Popular breakfast carry-out Iggy’s Eggies is branching off from its downtown Detroit walk up window.
Owner Eli Boyer has plans to open a new outpost at 611 E. Liberty St. in Ann Arbor by the end of the year.
Iggy’s Eggies’ second incarnate will occupy the former Salads Up, a build-your-own salad bar three doors down from the Michigan Theater in the college town’s art district. The restaurant will feature a 1,200 square-foot contemporary dining room with eight to 10 counter style seats near the University of Michigan campus.
“We think we’ll love it. We really think it caters to university life really well,” Boyer told What Now Detroit. “It’s a very affordable meal, super fast, great online ordering platform. Just a really convenient, hot and customizable breakfast.”
Iggy’s Eggies originally opened in March 2018 as a fast-casual lunch and dinner restaurant called Lover’s Only. The downtown Detroit location at 34 W. Grand River Ave. had a grab-and-go window that wasn’t being used.
About nine months into the Lover’ Only venture, Boyer and company started serving customized breakfast sandwiches, burritos out of the side window each morning to stabilize the main restaurant.
The idea paid immediate dividends, according to Boyer. By the time the pandemic began, he and his team were rebranding the entire space as Iggy’s Eggies.
Eventually, they shrunk the whole business down to the walk-up window and added some of the lunch items from Lover’s Only’s offerings to the menu.
In 2020, the owners stopped using the Lover’s Only dining room altogether and began leasing it to a Hamtramck custom furniture store called Woodward Throwbacks that currently operates out of the space.
“That was kind of like our pivot. The walk-up window really gave us a chance to reorganize and re-start a little bit. It was the best thing to ever happen for that business,” Boyer said. “It was born out of a desire to do more. It wasn’t the original plan. It wasn’t even an idea we had pre-opening, but it eventually became the main thing. So it’s interesting how that happens.”
Boyer said he spent more than two years scouting sites for a second Iggy’ Eggies location. In addition to the college students from across the nation who attend UM, Ann Arbor boasts a robust startup tech scene and has a high-traffic diverse community of young professionals year round.
Boyer hopes the new location is the first step toward more growth for his brand. He envisions Iggy’s Eggies in other towns across the state like Farmington, west Winfield and Ferndale Oak, where he owns an award-winning neighborhood seafood restaurant and oyster bar called Voyager.
The restaurant is known for its signature “bread and butter” custom-built sandwich that’s served hot, fresh and fast. Most of the sandwiches have an affordable base price under $4.
Customers can select their own bun and the sandwiches come with jammy yolk eggs and Iggy’s sauce. From there, customers can select from sausage, bacon, vegan sausage, griddle turkey, avocado and marinated tomatoes.
The menu also features hearty breakfast burritos and ready-made sandwiches like the “Bodega,” a griddled, all-beef bologna sandwich served on an onion roll with egg, white cheddar and mustard.
“It’s food fore everybody,” Boyer said.
He and his team will expand the kitchen and add more cooking equipment like fryers, griddles, ovens and a new exhaust hood. They owners are coming up with design plans for the new location and hope to open sometime this winter.
“Growth comes with a lots of emotions. It’s a lot of discomfort, but also a lot of excitement and anticipation,” Boyer said.
