Creating a Mosaic

There are not a lot of parents who would create a business to accommodate their children’s passions, but Mark and Lisa Mészáros, 57 and 58,  did just that when they launched The House of Mosaic Distillery in downtown Plainwell. 

With its shareable plates, fresh bread from Sarkozy Bakery and handcrafted spirits, the couple created “a place where all of my kids’ passions would have a home,” says Lisa. 

Those fortunate kids are Ryan, 36, Rachel, 33, and Nick, 29. 

Developing Mosaic’s shareable plates is eldest child Ryan, who studied culinary arts in Chicago. He quickly moved up ranks in The Windy City, working as a mixologist and then gradually as a food and beverage director for high-end restaurants. Rachel studied metal arts and designed jewelry for HJH Jewelry before pursuing her passion for baking. She worked for grocer Earth Fare for several years and currently serves as a manager for Sarkozy Bakery. Finally, the Mészáros’ third child, Nick, attended Michigan Technological University for a couple of years, bringing an engineering mindset to his passion for developing spirits. With his father Mark, Nick has garnered many international stilling certifications.

Nestled in a quiet section of Bridge St., just south of Hicks Park and two doors from Plainwell’s iconic Campbell’s Pharmacy, The House of Mosaic Distillery’s name honors the art form of intentionally combining many separate parts to create an expressive form of artistry. 

“Mark and I always wanted to build ‘something’ in hospitality, but we weren’t sure what until we were enjoying cocktails with friends at Green Door Distillery (in Kalamazoo). Then we realized, ‘This is it!’” recalls Lisa. The couple, who say they love hosting, thought, “What better opportunity than to host dozens of people every night at our own distillery?”

This casual night out in November 2017 turned into a serious business venture that has led the Mészároses down many paths as “this family of creatives dove in,” says Mark, who boasts decades of experience as a creative director, overseeing branding and packaging for international food and beverage brands.

“We knew we wanted to have the distillery here in Plainwell, our home of 23 years,” explains Lisa, an artist who met Mark while they were both students at Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio. “The people here are special. They are so smart, down-to-earth, so generous and very entrepreneurial. That’s been very inspiring. There was no other place for us but here.” 

The journey to opening The House of Mosaic Distillery was non-linear. Crafting the business plan was easy, but they hit roadblocks in their search for the right property. Nothing seemed to fit. After a year or two of looking, the Mészáros family briefly entertained the idea of moving their potential business elsewhere. 

Community comes through 

But the Plainwell community had other plans. Barb Bechtel, a friend of the Mészároses and owner of Barbed Wire Café in downtown Plainwell, suggested a site: The former A.H. Warnement farm equipment dealership at 119 W. Bridge St., around the corner from her café.

With 9,300 square feet, the space was sprawling and had “a spot for every one of my kids’ passions — a distillery, a bakery and a restaurant,” says Lisa. The Mészároses were intrigued by the former dealership’s possibilities. 

Most architects, however, were not.  

“Tear it down, start over,” was the common response from all but one, Blair Bates, a Plainwell architect who could envision the building’s potential. With Bates’ help, the family forged on, working on the schematics for the massive building and property. 

Then, there was financing. Fortunately, a $25,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) Match on Main Program in July 2024 helped to “rehabilitate this blighted property in our downtown,” according to the City of Plainwell’s social media channels. Mosaic Distillery was one of only 31 small businesses in the state to be awarded a Match on Main grant that year.  

The building was completed in phases as time and finances allowed. The first phase was the tasting room. “We opened up the back half of the building as the tasting room in fall 2025, which was not the original plan, which was to open the front part of the building first,” says Mark. The plan change was necessitated by the building’s structure and the utilities needed, such as water lines and fire suppression, for a distillery.

The next step was finalizing all the furnishings and finishings, including handpicking decor and building furniture.

“Pushing our perfection on this, we have done all the finishes, built out the back bars and the lighting ourselves,” says Mark. 

With seating for 45 to 50, the tasting room is a cozy space lined by a refurbished church pew and hanging plants. A gleaming bar is flanked by beautiful glass mosaics.

An additional bar and tasting room with a small stage for live music opened in May 2026. There’s outside seating on certain nights — the building’s huge steel sliding doors can be opened to reveal the “Spirit Garden” that features a patio with fire pits and an edible garden “we will be using to grow herbs for our cocktails and food,” says Mark. 

“We’ve been phasing this building out to see what the demand is and the community has been helping us with our marketing and our construction,” says Mark. “This has really been a community-wide effort.” 

When Mark and Lisa say, “we really want to elevate everything we do,” they pretty much mean everything. 

Each component of The House of Mosaic collaborates to create the food and drink options from the gin and vodka stilled onsite to the baked goods brought in daily from Sarkozy Bakery and a full menu of seasonal, shareable plates. Each element taps into the Mészáros’ thirst for perfection. 

“We have high expectations with what we do and our spirits have gotten lots of praise,” says Mark.

“Our food, dessert and cocktail menus will change based on the season and we use a lot of traditional cooking methods, such as grilling and oven-roasting, and now we have our pizza oven. Our skewers are popular, from chicken to shrimp, with many different vegetables. We serve Michigan beef and source our fish from an upstate trout farm and get our produce from Pebble Creek (in Caledonia). All are huge hits.”

The Mosaic’s menu features desserts like Basque cheesecake and strawberry tiramisu, as well as bespoke cocktails with throwback Hollywood names like So Green Was My Valley and From Russia with Love, a twist on the classic White Russian. Although the dream for an onsite bakery is not yet realized, Rachel collaborates with the distillery’s chef on the fresh baked goods from Sarkozy. The family is hoping to launch its own wine and beer lines over the next several months to better cater to a wider range of customer tastes. 

For now, however, renovations on the space will continue and the Mészároses say what customers experience today will not necessarily be the Mosaic that they will experience tomorrow.

“Everything we do at Mosaic is about the sharing of ideas and learning from each other,” says Mark.