A location has been found for Sprout Kitchen,the regional food hub and agricultural business incubator that was announced as part of the B.C. Food Hub Network in 2019.
At its Oct. 6 meeting, Quesnel council authorized City staff to enter into a five-year lease agreement for a 2,689-square-foot space at 101 Marsh Dr. in West Quesnel, the former Spartan Printing building.
This space includes 2,689 feet of open space, a roll-up delivery door, parking, high visibility and three-phase power, Amy Reid, the City’s manager of economic development and tourism, noted in her report to council.
“Grant funding has been secured to make the space operational as a commissary kitchen,” she writes. “Additional grant funds will be sought to add further functionality and create additional revenue streams for the space, as outlined in the Sprout Kitchen Implementation Plan.”
The Ministry of Agriculture awarded $500,000 to the City in 2019 for building a regional food hub, and an additional $250,000 in funding has been approved for the project by Northern Development Initiative Trust.
Sprout Kitchen, which is being run by Amy Quarry and Diandra Oliver, will be a small-scale food processing and innovation hub that serves the area from Vanderhoof to 100 Mile House.
A member of the B.C. Food Hub Network, Sprout Kitchen will offer new and established food businesses and community groups access to shared processing infrastructure including processing and testing equipment, food business advisory services, product development services, analytic services, applied research opportunities, and education and training related to food processing and food safety, according to the Sprout Kitchen website.
Sprout Kitchen is working towards a February 2021 opening.
For more information about Sprout Kitchen, visit sproutkitchen.ca.
READ MORE: Ideas coming together for Sprout Kitchen regional food hub in Quesnel
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