Owner, operator and head chef Rick Micheau has a history of managing businesses and cooking and baking for others.

Micheau developed his first business plan when he was just a teen. On his 18th birthday, he said, he filed paperwork for his first business — Micheau’s Morsels, a seasonal candy-making operation that just completed its 41st year.

Through Micheau’s Morsels, “I do dozens of cookies and all kinds of candies, handmade fudge … puppy chow… all kinds of things. And I’ve got quite the client list that have depended on me for years, so I just can’t give it up,” Micheau said, adding his candy business just had a record year, as its products are now sold at Grab & Go, 922 Ludington St. in Escanaba.

The second business he formed was a catering company that also still operates — S&R, which at one point stood for Shelli and Rick but now means Savory & Rich.

Grab & Go is under a red-and-white striped awning at the corner of 10th and Ludington streets. (Google photo)

Today, Savory & Rich Banquet Services may be hired for events small or large. They have supplied and served food at weddings, Chamber of Commerce events, business gatherings and graduation parties.

As for how he got into forming Grab & Go just a few years ago, the concept came from a model executed while Micheau and family ran a place in Flat Rock, Shellie’s Deli.

His parents had bought the deli on County Road 426 and appointed Micheau and his then-wife to manage the place. It was during that time that the recipes for many items now sold and Grab & Go were developed for Shellie’s Deli.

“That’s where we created our lasagna recipe and our pasties and banana cake and carrot cake and cinnamon rolls that were carried all over here,” Micheau said.

Shellie’s Deli had been very popular and had long hours, as they served mill workers. It was later sold and is no longer in business.

After a few years at the deli, Micheau went back to college. He ended up with degrees in accounting, computer networking and business administration. While many other business owners find themselves overwhelmed by administrative and accounting duties, Micheau has no trouble performing them — though they can be very time-consuming, especially during tax season, he said.

Micheau was working full-time as an assistant manager at Walmart and had moved to Escanaba from Gladstone when he saw the “for sale” sign in the window of the building at the northeast corner of Ludington and 10th streets.

Immediately he could tell it would be great for the type of business he wanted to expand. His catering business already had a following; he had great recipes, including award-winning white chicken chili. He missed being able to sell fresh, tasty things to people on the spot, as he had done at Shellie’s Deli.

“This dream here of this quick-service deli was a lot to do with our old deli in Flat Rock. We loved what we did,” he said.

It was spring 2021 that he saw the sign in the window of 922 Ludington St., which had previously housed ice cream parlor Happy Days, run by Chuck and Lila Dubord. After their time in the building, another hopeful business owner had aimed to open a Thai restaurant there, but it never panned out.

Micheau closed on the building — which also includes four apartments — on Oct. 13, 2021. He was able to make the down payment thanks to a grant that had been awarded to small businesses struggling to survive during and after the pandemic — his catering business, Savory & Rich, had taken a major hit.

One source of frustration that came before opening the Grab & Go, Micheau said, was that while he was hoping to open immediately, it took weeks for Public Health Delta and Menominee Counties to find time to inspect the place. Once they did, Grab & Go debuted on Nov. 22, 2021.

The new eatery’s slogan is “food fast, not fast food.” Micheau strives to provide wholesome items.

For nearly the past 20 years, Micheau himself has kept to a high-protein, low-carb diet. Though it’s not the prime focus — people can get sandwiches on regular bread, and the same pasties that had been made famous at Shellie’s — Grab & Go also offers a number of keto-friendly and gluten-free options for people with dietary restrictions or who just want to be more mindful of what they’re eating.

In addition to serving meals pretty much on the spot to people who pop in or call in their office’s orders a half-hour ahead of time, Grab & Go also serves as a face for the catering service that never had its own brick-and-mortar facility before.

Lasagnas are especially popular, and they’re available in multiple sizes to serve various parties.

The interior of 922 Ludington St. looks a bit different from when Micheau first bought the place. The walls, which had been bright pink, are now dark gray. More partial walls were built to separate the kitchen area from the front.

During a past Restaurant Week, a promotion organized in Escanaba by the Downtown Development Authority, Grab & Go introduced breakfast for the first time. Breakfasts have now become a staple of their menu and are available any time. One option is a sandwich on a chaffle — a waffle made of primarily eggs and cheese.

Presently, Grab & Go is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but the Saturdays might be ending.

The busiest days are Mondays and Tuesdays, Micheau reported, noting some people stop in early in the week to pick up quarts of soup that last them several days.

Early on, Grab & Go had offered specials on different days of the week, but after tracking what the best-liked dishes were, Micheau kept the most popular, and now the same items are provided every day.

People may stop in to Grab & Go between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays and have a seat at one of the tables or scan a takeout menu. Grab & Go may be contacted at 906-241-8309 for preorders or questions.

R. R. Branstrom can be reached at 906-786-2021, ext. 140, or rbranstrom@dailypress.net.