The little building that keeps launching big restaurant dreams in Battle Creek

Editor’s Note: This story is part of Momentum: The people and companies shaping what’s next, a weekly series that explores new ventures, founder support, and the resources powering entrepreneurship and small businesses across seven counties in Southwest Michigan. This project is sponsored by Southwest Michigan First.

BATTLE CREEK, MI — Turnover at a brick building at 78 Calhoun Street is encouraged and expected.

In 2016, Peecoon Allen, owner of the former Umami Ramen restaurant, and her husband, Lance, purchased the 978-square-foot structure after she realized she needed a brick-and-mortar location to serve a customer base that had been growing steadily since she began selling her food at the city’s Farmer’s Market.

Umami Ramen would be the first of several startup restaurant businesses to use the building as a launching pad, which eventually landed them at their own larger brick-and-mortar locations in Battle Creek. The most recent being Mitts 2 Pits Catering, which opened in the Calhoun Street building in September 2024 and moved in June to a standalone location at 215 Michigan Avenue, which offers sit-down, take-out, and catering options

78 Calhoun Street’s newest tenant is Church Bros BBQ by Raven, which set up shop earlier this month.

Prior to it standing vacant in the early 2000s, the 78-year-old building housed various eateries through the years, its last being Battle Creek Burger, which eventually ended up at 1876 W. Michigan Ave., says John Hart, Small Business Development (SBD) Director for the City of Battle Creek.

Longtime residents, he says, fondly remember it as BC Burger, which became a neighborhood hotspot and amassed a customer following from the neighborhood and the downtown area.

The bones were there and waiting for someone to flesh it out.

“Fast-forward to 2015-16, eventually I run into Peecoon who was working out of Sprout and coming down to the Farmer’s Market where she had enormous lines and a lot of people flocking to her stand,” Hart says. “She told me Sprout was too far to go to when she needed to replenish the food she was selling at the Farmer’s Market.”

Allen was made aware of the 78 Calhoun Street property by Hart, who ran an art gallery in the neighborhood in the late 1990’s with his wife.

“I told Peecoon that the building was in a strong neighborhood district off the beaten path and was very quaint and small, but had everything she would need to get started, and was pretty much move-in ready,” Hart says.

Allen’s decision to locate her restaurant in this part of the city raised some eyebrows.

Looking back, she says, “I think it surprised other people. We were very successful at the Farmer’s Market with lines every week, and we sold out of pretty much everything. This building was on the north end of town, and people didn’t want to cross into that side of town. I had customers and friends that didn’t want to cross into that side of town. They remember the days when it was not such a great area.”

Undeterred by the naysayers, Allen did her own reconnaissance, which included sitting in her car on Calhoun Street near the building to see what traffic and the neighborhood activity was like.

She says she “loved” the building right away, but knew she had to do some due diligence and convince her husband. The couple had relocated from Palm Springs, Calif., to Battle Creek in 2009 after Lance Allen accepted a position as Vice President of Table Games with Firekeepers Casino in Emmett Township.

“It took me a month to think it through. I had to convince Lance about the opportunity for me to have a business. Entrepreneurship was not something he grew up with,” Allen says. “One thing to consider was, do we want to stay here permanently? I remember thinking I couldn’t let it go and I have to do this. Every day at the Farmer’s Market I was packing up my car at Sprout and selling what I made. I was on for two years at the Farmer’s Market before I bought this building.”

She says she bought the building because she didn’t want to lease.

Four years after opening Umami Ramen on Calhoun Street, Allen says, “We were bursting at the seams.”

In March, 2021, Umami Ramen opened at 215 Michigan Avenue. The building, now being leased by Mitts 2 Pits, was purchased by the Allens, who permanently closed their restaurant in 2025.

In a Facebook post, Allen said, “We’re stepping into semi-retirement to focus on life beyond the kitchen for more time with each other, family, travel, and making health our top priority.”

Leaving it better than they found it

Hart says every occupant of 78 Calhoun Street has made improvements to the building during their time there.

The Allens put in a new parking lot with financial assistance from the SBD and the Battle Creek Community Foundation (BCCF), Hart says. In addition, there were grant funds from Battle Creek Unlimited (BCU).

“(Peecoon) took it as far as she could go, adding air conditioning and sprucing things up, and Color the Creek put murals on the building,” he says.

The SBD has been able to offer every new tenant of the building between $5,000 and $10,000 to make necessary upgrades to support their business venture. These improvements, which also have been funded by the tenants, have included things like new equipment or ventilation systems.

“The money from the SBD is for something that improves the infrastructure and lowers the barrier for entry,” Hart says. “Every time these things have been done, it’s made it better and better and better for every tenant. Each tenant has made upgrades.”

Many, like Peecoon Allen, got their start at an Incubator Kitchen at Sprout, which allowed them to prepare and test out the food products that would be the foundation for their startup businesses.

This was the case for Deja Wilson, owner of the former Soul Good LLC, who moved her operations into 78 Calhoun Street in Fall, 2021. She was the Allen’s first tenant.

After Soul Good moved out, Ciao Bella Chocolat moved in in November, 2022. Two years later, Ciao Bella moved into a larger space at 295 East Emmett Street.

Mitts 2 Pits came next, followed by the current tenant, Church Bros BBQ by Raven.

Allen says Hart is her connection to potential tenants for her building.

“People will come to him and say they’re looking for a space,” she says. “I only do a one-year lease versus three or five because you’ll find out within a year if you’re in it to win it. I didn’t want anyone to have the stress of being in a five-year lease.”

Hart says he also learns of potential tenants through the SBD’s collaboration with Northern Initiatives, meeting with graduates of their business cohorts and individuals who have been financed through them.

“The unique thing about that space is that it’s not oversized. It’s a great little testing restaurant. It’s small enough, the rent is cheap, and the overhead is inexpensive.” Hart says. “It’s more of a production space to make food and get it out the door. That’s the nature of small restaurateurs. It’s a two-person operation. When you hire more people, you increase the overhead. If you keep the operation small, it becomes a great pickup space.”

Although Allen’s initial plans when she bought the building didn’t include what it would eventually become, she says she became aware that there was a need to have a place for startup food entrepreneurs to grow their dreams.

“Food businesses are easy to start because everyone has a recipe and an idea. I started with a table and a rice cooker,” Allen says. “It’s not easy with areas like taxes and regulations. These have to be learned.”

Hart says tenants at 78 Calhoun Street have the advantage of a “really good landlord who rents at below market rates and is a past food operator, who understands what their tenant is going through.”

“Peecoon and Lance have a sense for what’s happening in this ecosystem. It’s also in their mission to support entrepreneurs, and they also want to help people who have a proof of concept who might not otherwise be able to enter into this sector.”

Additional information about business opportunities in Battle Creek is available here.