FRUITPORT, Mich. — A new restaurant is coming to Muskegon County. Hooligan's Artisans Meats opened in Fruitport in 2021 as a meat market. Now, the business is expanding to include a restaurant.
"We have fresh sausages, brats. We've got lots of jerkies, beef sticks, summer sausages, all kinds of neat stuff. We always have samples out for people to try," said the owner, David Gawlik.
Hooligan's Artisan Meats located on Airline Road in Fruitport, will have a new look come January. Kitchen manager, Alec Ayala, said the business is expanding with an adjacent restaurant called Hooligans Tavern, attached to the meat market.
"On the other side over there, we make Polish sausage, bratwurst. It's a whole meat market, meat sticks, jerky, stuff like that. So the intention is to bring all of those products over to this side and showcase them in a restaurant environment," said Ayala.
The Fruitport meat market has been around since 2021. The new restaurant was supposed to open in October but due to COVID delaying construction, the opening date was postponed.
David Gawlik is the owner of both the meat market and the new restaurant—he said he wanted to bring authentic Polish cuisine to Muskegon County.
"We're gonna try to tap back into the Polish food, at least on a limited basis. When you walk in, you're going to smell that great aroma like walking into grandma's Polish kitchen. We'll be utilizing a lot of those products on this side here, and this will be like a little restaurant, bar Tavern," said Ayala.
Gawlik previously owned a restaurant in East Muskegon called Old World Pub, which also featured Polish Cuisine.
He's currently conducting interviews to hire employees and doing final touches before his grand opening in January. He said he can't wait to open his doors to the community.
"I'm real happy. I've got people coming from Grand Rapids, Hudsonville, Allendale, up north, so I'm tickled pink. Plus, I have a lot of return customers from my former business, so his is going to be good. It's going to be good food, good drinks, good atmosphere," said Gawlik.