Add Local Flavor to Your Farmer’s Market – Build a Kitchen Incubator

Urban farmer’s markets have an interesting dilemma that rural markets often don’t. On one hand, they benefit from the large population base, the density and the clear need by many city dwellers for fresh, healthy foods. On the other, they suffer from limited space, higher expenses, parking nightmares and ill equipped food selling regulations. Although space limitations and higher expenses are products of urban life that will not disappear, relief from complicated regulations may have a simple answer: kitchen incubators.

Food seller regulations are notorious and the root for more than a few business failures. They also prevent many would be food entrepreneurs from ever marketing their products. For example, a food entrepreneur in Atlanta has to get licensed through the Georgia Department of Agriculture for food processing or the Fulton County Health and Wellness Division for catering. This alone can be a confusing difference when you are selling food at a market that can be taken home or eaten at a nearby bench.

Then there are complications with packaging food. If the food is packaged and contains meat or poultry it must come from a facility that has daily certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but if it contains fish or seafood it will require Federal Drug Administration approval. And these are just a few of the detailed regulations outlined by the 144 page Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Chapter 40-7-1.

This is not to say that these regulations aren’t necessary for public safety, only that their complexity and the expense of compliance make it difficult for local food producers to start their businesses and open booths at local farmer’s markets. Luckily, a new twist on an old model can provide relief and even help create more interest in your local farmer's markets.

There are more then 1,000 business incubators throughout North America supporting almost every industry imaginable. Kitchen incubators are a relatively new type of business incubator that is focused on increasing entrepreneurship and economic development related to food. More precisely, kitchen incubators are fully functional commercial kitchens that rent space by the hour to food entrepreneurs. They carry general licenses and can help clients obtain any additional licenses they will need to produce their goods. For food production, the only other alternative for an entrepreneur is contract production and packaging because food for public consumption cannot be prepared in a private home.

As many urban farmer’s markets struggle to get sufficient local farmers and food producers to set up booths creating a kitchen incubator should be a consideration. By helping local food growers and entrepreneurs maneuver the regulations, and spread out production costs, these facilities reduce a major barrier to market entry. Of course, you will still have to contend with those pesky parking regulations!