This article has been updated to include an interview with the new owner, Jeff Lobdell
TRAVERSE CITY — When Jeff Pownall was ready to hand over the keys to Slabtown Burgers, one of Traverse City’s most beloved eateries, he didn’t look to a corporation or a franchise chain.
He called Jeff Lobdell, a Traverse City native whose family has been part of the community for more than 50 years.
“Our families kind of go way back together,” Lobdell said of the March 2026 acquisition. “It’s kind of one family buying it from another family.”
Lobdell, who graduated from Traverse City Senior High in 1984 and studied hospitality business at Michigan State University, has built a career acquiring successful family-owned restaurants in the Grand Rapids and Traverse City areas. But he bristles at the suggestion that a sale like this amounts to a corporate takeover.
“I get kind of thin-skinned about when people say, oh, it went corporate or some big corporation bought it,” he said. “I’m an independent small business person that’s very family-owned and operated.”
His parents moved the family to Traverse City in 1974 and still live in the area. Lobdell spends much of his summers there and said no other city has ever felt more like home. His parents and siblings have been deeply involved in civic causes throughout the region for decades.
The transition is already bringing changes for the restaurant’s staff. Employees will now be eligible for health insurance and 401(k) programs — benefits they had not previously received — after 90 days with the company. A benefits meeting with the team is scheduled in the coming days.
Lobdell has also begun plans to buy the adjacent property that formerly served as a hair salon to access the parking lot for Slabtown customers, as well as whoever fills the eventual lease.
Lobdell also said he hopes to expand hours to seven days a week. The restaurant currently operates five days a week, a schedule that suited the previous single-family ownership. “Our company can serve our community seven days a week and still make sure all the employees get two days off,” he said.
Customers will be able to use a rewards program that works across all of Lobdell’s locations, and existing gift cards will carry over.
Lobdell has been actively involved in industry advocacy through the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association and the National Restaurant Association, working on behalf of restaurant owners, patrons, and crew members.
Slabtown Burgers is located in a former house on West Front Street in the historic Slabtown district, a neighborhood named in the 19th century for the lumber mill workers who built homes from wood scraps known as slabs. Jeff Pownall established the eatery in 2009 after remodeling the building, which had previously housed three other restaurants that failed at the location. The restaurant earned national recognition when TripAdvisor ranked it the fifth best burger joint in the United States, and it remains known for its no-frills menu of hand-pattied burgers, fresh-cut fries, and milkshakes.