Mercury Coffee Bar to open in Corktown with focus on healthy food from local sources

The Mercury Coffee Bar will open in Corktown this spring, bringing coffee, tea, pastries, salads and paninis to the corner of Michigan Ave. and 14th St.

The venture is being undertaken by Todd Wickstrom, who co-founded Heritage Foods USA after spending four years as a managing partner of Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor. Wickstrom decided to open a restaurant in Detroit after spending time on a Michigan Food Policy Council task force that examined the food desert issue. "The focus is to use food to drive economic development in the city," he says. "We want to really use business solutions in a lot of areas that are typically the realm of non-profits and foundations."

To this end, Wickstrom is working with local urban gardens and Michigan farmers to supply the restaurant and is dedicated to job creation and employee training. "Part of what we're trying to do is create as many jobs as possible," he says. "The thing with retail food is that you have to have people to make it work."

The bulk of the first floor of the restaurant will be occupied by the kitchen and bakery, although there will be window seating -- with views of the Michigan Central Station included, natch. The basement level will provide additional seating; Wickstrom estimates the Mercury will seat 50 to 60 patrons when all is said and done.

Source: Todd Wickstrom, Mercury Coffee Bar
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh