Door County organic pasta maker wins $170,000 grant to build kitchen,

STURGEON BAY – A local healthy, sustainably made fresh pasta and sauce maker won a grant of almost $170,000 from a cooperative federal/state program to expand the varieties of its products and distribution.

Clario Farms, LLC, was awarded $169,813 in an Infrastructure Grant through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program for expansion of and improvements to its Clario Farmstead Pasta business, which operates out of its shop on North Third Avenue in downtown Sturgeon Bay.

Mario Miceli and Claire Thompson make organic, small batches of pastas from locally sourced, sustainably farmed ingredients, including whole vegetables, local eggs and ancient grains, for their Clario Farmstead Pasta business in Sturgeon Bay. The business recently received a nearly $170,000 grant to allow it to build its own kitchen on site and buy equipment to expand their offerings.

Perhaps the major improvement coming from the grant money is that the business can and will now build its long-desired kitchen in its shop and buy their own pasta maker and other food producing equipment, which will allow owners Claire Thompson and Mario Miceli to create more pasta and sauce varieties. Currently, they use the shared-use commercial kitchen at the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College campus in Sturgeon Bay, and Thompson said in a 2023 interview with the Advocate, at the time the shop opened, their goal was to have their kitchen on-site.

Thompson said with the new kitchen and equipment, she and Miceli will add raviolis and other stuffed pastas and stuffed products to their product line, with gnocchi varieties and more sauces coming in the future.

“(Building the kitchen and buying equipment) will allow us to expand the varieties of the products we serve,” Thompson said this week after receiving the grant. “Our biggest trouble was getting enough kitchen time to experiment.

“We’ve been wanting to put in a prep kitchen to make products on site for a long time. It’s been a longtime dream. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without the grant.”

Thompson said the grant funds also allow the business to expand distribution of its products through wholesalers and appear at more farmers markets, where Clario Farmstead Pasta began making a name for itself regionally before the shop opened in early 2023.

Clario Farmstead makes organic, small batches of pastas from locally sourced, sustainably farmed ingredients, including whole vegetables grown in their garden or by other area organic farms, local eggs and ancient grains. Thompson said the vegetables not only add extra fiber and health benefits but also give the pastas distinct, different flavor profiles, such as carrot and ginger beet, spinach and tomato, kale and black pepper, or butternut squash.

They also make marinaras and pesto, and the pastas are flash-frozen when fresh. The shop also carries specialty cheeses, organic and sustainably produced wines from around the world, and more.

The grants come through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The partnership awards Equipment Grants and Infrastructure Grants to projects across the state, which a press release from DATCP said is meant “to build resilience across the middle of the supply chain while strengthening local and regional food systems.” Funds come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

In this most recent grant cycle, 30 projects received a total of $23.2 million through the Infrastructure Grants and 41 projects won $3.1 million in Equipment Grants. The Clario Farms project is one of four to win a grant in Northeast Wisconsin and the only one of those outside Brown County.

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“These Infrastructure Projects being funded through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program will build strength and resilience in Wisconsin’s food system, diversify agricultural markets, create new revenue streams for small and mid-sized producers, and provide economic opportunities for local communities,” USDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt said in the press release.

For more information on the grant program, visit datcp.wi.gov/pages/agdevelopment/rfsi.aspx. For more on Clario Farmstead Pasta, call 920-495-870 or visit clariofarms.com or the “Clario Farms LLC” Facebook page.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Sturgeon Bay organic pasta maker wins $170,000 grant to help it expand

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