Jolly Pumpkin to Take Over Vacant Bank Site on Royal Oak's Main Street

Now that the hurdles of small wine maker, small distiller and microbrew licenses have been approved by the Royal Oak City Commission, locals can look forward to a Jolly Pumpkin at 218 S. Main Street as early as the fall.

The Jolly Pumpkin concept combines hearth-baked pizzas and gourmet salads with "homemade” alcoholic beverages. The 379-seat restaurant will be housed in the previous Citizen’s Bank, which has been vacant for six years.

Commissioners unanimously approved the licenses at their meeting Monday night. Northern United Brewing Co., operating as Jolly Pumpkin, intends to move forward and purchase the building for $950,000 and spend another $1 million in fixtures, equipment and improvements. Jolly Pumpkin says it will create 95 new jobs in Royal Oak.

Greg Lobdell and Jon Carlson, owner of nearby , will act as operational general manager and general contractor.

According to plans presented to the city, the new restaurant will be approximately 8,200 square feet, which includes adding an additional 4,300 square feet on the former drive-through area of the bank footprint and parking lot area. Plans for a seasonal outdoor urban garden are also in the works. It will also have an area for retail sales of its beer, wine and spirits.

The restaurant will have 249 interior seats, 36 seasonal sidewalk café seats and 94 seasonal seats in the urban garden for a total of 379 seats. 

Jolly Pumpkin also has locations in Dexter, Ann Arbor and Traverse City. 

In his investigation for the licenses, Lt. Thomas Goad said in a memo to City Manager Don Johnson that he found Northern United Brewing Co. to have operated in a "successful and responsible manner." However, as part of the department's long-standing policy over new liquor-selling establishments and police staffing concerns, he did not recommend approval of the licenses.

Alcohol-making, selling licenses

The three types of licenses as defined by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission:

• Micro brewer: A brewer produces a total less than 30,000 barrels of beer per year and may sell the beer produced to consumers at the licensed brewery premises for consumption.
• Small wine maker: A wine maker manufacturing of bottling not more than 50,000 gallons of wine in one calendar year.
• Small distiller: A manufacturer of spirits annually manufacturing in Michigan not exceeding 60,000 gallons of spirits, of all brands combined.

Stay tuned to Royal Oak Patch for more on this new business story.