Bearclaw Coffee adds another notch in its belt, expanding into Chelsea as it plans for growth throughout southeast Michigan.

The Chelsea-based coffee company bought one of its franchise stores on Old U.S. 12 near the Fletcher Road exit to I-94 just outside of Chelsea in June. Since then it has reworked the 1,800 square foot space into a corporate boardroom and model store for the franchise.

The new space will be used for board meetings and as the base for Bearclaw University, the week-long orientation that franchise partners attend before setting up their store.

"We do all of our franchise training in that store," says Casey Hurst, director of franchise operations for Bearclaw Coffee.

Bearclaw Coffee started six years ago with a store just north of Dexter. It has since grown to 26 franchises throughout southeast Michigan with three more on the way.

Source: Casey Hurst, director of franchise operations for Bearclaw Coffee
Writer: Jon Zemke