SINCE OWNING A RESTAURANT was Jon Petrie’s lifelong ambition, it made sense for him to attend NMC’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute. It made even more sense to earn a second NMC degree, in business administration.

“It was a really good combination to have. It gave me a head start over a lot of people in the industry,” said Petrie, 26, who in four years transformed a class business plan into a food truck and now a year-round operation inside The Workshop brewery. 

“It was a really good combination to have. It gave me a head start over a lot of people in the industry,” said Petrie, 26, who in four years transformed a class business plan into a food truck and now a year-round operation inside The Workshop brewery. 

That location perfectly aligns with Archie’s menu of eclectic comfort pub food and its business values of treating employees well and buying local produce, Petrie said. Another bonus: The Workshop’s kitchen offers far more elbow room than the food truck, which Petrie frst ran in Grayling and then two Traverse City locations before moving into The Workshop last fall.

His partner in Archie’s is brother Nick Petrie, 24, who’s now a business student at NMC, too, aiming toward an accounting degree. The family connections don’t stop there. Archie’s is named for their grandfather, father David is an investor, and grandmother Edith’s recipes show up in the “fresh, local, just delicious” menu.

The Petries aim to own their own brick and mortar restaurant in Traverse City in three to four years.

Jon Petrie (nmc.edu/culinary) in 2017, and earned his associate degree in business (nmc.edu/business) in 2018. Brother Nick is a current student. (hat) graduated from the Great Lakes Culinary Institute