Allouez entrepreneur makes Mak’s-imally fresh salsa, meal prep

Matthew Day

Staff

June 15, 2026

ALLOUEZ – Makenzie Amezquita – aka Mak – said cooking has always been more than a hobby.

In the last year, Amezquita said her passion has fueled the launch of two Green Bay-based ventures – Mak’s Salsa and Mak’s On The Go. 

From salsa for snacking, to more substantial meals and catering, Amezquita said she has lovingly attacked these sectors, inspired by her lifelong interest in culinary arts. 

“[These ventures] really started with my love of cooking,” she said, “and then I was trying to branch out and learn new things with cooking.” 

Amezquita said she has continued to expand business-wise, with Mak’s Salsa now available at Green Bay’s Farmers’ Market on Broadway (on Wednesdays), the Market After the Market (on Saturdays at State Street Pub) and at Casual’s Soccer Pub. 

Meanwhile, she said Mak’s On The Go now has 12 clients, spanning from Suamico to Denmark. 

As a married mother of two, Amezquita said she is still learning to balance family life with the demands of her growing businesses. 

“I actually signed up for culinary school,” she said, “but now I’m just so busy, I haven’t had the chance to do it yet.” 

A saucy start 

Before she sold her salsa publicly, Amezquita said she often made it for her household and shared it with loved ones. 

“My husband is Hispanic, and we all love salsa,” she said. “All my friends and family would come over, and I would make [salsas] for gatherings and stuff.” 

It was only when a friend suggested she start a business, Amezquita said, that she ever considered selling her saucy creations.  

That single suggestion, she said, was all she needed to take the proposition seriously. 

As she fine-tuned her salsa recipes, Amezquita said she had no shortage of volunteers to provide feedback. 

“I started it just within my friends, and they would test them,” she said. “And then one day, I just launched [the business].” 

Amezquita said Mak’s Salsa officially became available in May 2025. 

“When I first started, it really took off, and it’s still going really well,” she said. “I have a lot of the same clients who buy [salsa regularly] – I have one couple who buy almost weekly.” 

Per the business’s website – maks-salsa.square.site – the three current salsa flavors are: 

• Fuego Verde: A “bold and spicy green salsa, perfect for tacos, chips, eggs, breakfast burritos, etc.” 
• Sunset Salsa: Per Amezquita, her most popular option – a red salsa ready to be enjoyed with tortilla chips. 
• Besos de Fuego: A “charred pineapple-habanero salsa, sweet and spicy with plenty of heat,” which Amezquita said is another big seller – “a lot of people like eating that with chicken and chips, [for example].” 

She said each option uses “all fresh ingredients, no preservatives,” is made with Mexican chilis and, in accordance with Wisconsin Cottage Food Law, is all sold canned. 

Per the aforementioned website, salsas can be purchased individually or as a “salsa flight” featuring all three, where customers can order the products for pickup or delivery. 

Otherwise, Amezquita said customers can sample and purchase Mak’s Salsa at the Green Bay markets where she vends or order it with chips off Casual’s menu.

This year’s market season has gotten off to a strong start, she said, noting her booth sold out of salsa at the second Farmers’ Market on Broadway of the season. 

Go time 

Though she’s always loved to cook, Amezquita said until recently, she spent her career in the corporate sector. 

It was in the breakroom, she said, where she found inspiration for her second entrepreneurial venture, as her home-cooked meals caught the attention of coworkers.

“I would bring in food all the time, and I would meal-prep for myself, and then [coworkers] would say, ‘Oh, that looks so good’ – so then I would give them some,” she said. 

As her culinary reputation spread at work, Amezquita said “everything spiked.” 

“I said, ‘Maybe I should make you guys food every week – if you just buy the food, I’ll make it for you,’” she said. 

With several coworkers eager to take her up on the idea, Amezquita said she not only found it rewarding to help people eat healthier, but she also began pondering starting her own meal-prep/catering business.

“[I thought], ‘Wow, if I could do this for a bunch of people, that’d be great,’” she said. “I started meal-prepping for families on the side, because one, I love cooking, and I wanted to help people take stress off of their plates for the week.”  

Between salsa sales and her enthusiastic meal-prep customers, Amezquita said she was encouraged to leave the corporate job she’d held for eight years. 

“I started with just one to two families, and then one day I came home from work [feeling] like, ‘I don’t want to sit behind a computer all the time anymore,’” she said.  

Amezquita said her husband supported the career change, switching his own schedule from working weekdays and nights to working on weekends to allow her to cook all week. 

“He’s a big factor as to why this all works,” she said. 

Amezquita said her decision to “take this leap” and launch Mak’s On The Go has thus far proved wise. 

“I was getting more people interested in me cooking for them, so it just sort of took off,” she said. 

Already familiar with Wisconsin Cottage Food Law, Amezquita said since she doesn’t have a commercial kitchen, she travels to her customers’ homes to cook right in their kitchens. 

Some of her meal-prep customers, she said, are single professionals who want convenient yet healthy lunches to bring to work. 

“They can grab [the prepared meals] and go, and not worry about the stress of making it all, just having it all prepped, basically ready to eat,” she said. 

Her other customers, Amezquita said, are families looking to have large meals prepared. 

“I’m cooking dinners for a family of five, [for example],” she said. “It takes me probably three hours to prep them. Dinners are inside glass containers they can just heat up and eat whenever they want to have dinner with their family.” 

Amezquita said all customers are looking to eat healthier – with some even paying extra to have the meals’ macronutrients tracked – and buy less food from restaurants, despite the time constraints they face. 

“You work a full, eight-hour shift, and then you come home, and if you have kids, you have to take care of your kids, and then you have to think about what you’re going to make,” she said. “I feel like a lot of people are ordering out…, [but] they really want healthy and balanced meals. That’s also hard to find.” 

To provide pleasing meals, Amezquita said she “100%” collaborates with customers to create menu plans – which starts with a standard intake form wherein tastes and preferences (spice tolerance, no onions, etc.) are indicated. 

From there, Amezquita said the Mak’s On The Go process gets more personalized:

• “What are you feeling this week?
• Is there anything you’ve been craving?
• Is there anything in your pantry or fridge that needs to be used?” 

Other than customers’ requests, she said her recipe inspiration comes from her own creativity, endless research and leaning into her Lebanese heritage, with her own cookbook already in progress. 

For meal-prep pricing, Amezquita said she charges hourly, which includes planning recipes, grocery lists (customers can shop for themselves, or she’ll do the shopping), cooking and cleanup. 

For private dinners, she said she charges per person. 

“They really see how much different it makes your life when you come home from work, and you don’t have to worry about the food you make, and just enjoy the overall experience,” she said. 

As tough as it can sometimes be to create food in a home setting and simply leave, Amezquita said she finds the work rewarding, especially the interpersonal relationships she forms with customers. 

“I truly enjoy what I do,” she said. “I really take pride in what I do, and I love cooking – that is one of my favorite things. Seeing someone enjoying my food brings me so much happiness.” 

Taking it to the Mak’s 

Even with several weekdays already fully booked (with a waitlist), the weekly markets, a 10-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son, Amezquita said “I balance everything fairly well.” 

“Honestly, it’s a challenge,” she said. “I’ll tell you, I wouldn’t be able to do it without my husband.”

Though she has a very full plate, Amezquita said she still has plans and capacity to grow her businesses. 

She said Mak’s On The Go is providing food for upcoming weddings, graduation parties and women’s retreats, as she broadens her catering options and range of service beyond Green Bay. 

According to Mak’s Salsa’s Facebook page, Amezquita is also releasing a new line of hot sauces soon. 

She said she’s also in the process of attaining a retail food license – which would allow her to sell products in local grocery stores – as well as a commercial kitchen, which would aid both her salsa-making and meal-prep/catering operations. 

Already, though, Amezquita said she’s “basically living my dream now.” 

“I can’t really put into words how grateful I am, and how crazy it is that something I envisioned one day came to life,” she said. “And it’s all because people really believed in me, and see I am really passionate about this, and genuinely care about them and food.” 

Visit maksonthego.com and find Mak’s Salsa and Mak’s On The Go on social media for more.