Food brings the community together at the ever-popular J. Brewer's | Frederik's
By Amy Rogers
BELMONT, Mich. - Food has brought people together for centuries. It’s over dinner that families catch up after a busy day and it’s around a delicious dessert that friends typically gather for a birthday celebration. There is an entire American holiday, Thanksgiving, dedicated to indulging in an abundant feast. What all of these occasions share in common, of course, is food, but also, perhaps more importantly, is that they all create a sense of community.
The tradition of dining together takes on many different forms, even at sporting events, and the J. Brewer’s | Frederik’s premium hospitality suite is the centerpiece around which the Grand Rapids community gathers each year during the week of the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give.
“People come here, they love the food, they love the atmosphere,” Cathy Cooper, Meijer LPGA Classic executive director, said ahead of the hospitality suite's opening for 2026. “It’s like a reunion for people in here. It’s a great social atmosphere, you can bring families here.”
At 7:45 a.m. Friday morning, Tom Ference was the first person waiting in line to access J. Brewer’s | Frederik’s, more than two hours before it would open to ticketed guests. Ference has visited the tournament and its hospitality suite for nearly half a dozen years as part of an annual golf trip with his two brothers and a friend, who were also waiting in line early Friday morning to make sure they’d be able to grab their favorite seating area that gives them a premium view overlooking the fourth hole at Blythefield Country Club.
“I don’t even go out on the golf course anymore, they’ve just got everything you need,” Ference said about the hospitality suite. “Meet some good people.”
The 50,000 square foot mega-structure features nearly a dozen local restaurant partners who wine and dine guests Friday through Sunday of the tournament week. Cooper, who brought the tournament to life in the Grand Rapids community, has been instrumental in overseeing the growth and ongoing evolution of the hospitality suite to continue to accommodate the growing demand from spectators. All three days of the ticketed suite sold out within the first hour in 2025, so the structure was expanded for 2026 to accommodate an additional 500 guests daily for a total of up to 3,000 people per day. Because Cooper says it’s a community event, she wants to make sure they’re able to include as many people and restaurants as possible.
“We don’t get caught in the same ‘ole, same ‘ole,” Cooper said about the continuing evolution and growth of J. Brewer’s | Frederik’s, which has a daily offering of nearly a dozen restaurant partners who provide food inside the tent. Some of the restaurants will be available all three days, while others will rotate in for a limited offering. Cooper has sampled foods from each partner and worked with them to curate their menus.
While J. Brewer’s | Frederik’s continues to grow, the price does not. Cooper says her team is dedicated to maintaining a reasonably priced option at $90 per person, which includes tournament admission as well as access to the all-you-can-eat and drink premium hospitality suite. That includes not only a variety of dining options, in which menus change throughout the three-day experience, but also a full bar, coffee shop, dessert station, and new for this year, the Scoop Shop, a nostalgic throwback for Meijer customers like Cooper who remembers as a child enjoying a scoop of ice cream while visiting her local store.
“We’re trying to recreate that experience this year within J. Brewer’s,” said Chef Brian C. Williams, the culinary brainchild behind not only the dessert offerings, but also the Frederik's experience within the suite. Frederik’s is Meijer’s premium brand which is named after the company’s founder Frederik Meijer and available within their stores. Williams says the menu at the dessert station, and within the Frederik’s space, feature pre-made products that can be found within Meijer stores, which his team enhances with three to four ingredients to show customers how they can simply replicate the same recipes at home.
“We try to tell the story of how customers can use our products,” Williams said about his team’s goal for the week. “It’s sort of a one plus two equals delicious kind of thing.”
The menu at Frederik’s will feature six to seven different menu options each day, with a focus this year around whimsical junk food, including an all-new Loaded Tater-Tot Nacho, but will also see the return of a fan-favorite, the Angus Smash Burger.
“Each day we’re going to ensure that they have a different experience each time they come through this building,” said the chef. “And so, what they saw last year, what they see every day, will be totally different.”
While the food is the centerpiece, like any great celebration, requires some great decor. And Cooper says the vibe is just as important in creating the experience within J. Brewer’s | Frederik’s as the food itself.
“Decor is really important to us, whatever we do build-wise,” Cooper said about the hospitality suite. “We don’t want to feel like they just walked into some place, but that it’s got some personality.”
The decor that Cooper and her team selected is transformative. From the first step inside the doors guests are welcomed by plentiful greenery and plants that soften the tent structure. Low lighting, which features string lights, and soft furniture seating scattered throughout, makes for a cozy, welcoming environment that will have guests immediately feeling as if they’ve been transported away from the golf course. But for those wanting to keep tabs on what is happening inside the ropes, or don’t want to sit on the patio overlooking the fourth fairway, there are multiple televisions lining the inside bar as well as three jumbo screens showing the golf coverage.
And as the community gathers together for good food and drink, they do so to benefit a good cause with proceeds from ticket and hospitality sales going towards providing resources to local food pantries. Through the tournament’s 12-year history, they’ve raised more than $13 million dollars to provide food to those in need through the Simply Give hunger relief program.
Food has long had a way of bringing people together, and this week at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, it’s food that will once more unite a community for not just a good time, but also a worthy cause.
“It’s a great spot to be,” Cooper said. “ It’s unlike anything you go to.”
