Contact: Ellen Barnard
(608) 576-3734
(MADISON, Wis.)–Food Enterprise and Economic Development (FEED) Kitchens’ 5,400-square foot food business incubator, a project of the North Side Planning Council, opens Friday at 1219 N. Sherman Ave.
“FEED Kitchens will truly benefit the community,” Ellen Barnard, FEED Kitchens Chair, said. “We can now offer food entrepreneurs and those who work in the industry a place to share their talents and gifts and bring locally made food to our homes.”
The $1.5 million facility has five commercial-grade kitchens, one dedicated to meat packaging and processing; a bakery kitchen able to support bakers looking to produce large quantities of baked goods; a high-volume vegetable preparation area designed for processing frozen, canned or raw vegetables in quantities up to 10,000 pounds at a time; and a deli-style preparation area, allowing for packaging of prepared meats and vegetables for catering and wholesale.
FEED Kitchens, which is available to rent by the hour, also will be home to a large training and community-use kitchen that will be able to accommodate groups offering food service training, cooking classes and group food-processing projects.
In addition to helping individuals gain job skills, FEED Kitchens anticipates 25-35 full-time food-related jobs will be created each year that the facility is open.
Major donors include The JR Albert Foundation, The Madison Community Foundation, Madison Gas & Electric Foundation, A Woman’s Touch, Lotions Limited LLC, City of Madison Community Development Block Grants, Pleasant Rowland Foundation, Willy Street Co-op and the State of Wisconsin through the Buy Local-Buy Wisconsin.
Current committed users include the River Food Pantry and Madison Urban Ministry training program, Farm2Fork local food products, Mandy’s Mood Foods and Madison Chocolate Company.
The Food Enterprise and Economic Development (FEED) Kitchens will provide tools to help youth and adults who are disadvantaged, unemployed or underemployed develop skills that move them toward self-sufficiency. FEED will reduce hunger and increase the availability of healthy local food by providing organizations serving the hungry, gardeners and farmers a place to process excess produce that would otherwise end up in a landfill or compost pile. For more information, please visit www.feedkitchens.org.
