RISON - After the initial launch of the Share Grounds food processing kitchen at Rison happen to coincide with the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture's Cooperative Extension Service is re-launching the program designed to help aspiring food entrepreneurs get their product onto retail store shelves.
David Hill, a former commercial food processor who is now overseeing the Share Grounds program for the Extension Service, organized a grand reopening of the kitchen last Thursday afternoon at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds in Rison.
"In the end, we want people to use this to start a business or to make money on the side," Hill told members of the Cleveland County Fair Board and others who had gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the newly revamped kitchen.
The Share Grounds food processing kitchen concept was developed by Dr. Amanda Philyaw Perez, food systems and safety specialist for the Extension Service, and Dr. Renee Threlfall, research scientist for the Department of Food Science at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
In 2019, they were awarded a grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to retro-fit three concession stands at rural fairgrounds across Arkansas with food processing equip-ment that was used to created certified commercial kitchens that could be rented out by entrepreneurs to develop retail food products. The processing kitchens were located at Marshall (Searcy County), McCrory (Woodruff County) and Rison (Cleveland County).
As Perez explained, one of the biggest obstacles for people wanting to start a food business is having access to or the money available to build a certified commercial kitchen suitable for processing a food product.
In addition, she said there health department guidelines that have to be met with the food processing procedures, acquiring a food nutritional label, developing recipes suitable for l...
To access content, please login or purchase a subscription.