The Harvest Coffeehouse was recently featured in The Saginaw New's Business Section. Here is the article and pictures below:

Coffeehouse a dream come brew for couple in Frankenmuth

by Roberto Acosta The Saginaw NewsSaturday April 18, 2009, 6:23 PM

Frankenmuth residents Matthew and Tammy Bolt, with son Ryan, 8, moved their Harvest Coffee Cafe to a new location, 626 S. Main in Frankenmuth.Frankenmuth residents Matthew and Tammy Bolt realized a dream through their coffee business."My wife and I met at a makeshift coffee house in Clio (in 1992) and started writing songs together," said Matthew Bolt, 38, a Saginaw native.

After the couple married in 1994, they put their musical chops to the test in the Nashville, Tenn., music scene. While they didn't net a record deal during their 4 1/2 years in Music City, they did return with a new focus: coffee. "When we moved down to Nashville, we started hanging out in coffee shops down there, and it was a cool scene," he said. "We wanted to re-create that scene here."

Tammy Bolt, 39, said she's always been drawn to gathering places, and the love grew in Nashville. "The combination of music, art, a community of people and the artistry of the coffee ... we were drawn to all of that," she said.

Turning those concepts into reality was the hard part.
"I never knew how to convey what I wanted," Matthew Bolt said.

The Bolts started replicating the "scene" in September 2005, buying Bay City Coffee and Tea and renaming it Harvest Coffeehouse.

A second Harvest Coffeehouse sprung up in November 2006 at Frankenmuth's River Place, before moving to The Mill in January 2007. Bolt said the latest relocation in mid-March on South Main opens up possibilities.

"It's a better location and better opportunity," Matthew Bolt said. "We are in the heart of downtown and closer to everything."

"We absolutely love the new location," Tammy Bolt said. "It's perfect, it's warm, it's beautiful and inviting. It has the classic coffeehouse feel."

The Bay City business has since been turned over to Matthew's brother, Aaron Bolt, while the couple focuses on the Frankenmuth locale. "We found it difficult to manage the two locations," Matthew Bolt said. The couple also has moved to Little Bavaria.

The cafe offers free wi-fi, live music, poetry readings, seating for about 50 patrons and sells 20 varieties of coffee out of the store and on its Web site,http://www.harvestcoffeehouse.com/.
Whenever the music bug starts to itch, the Bolts can take center stage. "Now that we have our own shop, we can play whenever we want," he said, chuckling. "But we spend 95 percent of our hours behind the (coffee) bar."

Bolt said three part-time workers complete the staff, while Ryan, the couple's 8-year-old son, likes to "hang out."

Aside from capitalizing on Frankenmuth's downtown tourism traffic to help the business, Matthew Bolt hopes to build camaraderie at the location.

"Our focus is on being a community coffeehouse," he said. "Everything we do here is to create a sense of community for Frankenmuth and the surrounding area, a place to spend time with friends and family. "We also want to have an eclectic atmosphere that inspires thought. We have poetry and artwork on the walls," he said. The couple also offers used books.

Tammy Bolt said the business is "slowly building a core group of regulars who hang out for a couple of hours," and the community support "has been amazing."

Reflecting on the journey, Matthew Bolt sees destiny in where the couple is in their lives.
"The fact that we can make a living owning a coffee shop has always been a dream of ours," he said. "It was meant to be."

God bless, hope to see you soon!

Matt

The Harvest Coffeehouse & Beanery

626 Main St.Frankenmuth, MI 48734

989-652-2203