About Us

A Brief History of Cherry Republic

Cherry Republic was started 22 years ago with a t-shirt sold from the trunk of my car. A few years later, after selling thousands of those t-shirts, I started selling cherry products with that same t-shirt design on the label of bags of Dried Cherries and Cherry Boomchunka Cookies. We now sell over 174 different cherry products. We have three stores, a large catalog and internet business, and we sell our products to 450 other stores in the midwest. Our Company Headquarters are behind our campus in Glen Arbor. We also have the Grand Cafe, The Good Stomp House, a bakery and make our own ice cream in Glen Arbor. We have a bakery plant and a jam making plant just outside of Traverse City, where our Embassy store is. And our third store is in Charlevoix. This Holiday season, our staff will balloon up to 225 employees. We continue to grow even in these times when the economy in this state and country are being challenged. We feel very fortunate.

Of course, Cherry Republic has had our challenging times, as well. I remember those humble and inexperienced beginnings. Of creating a great tasting cookie that nobody would purchase. Of the year a late frost came and wiped out every cherry but a handful grown in the north. Of trying to get that first bank loan-- and the bankers looking at my business plan of selling just cherries-- and they kept shaking their head "no" meeting after meeting.

We take pride in our cherry niche today. We sell only cherries. It makes sense - our headquarters resides in the county that grows more cherries than any other county in the country. My 80 year old mother has another view of why I started a company that only sells cherries. It's on a t-shirt that she wears, on those days she works at Cherry Republic. It says, "The owner is a simpleton, selling more than one fruit would be too complicated for him." She is a pretty funny lady, and my customers think that I also share that third-rate trait.

Anyway, Cherry Republic was established to sell cherries. And to put them in every household in America. I have emphasized the health benefits of cherries and the importance of eating cherries so the farmers stay in business and don't sell their desirable property to developers looking to put houses on that nice view property overlooking lake Michigan. But the things I have found that make cherries sell is making the quality the best Cherry Republic can and then making them fun. We don't take ourselves too seriously. Want to come work for us? We take applications every day. Drop off your paperwork to our dungeon.

Cherry Republic Giving

Cherry Republic is proud of the following giving programs that we have established in the last decade. Over the years, Cherry Republic has given over $600,000 to good causes in northern Michigan. We are doing our best to preserve the environment and quality of life in the woods, farms and communities of the north. Our philanthropy reflects our core values of generosity and doing our part to make the world better.

One Percent Off The Top

Each year, we donate 1% of our sales and give it to causes that we believe will have a positive influence in our region. A few recipients are:

Plus One

When someone comes into one of our stores we charge them a refundable 1% tariff on their purchase. This tariff was enacted by the Cherry Republic legislature in 2002. The typical tariff amount on each purchase is 25 cents. This money is set aside and donated to agricultural programs in northern Michigan. Primary focus is on preserving our farmland forever and strengthening the new small farm economy in northern Michigan. Recipients in the past have included:

ISLAND Involvement

ISLAND is a non-profit arts and ecology center dedicated to connecting people with nature, art and community. As part of that work, ISLAND is developing a slate of programs designed to double the value and increase the resilience of local agriculture by 2019. Cherry Republic's support has been essential in making that happen. Here are some specifics on three programs Cherry Republic has supported:

The CRAFT Program (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) offers farm interns and beginning farmers a chance to tour area farms, learn a wide variety of management styles and farming techniques, and build the relationships that will support them as they embark on a farming career.

The Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference -- ISLAND is a planning partner for this annual conference held in Grayling. We are specifically responsible for the new Homesteading Track designed to teach new skills to backyard growers and micro-farmers.

Skill Swaps - ISLAND hosts a series of skill building workshops for farmers, homesteaders and other folks throughout the year, with topics like cheese making, permaculture, green building, beekeeping and hand tool use.

Together, these programs represent a widespread effort to restore our rural communities. We're not just protecting farmland; we're connecting our community to the skills and culture of sustainable agriculture. We're proud of Cherry Republic's vision - you see the big picture of agricultural preservation, and we're grateful for your support!

Our Core Values

Generosity

From the moment people leave their cars and walk toward our store or begin surfing our website, we want people to feel our generosity. With the abundant gardens, the overflowing sample bowls, the free gift cards and gift boxes we want you to feel how important it is to us to give to our customers without hesitation. It is our nature. We want our staff to be generous with their smiles and time with the customer. We want our cookies to be generously sized. And on the web, we want you to be able to read about it and feel it with programs like Cherry Cheer that are geared for our website. We have found at its most basic that if we are generous, our customers will reciprocate in kind.

Touch every customer

Lift the spirits of each person who walks in our door with our joyful products, with our smiles and good conversation, with our generosity, with the meaningful business we've created and with our positive success story. It is our goal to make our customers have a better day just by taking the time to visit us.

Fun with Cherries

If it isn't fun, why do it? Our goal is to make ourselves and our customers laugh. From the dozens of signs around the stores and grounds, to the jesting we do in our catalog, to the humorous 80 year old store clerk in the store on weekend, we hope to give you a chuckle each time you visit.

Cherries are the greatest of all the fruits

Cherries are really truly gems of flavor and joy. There is nothing like biting into a slice of warm fresh pie, where the cherry is sour and the jell the cherry is floating in is sweet. A cherry can go sweet, sour, savory or spicy. And it goes with so many other flavors - chocolate, almonds, oats, tomatoes, vanilla... There was a longtime food consultant that believed that cherries were actually a terrific and healthier flavor enhancer. Certainly, we believe this to be true. Eat anything with cherries and our little ruby red gems will make it taste even better.

Our uniqueness is our strength

Cherry Republic doesn't use consultants. We don't look for ideas elsewhere. We don't want to be the next Starbucks, Ocean Spray, Dominoes or LL Bean. We want to express ourselves in our own creative and authentic way.

We are of the north

We try our best to exemplify the essence of northern Michigan in our products, storefronts, writings and branding. A little piece of the woods, farms, lakes and communities are in each product that we sell. We are proud to live, work and play in our favorite spot in all the world.

About Cherry Republic