"In any startup scenario, there's a variety of circumstances relative to distribution, procurement, in-house, et cetera," Bacon said. "And those just didn't line up as quickly as we had hoped."

Throughout March, however, Bacon has been training and preparing the six staff.

For now, the company is focused on producing food for cafeterias at schools, hospitals and other facilities, but Bacon hopes to sell Ruth's products at grocery stores soon.

"We're still looking at it as, it's going to be a viable, long-term opportunity within the community, but right now, we are trying to make sure we establish a really clear, consistent, strong base," Bacon said.

The old Pizza Hut at 1211 Seventh Ave., which has sat empty since the restaurant closed in 2014, will serve as the company's production facility.

Bacon worked on the incubation phase of the company from a test kitchen in Superior.

The company's website, ruthsgourmet.com, lists four flavors of "meatless balls": hearty italian marinara, jalapeno mustard, smokey barbecue and savory.

Bacon told the News-Chronicle in April 2017 that he decided he wanted to be a vegetarian at age 8 based on the men in his family suffering from health problems related to a poor diet.

After his uncle's decision to try a vegetarian lifestyle, his grandmother began to experiment with vegetarian cooking and developing recipes. Over the years, the Bacon family began to hone a few versions of meatless recipes. Visitors to their home would often try an Italian or barbecue meatball and be astounded that there was no actual meat.

After deciding to take the plunge on a frozen vegetarian food venture, the family started testing recipes and production strategies that met food industry regulations and the high standards they wanted their products to achieve.

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