A local business incubation site provides industrial-grade cooking space and equipment to help keep local food and farm entrepreneurs in the kitchen.
The Food Ventures Center — run by the nonprofit Appalachian Center for Economic Networks — works to fill educational gaps for entrepreneurs entering the highly regulated food industry, as well as providing a setting for established food businesses to thrive.
“We focus on harnessing the economic ownership and wealth derived from keeping food more local,” said Leslie Schaller, director of programs. “We create more economic opportunities for locally owned businesses and give the public more options to buy local food.”
Since the Food Venture Center, 94 Columbus Road, opened in 1996, 280 tenants have been incubated in the facility, Schaller said. Some eventually “graduate” into their own space, and others use the shared kitchen, storage areas and other services on a long-term basis.
The center’s industrial-grade equipment allows small businesses to produce and package professionally without making the large capital investment.
The 12,000-square-foot center contains a retail area, office space, a thermal processing room and a central commercial kitchen. Additionally, the 3,200-square-foot warehouse contains a dry storage area, an automatic labeling machine, two walk-in freezers and a walk-in cooler.
The facility itself is worth about $1.4 million, Schaller said.
About 50 to 100 businesses use the space and the services every year, she said.
Jonathan Leal has operated his award-winning business, Milo’s Whole World Gourmet, out of the center since its inception in 2003. He uses the center for the production, manufacturing and storage of his wine-based pasta sauces and salad dressings.
“We’re pretty lucky to have a place like this in our backyard,” Leal said. “They provide a lot of space and a lot of production capabilities that you can’t get anywhere else, and it’s affordable.”
Leal said he pays about 25 percent of what he would elsewhere for the same services.
In addition to saving money, the Food Venture Center also saves time. Tim Wilson recently started producing his own salsa there and said the cleaning and chopping of vegetables that used to take him six to seven hours in his personal kitchen now takes him about two.
Using the center also allowed Wilson to put his product on the market in Ohio, because foods prepared in the kitchens are able to be FDA-approved. The center also has a professional who can analyze products for accurate nutritional labeling, Wilson said.
While some use the space on a long-term basis, others use it as a transition point. Maureen Burns-Hooker, owner of The Herbal Sage Tea Company, said she plans on building her own facility in about two years.
“It’s very cost-effective for me to be at (the center) right now,” Burns-Hooker said. “Think about renting an apartment compared to building your dream house. I want the next place I work to be the place I’ve always wanted, so I am willing to stay (here) until I am able to make that happen.”
af116210@ohiou.edu
