Mark Goldfarb

Mark Goldfarb is the founder of In Mark's Kitchen and president of Catskill Mountain Leather Co Inc, two businesses he runs from Woodstock, New York. For 45 years, he has run Catskill Mountain Leather, a seven-figure custom footwear company that hand-makes shoes for Renaissance fairs across the United States out of a converted school bus with a team of 10 artisans.

In Mark's Kitchen grew out of a push from a close friend, top Culinary Institute instructor Giovanni Scoppini, who kept telling Goldfarb his homemade pesto was the best he had ever tasted. Goldfarb spent six months testing recipes with his wife before launching production in Scoppini's restaurant kitchen. The brand now produces four varieties — basil, arugula, dandelion greens, and ramp, each with a vegan option — using Parmigiano-Reggiano, first-pressed olive oil from Lucca, Italy, and hydroponic basil from Goshen, New York.

Eight-ounce glass jars sell for $16.99 to $22. The product is distributed through Solex Foods in the Hudson Valley, stores in Kingston, Saugerties, Woodstock, and Saratoga Springs, and two New York City locations — The Tin Building by Jean-Georges and Fort Defiance in Red Hook — with roughly 25 percent of sales flowing through the wholesale platform fair.com. Goldfarb personally handles delivery and shipping. Gross margins run around 30 percent, and the business has grown about 25 percent per year since launch.