“I’ve worked all over I had recently been in Norfolk, Virginia, and Pittsburgh, and it’s really tough as a small business owner to find a commissary.
I came back to teach at the Culinary Institute of Muskegon,” says Damon Covington, the owner of Grace55, a soul food operation that includes a catering business and food truck. “I grew up here and moved away I’m a Catholic Central guy who joined the Navy. Plus, it’s located less than half a mile from Baker College’s Culinary Institute of Muskegon, which operates the student-run Courses Restaurant and which several of the chefs at Kitchen 242 have relationships, as pupils and teachers. Kitchen 242 is located at the Muskegon Farmers Market in the city's downtown.ĭrawing business owners from throughout the city and the region (outside of Muskegon, the nearest incubator kitchens are not incredibly close, with one in Grand Rapids and another in Hart), Kitchen 242 is quickly becoming an innovative cornerstone of the area’s growing food landscape- a place of new food trucks and recently debuted restaurants, of scientists-turned-chefs dedicated to teaching healthy cooking classes, of cuisines that focus heavily on local ingredients and range from pizza and pho to soul food and seafood. That it allows people to pursue their dreams is a sentiment echoed among all of the chefs and entrepreneurs at Kitchen 242 whom we spoke with for this article, and the venue itself seems to mirror a narrative that’s playing out in Muskegon: one of innovation and growth, of creativity and support for people from all walks of life. Restaurants would be jealous of this kitchen.” “It allows people to pursue their dreams. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the Kitchen ,” Randell says of her success over the past year. Particularly for those just starting a food business, equipment and space can be prohibitively expensive at Kitchen 242, hourly rates to regularly rent the space range from about $12 to $15. In addition to Bodhi Tree Juice Co, there are currently four other businesses operating in Kitchen 242 - a space that’s meant to provide culinary courses and educational space for the community at large ( Pioneer Resources and Goodwill Industries of West Michigan, for example, use it for classes and training) and offer area entrepreneurs affordable access to cooking equipment and a physical venue in which to operate. Randell’s experience is one of a growing number of success stories at Kitchen 242, which launched in July 2015 following about a year of planning by the Muskegon Farmers Market, the City of Muskegon, the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, and the nonprofit Pioneer Resources. Renée Randell, owner of Bodhi Tree Juice Co and Bodhi Tree Market, at Kitchen 242. And in two weeks, we start a home delivery service.” Now, we have seven employees, nine including me and my husband. We sold at one farmers market, the Sweetwater Farmers Market. The two also own Bodhi Tree Market, a company specializing in fair trade goods that operates one of the Western Market chalets in downtown Muskegon. “When we started at Kitchen 242 in October 2016, it was just my husband and I,” says Randell, who co-owns Bodhi Tree Juice Co, which uses ingredients from local farms to make cold-pressed, organic, and raw juices, with her husband, John Randell. But, just one year ago, life was a significantly different picture. A kitchen filled with employees, the hum of the juicers, and the preparations being made for the busy days ahead at farmers markets in Muskegon, Sweetwater, Grand Haven, Fulton Street in Grand Rapids, and Holland have become commonplace. These days, Friday’s buzz of activity is routine for Randell. Hair tucked into the net ubiquitous among food workers, she quickly makes her way through a sea of stainless steel kitchen equipment and surveys Friday’s scene at Kitchen 242, the incubator and educational kitchen located at the Muskegon Farmers Market: a flurry of similarly hair-netted workers are gliding around bins overflowing with everything from pineapples and oranges to beets and apples, creating gallons of Bodhi Tree Juice Co’s brightly colored drinks that will soon be en route to farmers markets throughout West Michigan.
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