tool name
closeLast summer I saw Bob Ricketts at the Tuesday State College farmers market sitting behind a table with a scale, a roll of butcher paper, piles of neatly coiled pasta — and a dream.
Photos for the CDT/ Anne Quinn Corr
Fast and Fresh Tomato Sauce Makes slightly less than one quart of sauce 3 tablespoons butter 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 small shallots, chopped One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Put butter, garlic and shallots in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Stir for one minute; cover pan and reduce heat to low. Cook until shallots are translucent. Drain excess juice from can of tomatoes; crush tomatoes in pan and increase heat to medium. Add salt, pepper and grated Parmesan cheese. Simmer for 20 minutes, serve and enjoy. Bob Ricketts said his love of research and development at Penn State turned into a business of selling fresh pasta at Fasta and Ravioli Co., which opened Oct. 7 in downtown State College.
The 25-year-old State College resident planned to launch a pasta business and sell artisan hand-crafted pasta in downtown State College.
Today that dream is realized and now, as he counts his way through 33,000 cheese ravioli that he is preparing for
an Altrusa International fundraiser, he may be thinking “be careful what you wish for.”
A 2007 graduate of Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management, Ricketts is putting his degree to work. His pasta shop, Fasta and Ravioli Co. opened Oct. 7 in downtown State College, tucked into the South Fraser Street shopping center in the space formerly occupied by Herwig’s. He has four employees.
His business plan was the result of a class assignment and his initial hands-on experience with creating various flavors and styles of pasta occurred in Pete Bordi’s Center for Food Innovation lab in the Mateer Building.
“I experimented with all sorts of variables, trying different flours and flavor combinations, and found that I really enjoyed the R and D,” he said. “The shop takes all that experimentation to the next level.”
Son of Bob and Donna Ricketts, of State College, the young man’s first job was at the Boalsburg Steak House when he was a freshman in high school. He has also worked at Weis, in the bakery department, where he learned all about mass production.
Running his own business, though, is a new level of responsibility. “I’m often here late at night, making sure that everything is clean and ready to go for the next day,” he said.
The shop produces about 50 pounds of pasta products a day. The cut pasta varieties include egg, wheat, roasted red pepper, jalapeno pepper and spinach and the filled ravioli, some handsomely striped in burgundy or green, vary from seasonal butternut squash and pumpkin to classics such as three cheese and spinach and cheese. Crab ravioli, filled with Maryland blue crab, is also offered occasionally.
Fasta and Ravioli Co. has an edgy, contemporary feel with an open laptop tuned into their Facebook wall so they can track responses from fans.
They also Tweet, letting customers know about what is going on in the shop and when they will be selling at the farmers markets. Currently, they are doing both State College markets on Tuesdays and Fridays in addition to the shop hours.
The huge success of their free pasta give away on opening day, when they gave away 229 pounds of pasta, can be attributed to just how fast the news can spread on Facebook and Twitter.
“I was happy to give all that pasta away to people rather than put the money into advertising,” said Ricketts with a grin. “I know that they will be back.”
Anne Quinn Corr teaches basic food preparation in the nutrition department at Penn State. She can be reached at 865-7431 or aqc@psu.edu. Her blog, “Eat Local!” is at CentreDaily.com.
•129 South Fraser Street, State College
•Phone: 238-1133
•Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
•Web site: www.fastaraviolico.com
In Print
@Nyx.CommentBody@