08/26/2022
I (Michael) started my first business with $20.00 in my pocket. I put in hour after hour of hard work against ALL odds and along my path I have taken care of others and helped them hold their heads high, pushed them far in their goals and I will continue to do without asking a thing in return as my wife and I have done for 20 years in business. It pains me to say this, but I feel it's time for our family to move on from Hartford City, Indiana. Please allow us to explain:
I think back at all those who have helped us succeed and grow and all we ever have tried to do at Sullivine Bed & Breakfast is give this little town something fun to do and a stunning place to hang out and rest your head for a night or two if needed for a cost that was well beyond reasonable for the last 3 years.
We've woke up early, hit the local markets (and markets everywhere), sold our Sullivine made products worldwide, sat on the boards of both the chamber of commerce and the arts board to help grow this community and pride ourself on making every single one of our products by hand either by own or self-maintained gardens or seeking local help to help maintain when I couldn't. (I was bed ridden for almost 9 weeks this year from an accident!!)
No, we didn't force our businesses down your throats or use our beautiful children to promote our business nonstop, talk crap behind others backs or used anything but our HARD WORK to show you what we have to offer.. So, you may not have seen everything we had to offer on a casual glance, but a quick scroll through our history would prove any nay-sayer wrong.
All this said. This place, Sullivine, was a proving grounds for us. We wanted to take everything we've learned over the years and stick it into one place that needed it. We answered YOUR call for some place affordable and fun and spent more money than we have ever spent on anything to do so. That was okay for us, money isn't everything and we didn't have ANY growing up, so sharing our successes and helping others grow, was just another day for us.
This was our pay it forward moment and it's become very clear these last few months that it has been the intention of several businesses in Hartford City and many of its citizens to push us out of here. Misjudgments, assumptions and gossips flying freely as we were warned by many would happen. There is a huge anti-chamber of commerce group with local affiliated businesses and we could name names, show you proof and even share a few horror stories about some of the locals that would curl your toes but honestly it's below us. We can't stand folks who act like that and we won't participate in acts of hate that flow so freely in parts of this community.
We know when we are not welcome 🙂 😏.
We are going to sell this place as a business with hopes that someone you more appreciate will come along and give the city what they want out of this place. We will be taking our business name with us and dropping the "Bed & Breakfast". So if you want to stick by our side, stick to the page. We built our entire life on hard work, honesty and dedication and it won't be stopping anytime soon. 💪
We love it here, we will miss it (mostly), and we will move on to somewhere else that better fits our beliefs, attitudes and our hard working ethics that have brought us to where we are at now.
Now, don't get it wrong. There have been SOOO many wonderful moments here with thousands of you!! We could have never believed in a MILLION years we would ever be able to host (and park!) sometimes over 100 at a time on our grounds but we did it!
We made some kick ass memories and moments, hosted your reunions, parties and birthdays, and even were there in your times of grief or while celebrating in honor of a lost loved one.
It was amazing. Truly, from the bottom of our hearts, for those who gave us a chance, came out to visit/party and get to know us, THANK YOU!!!
I will always remember the times we've had together here. We were up late reminiscing, looking at the photos of everything we've done here and came up with the hard truth which is simple: We can't keep going at this rate. Even at a lowered price, without the community we are pointless outside of a bed and breakfast and to be perfectly honest having strangers sleeping here is pretty damn uncomfortable for us. We have some stories to tell there!! Haha!
We hope you will all understand. It's time for us to move along and settle down, travel and enjoy life without a 15hr work schedule. That won't stop us from continuing on with our food journey, freeze dried offerings, hot sauces, seasonings and sweet treats we've started to offer. We've been looking at a MUCH bigger farm.
www.letmycookingtalk.com will grow and feature our food, recipes and travel wherever we go next.
Until then, stay classy Hartford City.
Michael, Chandra, Dalton, Thomas, and Elanor Sullivan. (Mama Bev too of course! ❤️)
