Ken McCallum, Owner
Owner: Ken McCallum
Ken’s original inspiration was just to make pasta that had flavor without having to drown it in a sauce. After some success and feeding it to his family for a while, he started to think about opening a restaurant and calling it “The Pasta Bowl”. After research, taking some entrepreneurship classes at Muskegon Community College (MCC) and guidance from those surrounding him in that program, he adjusted his thinking about opening a restaurant, which is a tremendous amount of work and capital, and launched Fresco Mercato in April 2015.
Once the decision was made, there are many tasks to be accomplished: a 
business plan, logo, licensing, figuring out your production process, product testing, finding the right production facility (and initially it is all about cost), packaging, making the flavor creations into a workable dough for good tasting pasta, it could get overwhelming. Ken said that he kept telling himself, “One thing at a time, you don’t have to do it all at once.” He relied on input from the staff and peers at Muskegon Community College a lot and continues to stay in contact with them today. “The MCC program is the perfect fostering agent for small business startups and I can’t imagine having to do everything that needed to be accomplished without their help and encouragement,” he added.
Other very helpful resources included The Starting Block, an incubator kitchen located in Hart, Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (MDARD), books on business start-ups, and networking with peers and experienced entrepreneurs.
Ken started Fresco Mercato under Cottage Food Law and soon moved his 
production to the Starting Block Incubator Kitchen in Hart, MI. He was also working full-time so driving to Hart when he needed to sometimes presented problems as he needed to schedule a full-day with travel and production time. In April 2016 Ken moved his operation to Kitchen 242, a new incubator kitchen located at the Muskegon Farmers Market, much closer to home. Kitchen 242 made it possible for him to produce product much closer to home and he can now spend ½ day or a few hours more often and that alone has enabled him to generate a profit already in his second year of doing business.
When asked what advice he might give to others that just may have an idea to starting a food related business Ken offered the following: “starting your own business is not as daunting as it may seem. I had serious reservations about 
trying to do this while still holding a full-time job so I started working on it in my spare time and surrounded myself with like-minded people.” He added, “Don’t let go of your dream of starting your own business when there are places like Kitchen 242 right in our own community to help you be successful.”
Now Ken can focus on marketing and growing his business and is already wondering how long he will stay at Kitchen 242 as it won’t be long and he will be able to afford a place of his own.
Where can you find Fresco Mercato: Muskegon Farmers Market, Maggie’s Gourmet Foods & Gifts, Pic-N-Pac (Norton Shores), The Fish Monger’s Wife and online at https://squareup.com/store/fresco-mercato?t=merchant-fb
Look for the following flavors: 