Saturday, June 07, 2008

Tennessee center will help food entrepreneurs

The name Cumberland Culinary Center "may conjure Iron Chef-esque images," reports The Lebanon Democrat, but the Tennessee center "will be geared more towards farmers and entrepreneurs." (Encarta map)

The center, for which Cumberland University broke ground Thursday, "will house a commercial kitchen and storage facility intended to assist area entrepreneurs in prepping their products for market," CU Public Relations Director Brian Harville told reporter Hilary Trenda. "The culinary center is intended to educate area entrepreneurs on the production, promotion and packaging of products and to provide small businesses with access to commercial kitchen facilities." It will also link farmers with entrepreneurs to promote their products.

The 2,400-square-foot center is to be completed in time for the fall semester. Its $300,000 cost is being covered by the university, a state grant and a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. It will be available to entrepreneurs from Middle Tennessee, Southern Kentucky and Northern Alabama. It will not handle meat and dairy products because of federal inspection requirements. (Read more; registration required)

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