Riverview Wants Applicants For New Early-Stage Food Business Incubator
MONCTON – The town of Riverview in the Greater Moncton area has launched Chocolate River Cookery, a six-month incubator for food businesses that are still in the early stages of starting up.
Run by the town’s economic development department, the program is focused on catering, retail and wholesale food businesses. The aim is to help these businesses legalize their production, commercialize their products and grow.
“A lot of companies that we’re finding are operating in the food sector are generally operating from a home-based business or they’re selling out of a market venue. But if they want to get into retail centres, they do need to be operating out of a Class 5 kitchen,” said economic development officer Tahlia Ferlatte. “So, it’s basically to help them kind of get a kick start- six months to really develop and work on their products so that hopefully, once they’re done, they can be sufficient and outgrow the facility.”
Participating businesses will have 24/7 access to a Class 5 commercial kitchen at a reduced rate – $95 for a full day versus the regular rate of $145, and $50 for a half day versus the regular $86 rate.
The kitchen is located at the Coverdale Community Centre on 50 Runneymead Road, which also houses the Boys & Girls Club of Riverview, an event space and a food bank, among other things. The shared-kitchen had also been rented by small food businesses, and is open to the general public to host community events on sustainable food practices.
Large annual events that are important for the Town will be given priority in terms of kitchen bookings, but aside from that, participants in the incubator can access it any time.
“We saw that there was a need for [a] Class 5 kitchen within the food sector for earlier stage companies, so we decided to open it up, give them a better rate and the programming attached to it.”
As part of the incubator, Riverview’s economic development officers will provide one-on-one help for participants who need help looking for additional funding, hiring and marketing, among other things. No funds are given to the companies directly.
The program will serve as a testing ground for entrepreneurs who want to develop and sell their products without having to take on expensive overhead costs and binding commitments.
Ferlatte said the incubator is also part of the Town’s sustainability plan.
“We have what we call our Integrated Community Sustainability Plan, which was developed by the town of Riverview and the residents and community stakeholders. It looks at strategic goals and actions to create a more sustainable future. And one of those pillars is food sustainability, so creating sustainable food networks,” Ferlatte said. “This is kind of just one portion of that.”
The Town will take applications throughout the year. Four companies will be accepted into each cohort. There are two cohorts per year, one running from September to February, and another from March to August.
Riverview is looking for new businesses in need of their first preparation facility; home-based businesses that want to legalize and grow their operation; market or online sellers who want to enter retail centres; businesses that are already up-and-running but are relying on one-off or difficult kitchen rentals; or those that are looking to grow and reach a new market.
“As long as they have the proper certification and they’re earlier stage, and they can benefit from the business development, then we’ll really consider them,” Ferlatte said.
The first batch of companies will begin this September.