Cranker’s Brewery

Cranker's Restaurant & Brewery occupies a former Harbor Stable building on South State Street in downtown Big Rapids, just off the Ferris State University campus, where owner Jim Crank first opened a Coney Island restaurant before adding a working brewery to the back of the building a few years later. The kitchen now runs a full American menu built around Coney dogs and brisket sandwiches. Breakfast plates like the Junkyard Omelet, piled with sausage and hash browns, keep the morning crowd coming too. The in-house brewery has grown into a serious operation, with beer now distributed well beyond Michigan. Regulars come back for the rotating tap list alongside the food, and the patio with string lights gives visitors a spot to linger on a summer evening. Families traveling through Big Rapids on their way to the lakes or a Ferris State game stop in for the mix of pub food and brewery atmosphere under one roof. A dedicated brewery entrance sits off the parking lot behind the restaurant, separate from the main dining room, so visitors headed straight for a flight of beer can skip the wait for a table. The space recently added golf simulators, giving visitors another reason to stay a while. Whether the draw is dinner or a flight of house beer, Cranker's anchors a night out in downtown Big Rapids.