“If it weren’t for the Incubator Kitchen Program, we would still probably be in the planning stages and working on launching our business instead of being here now,” MacAulay explained to Fox 17. One company that got started in 2020 thanks to the Incubator Kitchen Program is “Let’s Stay Home Cocktail Kits”, with owner Eric MacAulay saying it took him about four months from the time he started the program until the time his product was on the market. “Our biggest strength is coaching people through the licensing phase, which can certainly be the most daunting aspect, again, that entire process, all of our coaching is for free,” Bolhuis said. The program offers 5,000 square feet of commercial kitchen space and all the equipment that any food, catering or drink entrepreneur would need as they craft their idea into reality. “Our whole approach is to reduce down overhead, that’s one of our main goals because that is so crucial for any small business especially in their first year,” Bolhuis explained to Fox 17. In total, the Incubator Kitchen Program has helped launch 85 new businesses since 2013. Ryan Bolhuis is the culinary operations manager and said the Incubator Kitchen Program helped create 11 new food start-up businesses and mentored 170 local entrepreneurs in 2020. Lisa realized the production and sales channels were intimately connected.GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Despite the pandemic being so rough on employment, the Incubator Kitchen Program at the Downtown Market had another great year teaching people how to start their own food related business. It is apparent that the relationships established between the businesses and their community are the bedrock of the local food system. Lisa’s two business ventures, Chiknegg Incubator Kitchen and RVAg work collectively, offering training, consulting, and physical kitchen space for budding food entrepreneurs. For vendors that sell across multiple markets, the inventory depletes as purchases are made. With this model, vendors list their products and available inventory for customers to purchase and then market staff aggregates those orders and delivers to 8 locations. Lisa now runs 5 markets through RVAg and developed an online farmers market during COVID, which offers her vendors a continued sales platform. RVAg operates with the mission, “to create and market vibrant venues for local farmers and artisans so they can offer their products directly to consumers in order to cultivate community engagement, using local food as a common link.” Its nonprofit structure provides more resources to the company and allows its educational programs to be more accessible to the community. Lisa founded RVAg, a nonprofit which provides venues to local farmers and artisans, offering a direct point of sale between local makers and consumers. In 2015, she revisited her farmers market venture, this time recognizing that a nonprofit structure would better suit her vision. The kitchen serves as an educational space for food entrepreneurs, providing consulting, training and commercial kitchen space for rent. With this insight, in 2011, Lisa took her food systems knowledge and management acumen and hatched a new project, Chiknegg Incubator Kitchen. Through her time as a market manager, she developed relationships with local food entrepreneurs who were passionate about their products, but did not understand how to grow their business to its full potential. She went on to offer regional agricultural education, managed one of the largest farmers markets for The Center for Rural Culture in Central Virginia, and even founded her own market. This passion brought her back to school, where she earned a Horticulture degree and a Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture. After over twenty years in sales and marketing, Lisa Dearden moved to rural Goochland County, Virginia and bought a small farm where she took up organic gardening and a passion for the local food movement.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |