Master of the daily bread

The ink was barely dry on Michael Taylor’s diploma when he asked himself the proverbial question of every freshly minted college graduate.

Now what?

With an undergraduate degree in industrial management from Georgia Tech, he had aspirations of climbing the Ivy League wall and getting a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.

Not so fast, his adviser told him.

“He said if I was looking at Harvard, more than likely I was not going to be accepted as an undergraduate,” Taylor said. “He recommended going out and doing something on my own for two or three years, maybe start my own business to separate myself from some of the other applicants.”

When he was a student at Tech, he had worked at an Atlanta seafood restaurant, waiting on tables and helping in the kitchen. He returned to his hometown of Macon, where he had graduated from Mount de Sales Academy, and opened a sandwich shop called Between the Bread.

You might say he earned a different kind of M.B.A.

Master of Bread Administration.

April is a red-letter month for Taylor, with some gold and silver tossed in there, too.

This week, he will turn 50 years old, so the AARP already has him on its radar.

“When I was 25 years old, 50 seemed so old,” he said, laughing.

In two weeks, Between the Bread will celebrate its 25th anniversary. Next year, its companion restaurant, Michael’s on Mulberry, will be 20.

Those may be not seem like antique numbers, especially in a city where Nu-Way Weiners turned 100 last year and is the second-oldest hot dog establishment in the country. And Fincher’s, which opened in 1935, is one of the most venerable barbecue restaurants in Georgia.

Folks have been going through the lines at S&S Cafeterias since 1936. Tucker’s BBQ was founded in 1947. H&H has been dishing out soul food since 1959. And the Rookery opened its doors in 1976, the year Jimmy Carter was elected as President. (There is even a hamburger named after him — with peanut butter, of course.)

But Michael has carved out his own tradition at the confluence of Mulberry and Second streets and Cotton Avenue. He has loyal patrons who have been with him since they took their first bite back in 1992.

There are some who claim the “Steak Supreme” might be the best Philly cheesesteak sandwich … south of Philly.

It was all meant to be, even it wasn’t in the original blueprints.

“In 1992, nobody in Macon was delivering food at lunch,” he said. “I thought it would be my niche if I could deliver to offices.”

He did his homework and set up shop in Riverside Plaza, a strategic location on Riverside Drive between downtown and north Macon. He offered sandwiches, salads, wings, chicken tenders and even calzone on his menu.

Although his intentions were to have carry-out and delivery only, he had extra space after configuring his kitchen. He placed six tables and some chairs in the front, and they mostly stayed filled. Often, customers would hover along the walls, waiting to pounce on an empty seat.

By the time his three-year lease was up, Harvard was off the table. After tracking 95 percent of his deliveries to downtown businesses and Geico, he set his sights on re-locating.

He moved into a vacant space in the 500 block of Mulberry, a stretch of buildings with a long, culinary history. His new location at 588 Mulberry originally was Bloodworth’s Cafe. In 1961, it was McCullough’s Cafe for the next 28 years, when it became Jeneane’s Cafe in 1989.

In 1995, Jeneane’s moved a half-block down the sidewalk to what was once Loh’s Cafe. (Loh’s began as the Crystal Cafe in 1892. It was owned by M.G. Putzel, and is believed to be the first electrically lighted building in the city.)

Today, the restaurant scene downtown is buzzing. There weren’t nearly as many options 25 years ago. Six years after Between the Bread became citified, former Macon restaurateur Tom Noelke opened the Downtown Grill in the alley behind Between the Bread. It moved into the building once occupied by Le Bistro (where Greg Allman proposed to Cher) and Leo’s restaurants.

“I wanted to be part of that, having another upscale restaurant to try to bring people downtown,” said Michael.

When the space from a former print shop next door became available, he was ready to pull the switch and double up. The building had its own unique story. In a former life, it was a stagecoach stop and hotel.

The restaurants are joined and work in tandem, with Between the Bread handling the lunch crowd and available for banquets and private events at night, when Michael’s plays host to the dinner crowd.

There’s 3,200 square feet between the two, which might be considered small. But it does have its advantages.

“We get a delivery truck with fresh products every morning because I don’t have the space to store them,” he said.

When Jeneane’s downtown location closed on July 1, Michael seized the opportunity to open his doors for breakfast. He inherited a regular crowd of “think tank” coffee drinkers who gather every morning to solve the problems of the world.

That same day in July, another local restaurant closed.

“Steak-Out was my main competition with delivery,” he said. “My guardian angel was looking out for me.”

Although he never got his master’s in business, he is master of his own business.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Master of the daily bread."