Glasses and voices were raised one last time on February 6 at The Original Cottage Inn, as the U-M Men’s Glee Club bid a melodic farewell to their longtime gathering spot.
“It was all impromptu,” says Jim Michos, one of three brothers behind the venerable Italian restaurant on E. William. “That was just a last-minute ‘Hey, you guys want to stop by?’ Well, one thing leads to the other, and then there’s crying and people emotional, and my employees … even my neighbor restaurants were very upset.”
The next day, the Ann Arbor institution closed and announced its sale, ending a three-quarter-century run as a pizza pioneer and full-service destination for scratch-made pasta dishes, salads, and more. The vintage three-level building was sold for more than $3 million to Coratti’s Pizzeria Bar and Bocce, another family-run operation, with restaurants in Howell, Milford, and, soon, East Lansing and Ann Arbor. They aim to renovate and reopen in time for U-M’s spring commencement.
Michos says the new owners are “similar to us” and plan to retain their staff. “I’ve had a lot of employees over twenty-seven years,” he says. “The loyalty they’ve given it, it’s like, I feel bad. I just wanted to take care of them, so that was kind of my priority there … to find a good fit for them as well as the restaurant itself.”
The campus transition doesn’t affect the growing chain of Cottage Inn Pizza shops that began with Michos’s late father, Nick, who purchased the original business with a partner in 1960. The brothers retain the W. Stadium location managed by George Michos.
Along with laying the foundation for their growth and success, Jim Michos says his father’s civic-mindedness helped set Cottage Inn apart from more corporate-driven businesses: “I always wanted to run it like he showed me how to run it basically, giving back to the community, feeding the needy on Thanksgiving. That’s a big deal for us. He ran it with his heart.”
In the wake of pandemic-era challenges, Michos began hosting comedy shows in the basement lounge, a development he found “phenomenal. Two years of sold-out shows, national comedians. I was on my high horse. I guess the best satisfaction was just watching seventy-some people laughing. I mean, you can’t recreate that feeling.” He plans to help the new owners keep that program running.
In 2021 he also took in Iorio Gelato, which was struggling to sustain its standalone shop just down the block. Owner Nick Lemmer says he’s nothing but grateful to the Michos family “for even allowing this crazy idea to happen.” While he’s open to partnering within another Ann Arbor location, nothing is on the horizon. Iorio, with a production facility in Manchester, is focused on wholesaling and its retail presence at Horrocks Farm Markets in Lansing and Battle Creek and Horrocks Market in Kentwood.
Michos is eager to spend more time with family and on his real estate interests, but says, “I’m gonna miss the restaurant business regardless. I love cooking. I love hustling. I love going to caterings. I like feeding all these teams. And I love taking care of people, wowwing people.
“Just like Seinfeld kind of left at the top, we’re at a great spot in our life. We were busy. We have great reviews. And you gotta pick a point in your life you want to retire.”