Bruce Harvey, the owner of Food Exchange and creator of the famed burger The Big Baby, has passed, his family tells 7 Action News. He was 58 years old.
Food Exchange was founded in 1999 on Harper just east of Van Dyke, and served up delicious, fresh, giant burgers for more than two decades.
In 2019, we featured Bruce and Food Exchange in our Soul of the City series.
The Big Baby is a one-pound burger, topped with three ounces of corned beef, three slices of cheese, lettuce, onion, ketchup, and mustard on an onion roll.
"It's a sammitch, not a sandwich, a sammitch," he said.
"There was no loans, no grants, no nothing. This is hard work. Every day open, never closed."
The restaurant is one of the only ones on the section of Harper Ave.
"From Gratiot to Van Dyke, I'm the only place open on the east side. I wanted the neighborhood to be able to eat a good burger," he said.
"The Big Baby burger is made from love. Can't no one copy that style," Bruce said in 2019.
"I love to see the smile on people's faces. I'm an old persons person, a young persons person, I just love to see the smile," he added.
"If a dream is work, that's what I'm living."
On Wednesday, a prayer vigil will be held honoring Bruce next to Food Exchange on the corner of Harper and Seneca.
