Great Harvest Bread Co. brings fresh-baked goods and family story downtown

Giving back to the community was never a question for Ray Neatfeld. As a foster parent through Lutheran Social Services of Michigan and a long-time Lansing resident, pouring extra time into a cause that matters is second nature for him.

Before getting into the bakery business, Neatfeld spent 25 years working in affordable housing and helping refugees acclimate to life in the United States. He also raised 39 children from other countries.

Now, three of those former foster children are part of his family and his business.

“They didn’t have families here,” Neatfeld said. “So we’re the family.”

That family dynamic is part of what he hopes customers feel when they walk into Great Harvest.

Neatfeld owns the Great Harvest Bakery at 214 S Washington Square, which opened after he acquired the former Zoup! space, and it is a cafe-style expansion of the Great Harvest Bread Co. bakery he owns on Saginaw Highway. The location serves the bakery’s traditional bread and sweets, along with a broader menu of breakfast and lunch options.

The menu includes coffee, breakfast sandwiches, soups, salads, and other prepared foods, made from scratch with whole foods and fresh ingredients. 

“When you come in and get a breakfast sandwich, it might take a few minutes to make it,” Neatfeld said. “But we’re cracking the eggs, where everyone else is using a patty that was frozen.”

The business, he said, is meant to be a place where people are cared for, not simply served quickly and sent on their way.

The cafe also sells Great Harvest staples such as cookies, muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls and tea cakes. 

Nearly everything is made by hand.

“There’s no machines other than a slicer and a mixer,” Neatfeld said.

Many of the bread recipes are more than 40 years old, and Neatfeld said they intentionally maintain an old-fashioned approach. The result is food that aims to be closer to what customers might make at home, or what they might remember from their grandmother’s kitchen. 

That philosophy extends beyond baked goods.

Neatfeld said he tries to use organic and locally sourced ingredients when possible, without making the food unaffordable. The business buys some produce from local farmers and works with retailers that support Michigan producers.

He hopes the cafe encourages customers to think more about where their food comes from, whether that means visiting farmers markets, buying from local stores or simply paying closer attention to the ingredients in their meals.

And building the business with some of his foster children, Neatfield said, has brought them closer together.

Several of his former foster children came to the United States as teenagers and grew up in Lansing. They went through high school, worked alongside Neatfeld, and eventually became entrepreneurs themselves. 

“It’s so great to see them grow,” Neatfled said. “Both personally and with the business.”

And at the end of the day, Neatfeld hopes that the newest Great Harvest Bakery location helps people to slow down and appreciate the little things. “You have to take care of your neighbor,” he emphasized.