Breadless is Detroit's newest health food eatery. The restaurant, located at 2761 E. Jefferson, offers sandwiches wrapped in turnip greens, collard greens and kale. We caught up with the owners to learn more about their vision.
DMB:
What is Breadless?
Marc Howland:
Breadless is a black-owned and Detroit-based quick service restaurant offering low carb and gluten free savory sandwiches; all made with leafy, super greens such as Swiss chard, turnip greens, collard greens and kale, all instead of bread.
DMB:
What made you decide to open Breadless? What inspired the concept of the store?
LaTresha (LC) Howland:
We really wanted to open Breadless because we realized that there's so many options out there but not a lot of them are healthy. So for people like Mark, who are hardcore, 100% gluten-free, or like Ryan or myself, who we like to call ourselves carb vacationers, we need an option in our communities that are healthy. And for us, we brought Breadless to Detroit to do exactly that. There's no other concept out there that's focused on 100% percent gluten-free products, especially for on-the-go people where it's accessible. We are super excited to have these breadless sandwiches and vegan varieties, vegetarian and halal friendly meat for these different dietary preferences. That's why we felt that Breadless was so important to launch.
DMB:
Why did you open it in this neighborhood?
Ryan Eli Salter:
Primarily, the reason why we chose this area, especially in the city of Detroit, is that we want to make sure people had access to these low carb healthy options that actually are very hard to find for us. Primarily for me, it was a little bit poetic. Seven years ago, my first day in Detroit, I saw this building. My friend mentioned this and seven years later I saw it again. I talked to Mark and said, “I really feel something about this place.” And honestly people have been thanking us for being here, thankful for bringing this to the community. Just hearing that feedback made us feel like we made the right decision.
LaTresha (LC) Howland:
For me, being in Detroit – my hometown, I am a native of this area. I lived off of Jefferson, just a few blocks away. So to have something in the community that is a predominately Black city, but also very diverse community was super important and super exciting. We do plan to go and franchise throughout Michigan and the nation so that it’ll be a Detroit-based story as Mark has eloquently put in the past.
DMB:
How do you think Breadless will transform Detroit's food economy?
Ryan Eli Salter:
The way we will transform the food economy is because everything we use is local. I have a theory about being hyperlocal so everything we have right now season is 95% local. Even our goods and services are real good energy even our Detroit merch. Like anything we’re buying, even our different produce or our vendors, we to try to be as local as possible in and out. We really just revolutionize what we're doing with our different vendors and different restaurants actually, not just about partnerships with food produce, or where we get our food, but also how we actually make consumer packaged goods and expose people to a variety of the trade footprint.
Marc Howland:
We only work with the highest quality ingredients and work with local farmers and suppliers. We work with Boar’s Head for our premium meats, but as Ryan said a lot of local farmers and suppliers. Detroit has one of the largest concentrations of urban farms and gardens so we're trying to help bridge that gap in terms of getting that healthy food to the community via our savory sandwiches.
DMB:
What resources helped you in opening this restaurant? Earlier you mentioned the DEGC (Detroit Economic Growth Corporation) and Motor City Match. Any other organizations that were instrumental in making this happen?
Marc Howland:
There's been an incredible number of organizations that have been instrumental. It takes a village to bring something to life. And so everyone from TechTown to the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, Detroit Venture Partners and Rock Ventures. As well as Studio H2G,the DEGC, Motor City Match, Woods Construction and the City of Detroit itself. I mean, all of these parties were a huge part of this milestone for us.
DMB:
Where do you see Breadless in five years?
All:
Nationwide!
LaTresha (LC) Howland:
Nationwide and neighborhoods everywhere.
Marc Howland:
Yeah, this is a part of a much bigger vision; to bring nutritious, breadless sandwiches to neighborhoods everywhere and be a home for the thousands of people who have always been ordering off of the menu. And it was super important, as LC said, for us to launch this in, in Detroit, but we absolutely have a big vision to continue to grow this.
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