BIRMINGHAM — Toast Restaurant Group owner, Thom Bloom, has been named 2013 Business Person of the Year by the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce.
Bloom and his wife Regan opened the first Toast restaurant, featuring breakfast and lunch fare, in Ferndale in 2001. The second restaurant followed in 2008, in Birmingham, at 203 Pierce Street, with added dinner and bar service.
In the five years since opening in Birmingham, Bloom has put a strong emphasis on building “a neighborhood joint” that works hard to be a part of and give back to the community and creating new ways to bring in clientele. This past spring when construction on Pierce Street threatened business, Bloom worked with Detroit’s top graffiti artists to transform the construction barriers in front of the restaurant into works of art. The finished products from the “Art Garden” were then auctioned off with the proceeds going to the Birmingham Education Foundation to benefit Birmingham School’s art and music programs.
“Thom Bloom is a true community leader,” said Laura T. Couger, executive director of the foundation. “He is incredibly creative, open minded and generous. What he did with the Art Garden was just remarkable.”
Prior to opening Toast, Bloom attended Michigan State University and Western Michigan University.
For more information, visit eatattoast.com
