A funding application to the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program will move 100 Mile House Community Hall renovations to the next stage.
The District of 100 Mile House applied for $132,000 for the civil engineering and design of the hall with a focus on the commercial kitchen aspect of the project. The current kitchen facilities are outdated and the sole commercial kitchen in the district is damaged beyond repair, leaving a significant gap in local food processing capacity.
“(The hall) currently houses a kitchen space that is outdated and no longer aligns with the needs and expectations of food entrepreneurs looking to engage in commercial manufacturing activities,” it said in the application.
The establishment of a commercial kitchen would support small-scale food processors in growing their businesses while providing new entrepreneurs a place to test their products before committing to the substantial investment required in the purchase of their own kitchen equipment.
The application also points out the benefits to caterers who would be able to utilize the kitchen to prepare food for local events while maintaining their restaurant operations at full capacity
A properly equipped commercial kitchen would also serve as an educational resource for workforce training in professional cooking programs and provide broad support to the local agri-food industry.
Several letters of support accompanied the application including ones from several small food businesses, Community Futures, Spelqweqs Development LP, and the Cariboo Regional District.
“The creation of a commercial kitchen will provide a dedicated space for small-scale food producers, which can bolster the local agri-food sector. This, in turn, can stimulate entrepreneurship, generate economic growth, and create job opportunities in our region,” said board chair Margo Wagner in a letter of support.
The Sprout Kitchen Food Hub and Business Incubator offer a similar space in Quesnel. They recently acquired a refrigerated delivery vehicle that serves the region from Vanderhoof to 100 Mile House.
In her letter of support, Kate Patterson said the goal of the delivery service is to help connect local food producers with retailers throughout the region. Finding affordable shipping can be a problem for small businesses but the Sprout Kitchen delivery service has the potential to link agricultural producers to processors using the commercial kitchen in 100 Mile House.
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