Flying High: New Blue Bird Welcomes Guests, Irons Out Kinks

Skip Telgard is resting a little easier these days – literally.

It’s not that his work in the brand-new version of Leland’s beloved Blue Bird restaurant is done. Far from it. It will be a few more months, at least, before all of the loose ends are tied up and the space is to his liking.

But getting paying customers through the door a few weeks ago was a huge hurdle to clear, and Telgard is awash in relief to get to this point after a somewhat arduous buildout.

“This has been a long journey. So many things in the construction process went slow or got derailed for various reasons, and it was kind of a nonstop thing that was eating at me all the time. I wasn’t sleeping that well,” he tells The Ticker. “I have to say that as soon as we opened, that changed.”

Skip and his wife Lynn are the third-generation owners of “The Bird,” as its often known. It was founded in 1927 by Skip’s grandparents, Martin and Leone Telgard, and later run by his parents, Jim and Nancy Telgard. Skip and Lynn closed the restaurant after the 2022 season with plans to demolish the old structure and rebuild it on the same site.

These plans were driven in large part by a desire to modernize (and right-size) operations, but also to better embrace the Leland River, which previously ran largely unnoticed behind the restaurant. The new version faces the river, with big windows and a very large patio just feet from the water.

“It’s all about the river here,” Teglard says. “That was our whole mantra.”

Telgard has been overjoyed to speak with customers who have come in to support the Bird in its new chapter.

“I hear stories from everybody when they come in. I stop and talk to virtually all the tables, and there’s been so many familiar faces,” he says. “It's just been really exciting (because) it means so much to them. Of course it means a tremendous amount to me. The community support has been 1,000 percent.”

Building a new restaurant from scratch means a chance to build it exactly how you want it, and the Telgards took advantage. Aside from the river-facing orientation, the new restaurant is designed to operate far more efficiently than the old version, which had been continuously expanded, retrofitted and renovated over the decades.

“The kitchen is ergonomically much more logical than the old Bluebird kitchen. That kitchen grew over the years out of necessity, whereas we had a lot of chance for forethought in this kitchen,”Telgard says. “We designed it so that it makes more sense and we can operate it with fewer people.”

River-facing or not, the new location also has far more windows than the old, allowing ample natural light and a good look at the hustle and bustle of Main Street.

“I’m loving just seeing the town in action,” Telgard says. “It's a big, beautiful view.”

But getting settled into the new space also comes with learning curves and unexpected problems that need to be addressed.

“One main thing that we've run into…is the room is louder than we expected it to be. We have a lot of glass. And you get this much glass, you get a lot of reflective sound,” Telgard says. We're hearing from our customers, ‘Gosh, it's a little loud.’”

The Telgards are exploring methods to help dampen the sound, Skip says.

The new menu has a “core of Blue Bird staples” like whitefish, walleye and pizza, Telgard says. But new chef Phil Murray (who owned and operated Windows on Grand Traverse Bay for many years) plans to add several more upscale selections to the menu.

“Phil is...more of what I call a true chef, and he’s building around that,” Telgard says. “He’s going to continuously evolve.”