Clayton Brown

May 3, 2015

Little Traverse’s Ambitious Entrepreneur  wasn’t always the small business powerhouse he is today. As a young man, he was like so many others in the Saginaw area who came north in to ski. But while visiting Boyne Mountain and Nub’s Nob, Brown was falling in love with life Up North and searching for a way to make the area his permanent home.

Decades later, with a portfolio of successful business ventures and recognition as one of the community’s hardest workers, he’s proof that creativity and independence can make almost anything happen.

Now a local, Brown is well known throughout the region for a specific skill: how to take a common penny and burnish it to a high sheen.

ALWAYS A WORKER

Brown started delivering papers and shoveling driveways at a young age, but these jobs were always more than just a way to earn a few dollars. He used every one to help him smoothly transition to the next, each job a step up from the last.

"When I was 16, I paid cash for a car," Brown reminisced. "Cash, at 16. Can you believe it? It was a 1976 Monte Carlo, a great big red car with swivel seats and a T-top."

Brown went to work at General Motors the day after he graduated from high school. At GM, the world’s largest foundry was endlessly pouring iron at 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit, making V8 blocks for car engines. Brown got a job on Line 6.

By 1980, he’d had enough of the heat and he took a leave of absence to attend Ferris State University.

"I went to school because I didn’t want to be a long-term factory rat," he explained.

His studies soon took a back burner to more interesting pursuits, mainly the girl who would later become his wife, fellow student Lois Howie.

"When I found out she was from Petoskey, I said, "˜I love that place!’" Brown recalled. "We’d go up north, go to the state park, put a Hobie Cat in the water off the breakwall – you can’t do that any more – and, of course, we’d ski in the winter, staying in these little cabins that were where Subway is now. Sometimes we’d get stuck up north because of the snow."

WHERE I WANTED TO BE

Soon after, GM contacted Brown and asked him to return to work, but Lois wasn’t thrilled about moving downstate.

"We weren’t married yet, so I went ahead and signed back on, but at the last minute, I just didn’t show up," Brown said. "I never went back to GM. Lois was here and I loved the north. This is where I wanted to be."

In Brown’s mind, people like he used to be – people "working their butts off downstate" – were only doing that so that they could buy a second home up north that they’d drive to on weekends and holidays.

"Why not just live here? Why spend your life on I-75?" he asked.

Now Brown was a full-time Petoskey resident without a job. After relying on his savings for awhile, he picked up some shifts at Bill’s Standard Gas Station.

CANDY MAKER

Brown was only making enough money to barely get by. When he married Lois, he applied for two more jobs, one at the newlyopened 7-11 and another as a candy maker at Kilwin’s. He took them both.

"I’ve always had an interest in cooking and baking," he explained. "So I worked at Kilwin’s days and 7-11 nights. I did that for about a year and a half."

At the time, Wayne Rose was building Kilwin’s factory in Petoskey and Brown worked at Kilwin’s for four years, eventually leaving his other job to learn how to make chocolate alongside late WWII vet Hershel Dunshee, who had trained under Don Kilwin himself.

Those were idyllic days for the couple, and "small town days" for Petoskey, says Brown. The lack of developments like Bay Harbor and the casinos meant everything was even more seasonal than it is today.

"So I realized if I was going to achieve what I wanted to achieve, I would have to be self-employed," Brown said. "In a seasonal community, you get a living wage, but I wanted to aspire to more."

SELF-EMPLOYMENT LEAP

Brown left Kilwin’s and started his own house painting business and soon began securing big contracts with clients like Boyne Highlands and his early stomping grounds, Nub’s Nob.

"I painted the lifts, the shacks, everything. Eventually, I put a crew of guys together to help with the ski resort jobs," he said he painting was going well, but he was still stuck in a seasonal cycle.

"But we live in northern Michigan, so it’s going to snow every year, right?" Brown asked.

With another leap of faith, he bought a 454 1-ton pickup with a plow on the front and started soliciting snow removal business from people he knew.

"Pretty soon, I had 60-80 accounts of people I’d snowplow for," he said. "I’d make $2,000 every time it snowed. Sometimes I’d plow for 15-18 hours in a row. There were times I plowed for two days straight and barely left the truck."

With painting in the summer and plowing in the winter, Brown’s pennies were stacking high.

"But those are long hours, turning into long years, and I knew that I didn’t want to do that forever, with all the climbing and the paint fumes and everything. I knew that was a young man’s gig," he said. "I knew I had to get a brick and mortar place."

The opportunity presented itself when he took a painting job at Johan’s Bakery. He boldly told the owner that if Johan’s was ever up for sale, he’d be interested in buying it.

"I love donuts," Brown said. "Donuts and sweets, and I probably drink eight to 10 Mountain Dews a day."

30 DAYS LATER, I BOUGHT IT

In 1988, the bakery business was changing and Johan’s owner was ready to get out of the game.

"He came to me and said, "˜okay, I’m ready to sell,’" Brown said. "30 days later, I bought it."

Still, Brown wasn’t ready to consolidate his business energy just yet. He continued to paint and plow for three more years. He became a partner in Bay View’s Terrace Inn and bought a three-unit apartment house as a rental property. He was an unstoppable small business force. Meanwhile, Johan’s was steadily shifting to the forefront.

"When I bought it, I wanted to truly manage it," Brown said. "But I had to dissolve the painting and plowing to do so. So my brother Jerry Brown took it over and it’s now Jerry Brown Painting. I’m just the CFO."

When Brown first bought Johan’s, there was a small Johan’s outlet at the Toski Sands plaza on M-119 and the company was also delivering donuts wholesale to Northern Michigan Hospital, Burns Clinic and Ted’s Marathon gas station.

"But then, I remembered how Wayne Rose had Kilwin’s stores all over," Brown said. "And I knew that Johan’s Bakery, the Petoskey building, was underutilized. I knew people wouldn’t drive 15 miles to get a donut every day, so I started creating outposts."

With the "superiority" of Johan’s products a given, Brown said it was only a matter of logistics. He began driving around the region giving away donuts until businesses agreed to let Johan’s deliver to them.

BOLD MANEUVER

That boldness paid off. Johan’s products are delivered to nine counties and 50 stores in the winter, 80 stores in the summer: gas stations, party stores, wherever it makes sense to pick up a donut.

2,000 pounds of donuts pour out of Johan’s Bakery every day, delivered across northern Michigan with a remarkable level of precision that Brown shrugs off as nothing special.

"We have five vehicles and four drivers," Brown said, "and the timing is everything. What’s the key to a donut? It’s that people want them at six in the morning. By 9:30am, you’re done. So we run this place like a Greyhound bus station. Every 15 minutes, first thing in the morning, our drivers transfer out loads of donuts, every 15 minutes like clockwork. I pick up the loose ends."

Today, Johan’s has stores in the Clocktower Plaza in Petoskey, downtown Harbor Springs, Boyne City and Charlevoix. There are smaller outposts at the waterfront concession stand in Petoskey and at Charlevoix’s Glen’s Plaza. The newest Johan’s is in Walloon Lake’s old post office.

Two years ago, Brown opened Johan’s Burger Express on M-119, a twist on the traditional Johan’s Bakery business model.

"Well, I knew I could make great hamburger buns, and a good bun makes a good burger," Brown said simply. "Most everyone else in town just uses Sysco buns. And that building was just sitting there. I had a vision that I could make it work."

From hamburgers to his latest venture – pancakes – Brown continues to make it work. He purchased the Original Pancake House in Bay Harbor and plans to draw on his Bay Harbor restaurant experience as former owner of the Sunflower Cafe as he redesigns and revamps the Pancake House to include Johan’s best offerings.

"It’s not going to be another Johan’s. It’s still going to be the Original Pancake House and you’ll still be able to get all of their specialty pancakes, crepes and omelets," Brown explained. "But, we’re adding select Johan’s items...We’re calling it The Original Pancake House on Steroids," he laughed.

THE NEXT BIG THING

Brown’s list of entrepreneurial achievements goes on and on. Half a dozen years ago, he expanded his investments in the local economy and now owns a car wash in Charlevoix, 18 rental properties, doctors’ offices, income property and real estate holdings.

Still, in the back of his mind, he’s always thinking about what he calls Johan’s "untapped markets" in the region: Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island, Elk Rapids, Traverse City.

"I don’t know what’s next," he said. "I think that Johan’s has to expand in order to support more growth. I’m really maxed out. I can’t supply any more donuts from where we are now. So I suppose the next thing would be to buy a central facility, like Kilwin’s has. I’m working on something like that...but that’s five years down the road."

Brown credits the longevity of his staff, especially his managers Kathy King, Jason Miller, Eric Simard, John Sheets and Betty Weston, as a fundamental reason for his success.

He’s never at a loss for things to do or empires to build.

"I’ve worked 15-18 hours a day, every day, forever, for my whole life. I still do," he said. "So there’ll be more. It’s just going to take time."