L’Chayim Delicatessen bagels arrive in Glen Arbor

By Jacob Wheeler

Sun editor

If you’ve spent any time at all in Beulah, on the east shore of Crystal Lake, you’ve probably enjoyed a bagel from L’Chayim (the Hebrew word for “to life”), the deli which has been a mainstay of Benzie County life for 30 years.

In 1992, a 32-year-old local named Jonathan Clark left his corporate job on the East Coast and came home to launch the business in a 300-square-foot spot on the village’s main street. L’Chayim later expanded to nearby Frankfort, and this summer expanded its business to Glen Arbor, where a deli opened on July 1 in the M-22-facing retail space of the building owned by the Martin Company.

This time, another ambitious young man will be the face of the operation. Marc Crossman, a 2019 Benzie Central graduate who studied for a couple years at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, recently became part owner of L’Chayim. He’ll manage the Glen Arbor store, which will receive freshly baked bagels, pastries and breads driven each morning from the Beulah headquarters in a small mail van wrapped with decorative pictures of bagels and sandwiches.

Crossman and another 21-year-old entrepreneur, Brandon Tinker, both began working for Clark in the summer of 2019. Impressed by their work ethic and business savvy, Clark brought them aboard as co-owners to help him expand and carry the load. Tinker now runs L’Chayim’s Frankfort location.

“Those two young guys came as a pair. They are hard-working, honest people,” said Clark. “They just showed a real interest above and beyond summer help. We had long conversations about them getting more involved. They really wanted to stay in northern Michigan, and I was so tired of watching our young talent leave this region.”

The trio first looked to Manistee to potentially expand there, but the space they found was too big and disconnected from downtown foot traffic, which has been L’Chayim asset in both Beulah and Frankfort. Then the Glen Arbor space previously rented by Edward Jones investors opened up in the Martin Company building. Clark, Crossman, and Tinker contacted John Martin and concluded it would be the perfect location.

“We saw it was right on the main street with lots of pedestrian traffic, we liked the size, and we definitely liked the landlord,” said Crossman. “Glen Arbor is a very walkable town, just like Beulah and Frankfort. So we signed the lease.”

Black-and-white tiles have replaced the carpeted floors, and three of the four walls have been painted white. The north-facing red wall might eventually feature art by local artists, as per tradition at the Beulah deli.

L’Chayim Glen Arbor will be open from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday-Saturday, and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sundays. The location may stay open until 4 p.m. during the month of July if it sells enough mid-afternoon bagels. Crossman has his fingers crossed to open any day, and he may still be on the lookout for more employees.

Now that the doors are open and the lights are on, stop by and try L’Chayim’s popular items including their breakfast bagels and lox, beef and veggie sandwiches, and combination bagel sandwiches. The menu items bear the names of the Holy Land and the Middle East: order the Mazel-tov, Mecca, Golda Meir, Jerusalem, Jericho, Sea of Galilee, or the Golan Heights. Food so good you just might shout “to life.”