar and stage. Always sanitizing. Mask on when up and around.”
This approach has allowed the establishment to do what many other bar/restaurants have not managed to pull off during this prolonged pandemic: offer live musical entertainment.
“Live music has been setting us apart from the rest of the venues,” she said. “Bands and solo acts are attracted to our COVID-friendly stage, and having a sound engineer (AJ) right at our fingertips helps tremendously as well.”
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“Katie appeared in our moment of need—in the thick of the pandemic,” Kirkwood said. “She rolled up her sleeves, threw on a mask, and jumped in. I told her she was nuts to leave a good job to join us, but she loved our business philosophy so much that she did it anyway. Now she’s living the embodiment of that philosophy.”
How big of an impact has Lynn had?
My co-workers have been great to work with and lean on,” she said. “The job is different every day. I thrive on that. Go-go-go fits my personality very well.
— Katie Lynn
WBC General Manager
What about the beer?
“In my opinion, it’s the best in Michigan, thanks to our Head Brewer Mike and Assistant Brewer James. We have a lot of repeat guests coming back solely for their favorite IPA or ale.”
The Workshop has a limited menu, but according to Lynn, what they do offer is unparalleled.
“Chef Bret and his kitchen staff cook the best wings and empanadas in all of Michigan,” she said. “Even though it’s a small menu, what we prepare, we do very well.”
Jazz Shows and Trivia Nights are a hit and the brewery’s wholesaling business servicing 10 different Traverse City locations has been a highly successful endeavor as well.
As much as Lynn thrives on the manic energy of the Big City, she’s clearly at a great place with her new life in Northern Michigan.
“It’s nice to be somewhere where I can just drive to the grocery store or to the gym and not plan and pack my whole day around it. I also really like the people here. There are a lot of other fun places to go—and I’ve only scratched the surface.”
Kirkwood is grateful the stars aligned to bring Katie Lynn to his Workshop.
“She’s the best,” he said. “Katie is the living embodiment of everything our business stands for.”
“I just feel very blessed to be in this role in this day and age and really like my job,” Lynn said. “It took me awhile to get her and I feel very fortunate to have gotten here.”
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My co-workers have been great to work with and lean on,” she said. “The job is different every day. I thrive on that. Go-go-go fits my personality very well.
— Katie Lynn
WBC General Manager
NORTHERN MICHIGAN HOPS COMPANY BLOSSOMS INTO INDUSTRY LEADER
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BY Jon Becker FOR mibrew trail
ack in 2008, IT Specialist Brian Tennis had an idea that had
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nothing to do with computers. Tennis was working for the iconic
concerned the longtime food and beverage professional is in a class by herself.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORKSHOP BREWING COMPANY VISIT THE GRAND TRAVERSE TRAIL ON THE MIBREW TRAIL MAP.
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