Glenn Beattie, 44, was back in his hometown yesterday for the opening of the state’s first Corner Bakery Café.
Beattie grew up on Major Potter Road, attended Cedar Hill School and Winman Junior High before graduating from Toll Gate. He went on to Providence College, but left the state and the halls of academia at the age of 21 and moved to Arizona.
It’s there that he entered the restaurant business. It was an introduction that brought him full circle to New England where he plans to open six Corner Bakeries in Rhode Island and an additional 16 in Connecticut in the next seven years.
But listening to Beattie on Monday – the first day of operation for the Warwick bakery, just off Route 2 at 21 Universal Boulevard – two people played significant roles in bringing him to where he is today; his father, Richard, and his wife, Tina.