Re:Tennessee Awards $5.5M to Strengthen Food Supply Chain In...
by darth_avocado on Friday August 02, 2024 @04:50PM
(#41142519)
Ahh interesting. I think I kind of expected the grant to only partially cover costs for any project. But it is very surprising to see the costs of setting up a commercial kitchen to be so low.
Re:Tennessee Awards $5.5M to Strengthen Food Supply Chain In...
by kreims on Friday August 02, 2024 @10:10PM
(#41144194)
I’m more familiar with transportation grants than food grants, but I would imagine you write a proposal and get matching funds up to a certain ceiling, like 80-20 state-private up to $250,000, hypothetically. The costs on those blogs seem to refer to just furnishing equipment in a ready commercial space, though. If you’re having to develop a new site and incur construction costs, I could easily see spending $5M on a single site.
I’d think this is going to help producers upgrade or replace some existing equipment. Probably a good thing. $5.5M more than the market had, right?
I do wonder if there is some low hanging fruit on more efficiently connecting different stages of food production. Like a traveling salesman problem with getting food producers to packing.
Re:Tennessee Awards $5.5M to Strengthen Food Supply Chain In...
by quickthrowman on Saturday August 03, 2024 @09:29AM
(#41146506)
> Looks like it costs 15k-250k to set up a commercial kitchen
That 15k is a bit of a misnomer, a vent hood plus fire suppression is going to be $20k+ installed (or more depending on how much ductwork is needed).
> Using RFSI funding, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture will fund projects that increase access to commercial kitchens and co-packing facilities. Additional funded projects will expand processing capacity, including adding product types, increasing production volumes, and supporting new wholesale/retail product lines. The state’s priorities are informed by stakeholder engagement and outreach to underserved producers to better understand their needs.
Looks like it costs 15k-250k to set up a commercial kitchen: https://www.kitchenall.com/blog/commercial-kitchen-cost.html
A new product line is 85k-175k: https://www.foodresearchlab.com/blog/new-food-product-develo...
I imagine they are doing grants that cover part of the costs not the whole thing. If they covered 50% of the cost and each project cost 100k, that would mean 110 projects, which is a lot in one state.
I see 22 commercial kitchens in TN currently: https://www.thekitchendoor.com/kitchen-rental/states/tenness... so if half of the projects were commercial kitchens, that would be a 250% increase.