The 601 Group: How It All Began

Some ideas start with a business plan. Others begin over breakfast.

When Gina and I moved back to Michigan after eight years in Atlanta, we felt a pull to reconnect with the community we had always considered home. East Lansing was where Gina was born and raised, where we met while at Michigan State, and now, where we were raising our family. As we settled back in, I found myself wanting to build something—a business that was rooted in the local community, something that would bring people together and, selfishly, make us feel more connected to our new community.

The idea started taking shape during what I called Daddy & Boys Breakfasts. Every weekend, my sons and I would grab breakfast at our favorite spot in downtown East Lansing, always sitting at the counter facing the window, looking out at the city. As we sat there, I started thinking: What if we owned a place like this? What if we built something of our own?

That curiosity led me down the rabbit hole of BizBuySell, a marketplace where small businesses are listed for sale. I had never realized how many businesses were changing hands around us at any given moment. I became fascinated. We considered Subway franchises, burger joints, pizza places—but nothing felt quite right. If we were going to take the leap into hospitality, we wanted to create or discover something unique.

Then, one morning, I came across a listing for a crêperie for sale in downtown Lansing.

I had never had a crêpe in my life. But something about it intrigued me. It was different. It wasn’t competing with the dozens of restaurants serving the same breakfast and lunch staples. It had personality. It had potential.

I showed Gina, and after a brief conversation, we decided: We were all in.

The business, For Crêpe Sake, had started as a booth in the Lansing City Market before moving into its small brick-and-mortar space a few blocks from the Capitol. We immediately saw opportunities—better operations, menu enhancements, atmosphere improvements, and a more structured approach to management. In November 2018, we officially became restaurant owners.

The first few years were filled with the ups and downs you’d expect from two first-time restaurateurs. We learned a lot. We learned by doing—by trying new things, by making plenty of mistakes, and often, by learning the hard way. But the business steadily grew. And by early 2020, we felt confident enough to expand. In February 2020, we signed a lease for a second location in the heart of East Lansing, at 211 MAC Avenue. The plan was to open by that summer.

And then, the world changed.

March 2020 arrived, and with it, a global pandemic. What was supposed to be a moment of growth and expansion turned into a moment of survival.

That chapter—navigating a restaurant business through COVID, adapting, evolving, and eventually expanding beyond one crêperie—is a story of its own. But it was in those early days, at that breakfast counter, that The 601 Group was born. It started with a simple idea: to build something lasting, something that brings people together.

That vision still guides us today.

Stay tuned for more stories from our journey.