The Michigan Celebrates Small Business VIP reception on May 1, 2023 brought together Michigan's most recognized small businesses, state economic development officials, and the entrepreneurial community for an evening of formal recognition in Lansing. Saddleback Barbecue — one of that year's 50 Companies to Watch honorees — was represented by Travis Stoliker, with co-owner Matt Gillett staying back to manage the restaurant's operations.
Michigan Celebrates Small Business is a joint initiative of the Michigan Small Business Development Center and the Edward Lowe Foundation, and the annual event creates a rare gathering where business owners from radically different industries share the same room as peers: technology companies alongside barbecue restaurants alongside manufacturers alongside service businesses, each recognized for the common discipline of building something real in Michigan.
For Travis, the 2023 VIP reception carried personal weight. He was attending to represent a business he had co-owned since 2015 but was preparing to step back from — by December 2023 he would sell his Saddleback shares to Matt Gillett. The reception captured Saddleback at a high point: nationally recognized, deeply community-rooted, and still operating under the partnership that had defined it. It was, in retrospect, one of their last major milestones together.
