By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
JASPER — Culinary entrepreneurs stymied by the high cost of outfitting a certified kitchen would benefit from a new project now being explored by a collaboration of organizations in Dubois County. Heart of Jasper, Jasper’s Main Street program, and Purdue Extension – Dubois County are taking the first steps in gauging local interest in creating a community kitchen. The group’s survey can be found at https://bit.ly/CCK-DuCo.
According to Kate Schwenk with Heart of Jasper, the idea initially got started as an outgrowth of the pop-up markets that group held last spring and summer. At those events, which allowed local makers and sellers the opportunity to set up in a vacant storefront location downtown, organizers heard from participants about what a kitchen space could mean to aspiring entrepreneurs. “This talk of a community kitchen keeps coming up,” Schwenk recalled. “… There’s a need out there.”
Purdue Extension – Dubois County was invited to participate in the first meetings on the community kitchen effort, and that organization’s Chelsea Brewer said her office became involved to help connect the project to Purdue Extension’s statewide network of people with expertise in local food. “We feel like we have a lot of producers in the county who have to go elsewhere,” Brewer commented.
As previously reported by Southern Indiana Business Report, a community kitchen opened in early 2021 in Orange County, with help from several local partners, for preparing food for wholesale trade, catering, developing a new product, or just for needed space and appliances. However, according to Brewer, the next nearest facilities are far away in places like Bloomington and Evansville.
In addition to confirming the need, the survey results are expected to provide some insight into what the facility might look like, where it could be located, how often it would be used, whether it might host workshops and trainings, who might manage the kitchen, and under which organization the facility might fit. Schwenk said Heart of Jasper can help with the project but likely won’t “own” it. Meetings are also being held with other potential community partners including the local schools and Vincennes University – Jasper Campus.
Brewer reported the survey has seen great interest since its launch on Feb. 25 and enthusiasm within the group is running high. “We think it would be a success,” she said.
Although no timeline’s yet in place, a favorable outcome in the surveys could lead to the next step of reaching out to possible funding partners such as Purdue and the Dubois County Community Foundation.