Jon and Judy Dostal were set to retire from their jobs in the transportation business 12 years ago when their son got a batty idea. JP, then 19 years old, wanted to start a pasta factory.

The family, including two nieces and an aunt, bought into the idea, and together they ran a small factory and retail shop in an Italian-American community in Michigan for 10 years. They made about 200 pounds of pasta a day and sold 90 percent of it in their small retail store.