Released Oct. 12, 2007
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is helping cook up innovation in western Michigan with a $210,000 grant for the Starting Block, Michigan’s first full-service center for value-added agricultural product innovation.
The Starting Block, located in Hart, helps food product entrepreneurs by combining the elements of a traditional business incubator, such as low-cost office space and shared conference room facilities, with a state-licensed commercial kitchen for producing and packaging their innovative products.
The facility has been operational for more than a year, but the EDA grant and an anticipated $250,000 Michigan grant will enable the Starting Block to purchase its current building and acquire additional equipment, said Ron Steiner, director of the Starting Block and one of its founders.
“We are a non-profit corporation helping stimulate entrepreneurship in western Michigan,” Steiner said. “By removing the burden of rental payments from our monthly budget, we have taken a big step toward becoming sustainable through our current income.”
Income to run and operate the facility and its programming, and support its three-person staff is generated through office, kitchen and conference room rental fees and product storage rental charges. Start-up funding for the Starting Block was provided by Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs), the state’s plant agriculture initiative housed at Michigan State University, along with several other public and private partners.
The idea for a kitchen incubator to support agricultural product innovation began five years ago. A group of representatives from the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA), the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Michigan Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS) and the Michigan State University (MSU) Product Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources (the Product Center) collaborated to advance value-added agriculture in Michigan. Establishing regional kitchen incubators was one of their main initiatives.
“One issue that small food processors are immediately going to face is running out of room in their home kitchens,” said Chris Peterson, director of the MSU Product Center. “They need a facility that allows them to expand their business without having to build a processing plant on day one.
“A kitchen incubator fits that important niche that allows new businesses to grow and prove themselves before getting involved in lots of capital expenditures,” Peterson continued. “They learn from other emerging businesses and have access to experts and training opportunities in addition to processing their product there.”
“The whole idea was for the group to be a steering committee to stimulate value-added product agriculture,” Steiner said. “Shared-use community kitchen incubators are one part of the movement toward more value-added agriculture in Michigan.”
MIFFS received a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Business Enterprise Grant and funding from the MEDC in 2003 to conduct regional kitchen incubator feasibility studies. Steiner said the study showed that a kitchen incubator was viable in Manistee, Newaygo and Oceana counties. Then, the real work began.
The feasibility researchers estimated that building and establishing the incubator would require a $1.2 million investment. Steiner proudly reports that the Starting Block opened for less than 30 percent of that figure by leasing an existing building, buying used kitchen equipment and recruiting lots of volunteer labor.
“The Starting Block development team did the right thing in terms of having a good business plan for the incubator,” Peterson said. “They practiced what they preached in ensuring they had a plan for success.”
Currently, Steiner said, half of the office space is rented, and the kitchen is being used to produce a variety of products, such as pies, jams, spice mixtures and frozen cornbread dressing. The business continues to develop even as it operates.
“The train is running, but we are continuing to lay track as we go,” Steiner said. “Our services don’t stop in the kitchen -- we’re trying to help people market successful products and get them onto store shelves.”
Founded in 1997, Project GREEEN is a cooperative effort between plant-based commodities and businesses together with the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension and the Michigan Department of Agriculture to advance Michigan’s economy through its plant-based agriculture. Its mission is to develop research and educational programs in response to industry needs, ensure and improve food safety, and protect and preserve the quality of the environment.
To learn more about the state’s plant agriculture initiative at MSU, visit http://www.greeen.msu.edu.
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http://anrcom.msu.edu/press/100107/101207_startingblock.htm
Contacts: Sara Long, (517) 432-1555, ext. 170
Natalie Ebig Scott, (517) 432-1555, ext. 157
