Starting Saturday, Hillsdale Brewing Company will serve breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m hoping to add a new spot to the breakfast scene in Hillsdale.
In light of the Palace’s recent closing, manager Felicia Finch said Hillsdale Brewing Company is hoping to bring in what the community needs by offering breakfast on Saturdays. Finch said she hopes college students and community members alike can sit down and talk while enjoying a good meal.
“That’s what breakfast is for,” Finch said.
Senior Cameron Maxwell attends Hillsdale Brewing Company regularly for lunch and dinner and said he was ecstatic when he found they will be serving breakfast.
“I love any excuse to go there,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell said his favorite aspect of Hillsdale Brewing Company is the friendliness of the staff.
“I mean it’s always just a fun place to be,” Maxwell said. “Having breakfast available is gonna be great.”
Waitress Darcie Miller will be working Saturday mornings and said she is looking forward to meeting new people.
“It’s going to bring in a whole different crowd in the mornings,” Miller said. “There’s going to be people that I know from the evening shift, but then it’s going to be a whole new avenue.”
The current breakfast menu features: Build Your Own Omelet, French Toast, HBC Breakfast (two scrambled eggs, one meat, toast, and American fries), Biscuits and Gravy, and a Breakfast Sandwich. Finch said the Biscuits and Gravy will be made from scratch, and the American fries will be hand-cut.
“We’re kind of playing off of things we currently have, just to start,” Finch said.
Maxwell said he is excited to try the Build Your Own Omelet because of the ingredients.
“They always have very high quality meats, and everything they do is high quality,” Maxwell said. “I’m sure they’ll be making a mean omelet.”
Finch said Hillsdale Brewing Company gets its bacon and sausage from Grand Rapids and uses bread made in Michigan.
“We try to choose local as often as we can,” Finch said. “Obviously, this isn’t the time of year where you can go to the farmers market or grow your own, but we do try to use as fresh of produce as we can.”
Miller said she thinks customers will be most surprised by the hand-cut American fries.
“That’s definitely something that we haven’t done,” Miller said. “That’ll be nice to have.”
She also said she’s looking forward to seeing how the French toast turns out.
“We always go over the top with a lot of our stuff,” Miller said. “It’s gonna be cool to see how Grant, the cook, dolls it up for us.”
The menu also features cold cereal with fresh fruit and a yogurt parfait.
“For the parfait, I’ll do vanilla yogurt, fresh fruit, and granola,” Finch said. “It kinda depends on what fruit looks good, especially this time of year.”
In addition to breakfast food, Hillsdale Brewing Company will offer coffee, hot tea, and hot cocoa. Hillsdale Brewing Company uses Paramount Coffee out of Lansing which is single origin, certified organic, and certified Fair Trade.
Finch also said if the first couple of weeks go well, then Hillsdale Brewing Company will expand the menu and consider extending its hours.
“We just wanted to start somewhere,” Finch said. “If breakfast does great on Saturdays, we’re not opposed to Sundays, but right now it’s just been a family day.”
If Hillsdale Brewing Company were to expand its breakfast menu, Maxwell said he hopes to see pancakes, waffles, and breakfast skillets offered.
“I think it would be great if they did a breakfast skillet and just get a bunch of eggs, potatoes, different meats, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese on top,” Maxwell said. “Bingo, bango, bongo. That’d be great.”
Miller said she thinks breakfast at Hillsdale Brewing Company will serve as a great asset for the community.
“We don’t have a whole lot of other breakfast joints,” Miller said. “I think people should stop out and try it, try something different.”