Blue Ridge Food Ventures

At Blue Ridge Food Ventures no one is going to tell you starting your own business is easy. In fact, Executive Director Mary Lou Surgi warns every budding entrepreneur who comes through her door not to quit their day job. She knows plenty of people have family recipes which everyone loves and raves about, but turning Grandma’s chocolate cake into bonafide business is no easy task. Surgi isn’t a dream killer, just a realist and part of Blue Ridge’s mission is to help people with product development and ultimately a strategy to sell products successfully.

Blue Ridge is located on the Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College campus. People will drive several hours to take advantage of the 11,000 square foot industrial kitchen. Clients come from as far away as Charlotte, South Carolina and Virginia. Each month about 20-30 people rent the space for an hourly fee. The facility is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, turning out a variety of products, everything from organic sauerkraut to bamboo pickles.

Along with the commercial kitchen, Blue Ridge now has a natural products manufacturing facility that allows individuals to grind herb and plant materials to make herbal extracts. It’s part of an effort to develop the natural products industry in Western North Carolina and attract new businesses to the area.

Since Blue Ridge opened, six additional shared-use kitchens have been created across North Carolina. Here is where you can find them:

Anson Community Kitchen
ansonkitchen.org
Wadesboro
(704) 272-5457
A 900-square-foot, commercial-quality kitchen for caterers, farmers, and food entrepreneurs, the kitchen is located at South Piedmont Community College’s Lockhart-Taylor Center.

Eastern Carolina Food Ventures Incubator Kitchen
jamessprunt.edu/kitchen.html
Warsaw
(910) 293-2001
This venture is a collaboration between James Sprunt Community College and Duplin and Pender counties.

Madison Farms Value-Added Center
madisonfarms.org
Marshall
(828) 649-2411
Operated by the Madison County Cooperative Extension Office, the center provides local growers a place to wash, sort, process, and package produce on a large scale.

Piedmont Food and Agricultural Processing Center
orangecountyfarms.org
Hillsborough
A joint effort by Alamance, Chatham, Durham, and Orange counties.

Rockingham Community Kitchen
rockinghamkitchen.org
Madison and Wentworth
(336) 342-7853
This food incubator is run by the Rockingham County Cooperative Extension, with the county’s Business and Technology Center providing training and consultin.

Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center Kitchen
stecoahvalleycenter.com
Robbinsville
(828) 479-1466
Part of a multipurpose community center in Robbinsville, this renovated former school cafeteria is now home to caterers, cooks, and classes.



To learn more about Blue Ridge Food Ventures visit:



www.blueridgefoodventures.org