Matt Morgan surprised Morgan & York customers April 27 with his email announcement that after fifteen years, the “time has come for me to make a change, and I’m pursuing another opportunity here in Ann Arbor.” Tommy York, co-founder of the deli and cheese and wine shop (which has also been gradually rearranging itself as a cafe) will now be M&Y’s sole proprietor.
Morgan didn’t want to talk about it, but York returned a phone call. “It was an amicable split. He’s going to remain a partner in the property,” which they both own, as well as the space next door, now Anthony’s Gourmet Pizza (see above).
It will continue to be called Morgan & York “as long as he’s OK with it. Matt did a ton of work, and it would be dishonorable to change the name. We worked together here for fifteen years” and before that labored alongside each other for five years at Zingerman’s. York jokes that if he did rename it, he might call it Tommy & York, to keep the cadence. He says Morgan is now working as a computer programmer–“he wrote our point-of-service software, you know.”
As for the construction area roped off at the back of the store, it will eventually be an indoor/outdoor wine bar. “Like Bill’s Beer Garden at Downtown Home & Garden–this will be something like ‘Tommy’s Wine Garden.’ I get ten requests a day from people who want to sample some wine with their cheese.” York began building it only to find out there were no Class C liquor licenses available in the county, and after he pretties up the divide a little bit, the project will be on hiatus. “Maybe,” he said, “if there are any Class Cs out there no one is using, this [article] will shake ’em out of the woodwork!”
