The Brunch Factory opening at the Breakfast House and Grill Location
New eatery Brunch Factory seeks to serve downtown revival
Jaclyn Trop/ The Detroit News
A new downtown Detroit eatery will open at The Lofts at Merchants Row on Woodward Avenue at the end of July.
The Brunch Factory will serve breakfast and lunch, seven days a week, 7 a.m. through 3 p.m., restaurant co-owners Stavros Adamopoulos and Tom Teknos said Wednesday. The menu will include frittatas, crepes, omelets, pancakes, sandwiches, salads and soups.
A trio of entrepreneurs in their 20s with experience owning restaurants in Metro Detroit said they chose the site to be close to downtown's burgeoning revival and help lead the young professional movement here.
"We want to be part of the next big thing that happens in Detroit," said Teknos, who studied at The French Culinary Institute and used to own Senate Coney Island in Walled Lake.
The space at Woodward and Grand River avenues has been vacant since The Detroit Breakfast House & Grill closed after owner Frank Taylor, head of Southern Hospitality Restaurant Group, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2009.
Plans for The Brunch Factory call for a "Starbucks-esque" café at the front of the 135-seat restaurant with pastries and a coffee bar.
The restaurant may also seek a liquor license to serve drinks such as Mimosas and Bloody Marys and possibly open for happy hour specials, Teknos said.
"We feel Detroit is going to come around, and we want to be there," said Adamopoulos, who also owns Zoe's House of Pancakes in West Bloomfield. "We're hoping that one day Detroit can be a Chicago or a Philadelphia or a New York. We want to get downtown and get that urban lifestyle going."
A third partner, Maurice Wiggins, is a former owner of Ah Moore International Café at Ford Field.
