The team behind local 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Miller’s Crew is leaning into the talents of one of their most tenured Crew Members to meet a sudden need in the Miller’s Brew Coffee Shop.  

Muffins By Michael on Monday is a new initiative rolled out by Miller’s Brew Coffee Shop located at 1401 Morganton Road in Fayetteville. 

When long-time community partner Superior Bakery announced they would be reorganizing their hours of operation, the Miller’s Brew Crew almost found themselves without pastries and cookies on Mondays. 

“We are fortunate enough that we partner with them every day. We pick up our baked goods from Superior Bakery every morning and bring them to Miller's Brew and source them out, and they do extremely well,” shared President and Executive Director of Miller’s Crew Kim Molnar. “Superior has made a decision that they're going to rest on Mondays. They're going to take Mondays off and be open Tuesday through Saturday, which is amazing. They work really, really hard and they deserve a day off.” 

Luckily, Crew Member Michael Brown, a recent graduate of Fayetteville Technical Community College, who received his Associate's in Baking and Pastry Arts, was ready to step up. 

“For a minute we went, ‘Oh no, what are we going to do? This is not good.’ And then we stopped and realized that Michael our Crew Member, that's been with us since we opened the doors at Miller's Brew Coffee Shop, he has been in Pastry Chef School at FTCC, probably since we've been at the shop. He graduated last year, and there was always in the back of our mind the opportunity for Michael,” shared Molnar. 

Originally, the goal was to seek out placement for Brown with a local bakery, but with this opportunity, he was able to apply his talents at Miller’s Brew. 

Thanks to next door neighbors, and new community partners, Haymount Truck Stop loaning them their commercial kitchen, Brown has been able to bake bulk batches of muffins for the shop. The initiative soft-launched on Monday, June 1, and had its official start date on Monday, June 9, with blueberry, banana bread and chocolate double chocolate chip muffins. 

“We had six dozen muffins this morning; they all sold out before 10 o'clock,” shared Molnar. “He did about a month and a half of bake, bake, bake, test, test, test, test, bake, bake, bake. I think I gained five pounds because we were trying everything. We were testing the goods just about every week. His baking is so particular, it’s so well thought through. It's based on perfection, because that's the person and the professional that he is.” 

According to other local nonprofit Employment Source, Brown has been baking since the age of four, and is well known on campus and around the community for making some of the best desserts in town. He sells some of his baked goods at Bloom Farmers Markets held at the Friendship House Fayetteville Pavilion, and now, the community can find his muffins featured regularly at Miller’s Brew as well. 

“It's a full circle moment for Miller's Brew Coffee Shop, a full circle moment for our mission. We strive to give every one of our Crew Members an opportunity and a purpose based on the skill set that they have,” shared Molnar. “He's one of our key employees; he knows the shop well, he knows me well, he knows our standards well. We run a very tight ship, and we are very well known for our growth development that we instill into these Crew Members. We hire people who are different, but we pride ourselves on the fact that we are a teaching, training and connecting site.” 

The initiative gained a lot of positive feedback on social media as well. Molnar posted an introductory video on her Facebook page and was met with a wave of support. 

“We are so thankful that people watch our videos and care about what we're doing over there, because we work really hard, and I think most of the community that comes in there on a regular basis would agree. They see our hard work, they see us staying true to our mission, they see us training all the time. I want to thank the community for knowing that and supporting that,” concluded Molnar. 

Follow Miller’s Brew on their Facebook page here and learn more about the nonprofit and their work in the community on the Miller’s Crew website here.