SPECIAL REPORT: Surviving the First Year — Whacko Gringo, Oswego

By Mary Beth Roach

Entrepreneurship is booming, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report issued in February.

This trend includes several new entrepreneurs profiled here who have opened their businesses within the last year in Onondaga and Oswego counties.

They have traveled very different paths to start their respective businesses and while they may have experienced some trepidation doing their journeys, their passion overrode any nervousness.

They share their stories with us — some of the surprises, good and bad — that came up, some of their marketing strategies for their start-ups; and resources they have found helpful.

Whacko Gringo, Oswego

Daniel McKelvey: ‘Passion Can Overcome Your Fears’

Passion can overcome your fears.

This belief led entrepreneur Daniel McKelvey to overcome a variety of challenges and start two businesses outside of New York state before returning to his roots in Oswego County, purchasing an abandoned piece of property in Oswego and turning it into the Whacko Gringo eatery in Oswego.

“When you’re confident and you’re passionate about something and you really study it, that is the antidote to overcome the fear of stepping up,” he said.

“I’m passionate about coming home and creating something truly unique for the area,” the Hannibal native added.

The name — Whacko Gringo — is also unique. But as McKelvey said, he thinks it describes him and the restaurant perfectly. As he explained, he’s a non-Hispanic man that’s crazy about Mexican food. But he didn’t want people to think that the Mexican food he serves is authentic.

The menu doesn’t serve fajitas or enchiladas. But it does boast nachos, tacos, burritos, “mini-dillas,” its signature Birria dishes, which feature birria beef braised for five hours and mixed with three Mexican chilis, tomatoes, onions and spices and of course, a variety of acai bowls, including The Buccaneer bowl.

In the winter of 2022, McKelvey bought the site at West Bridge and West Eighth streets, which had once been the location of a gas station. McKelvey had been noticing the property for years during his visits back to Oswego — saw its prime location and the potential.

He grew up in Hannibal, working on the family farm. He then did a stint in a restaurant in Fair Haven, before moving on to the Turning Stone Casino. He said that he told himself that at the age of 22, he was going to go to Las Vegas and on his 22nd birthday, he did just that.

The casinos taught him a lot he said, especially about the hospitality business.

“In the casinos, you can’t be shy. You’re entertaining people while they’re playing,” he said.

He moved back east to Baltimore, where he started a juice bar and acai bowl business called Pure Raw Juice in 2014. He had two locations; sold them in 2017 and moved to Delaware where he started Daily Veg, specializing in vegan food.

But he still missed the Oswego area. So he moved back in November of 2022. Over that winter, he purchased the gas station property, but that came with a lot of challenges.

A day before he was to close, he learned he’d need to put in new water and sewer lines. He said he decided to go ahead with the purchase, figuring that if the building had been vacant that long, then the pipes were probably in need of replacement. Further construction on the site turned up a 1,000-gallon oil tank that had been used to heat the former garage and then three 3,000-gallon gas tanks, all of which needed to come up.

While working on the property, he purchased a unique food truck, put it in the parking lot of the site, opened it in March of 2023 and operated out of that for a year. This helped him make money to continue the construction of the restaurant.

He was able to open the storefront in March of 2024 and its patrons are greeted with bright interior colors, oversized fun photos and a lot of natural light. And of course McKelvey’s specialties — Mexican food and acai bowls.

Always with an eye to the future, McKelvey would like to open another location in three to five years, in the Great Northern Mall development pending the completion of that project.

Check out McKelvey’s story and his menu at whackogringo.com