Interise, CropCircle Kitchen and the Boston Public Market announced a new partnership that will provide business training to local food vendors at the planned public market slated to open in summer 2015.
Vendor applicants and local small food businesses will participate in the business development education program aimed at growing jobs and creating more revenue. Created by Interise, a Boston-based small business assistance nonprofit, the program covers topics including business development, strategic planning, access to capital, government contacts, financials, marketing and sales, and human resources.
Each participating business will use their own experiences as a case study. As business owners learn about each topic, they instantly apply the lessons to their business and implement change.
CropCircle Kitchen operates Boston’s only shared-use commercial kitchen and culinary business incubator. They recently opened a second, new facility in the former Pearl hot dog factory in Dorchester. The Pearl Food Production Small Business Center features a state-of-the-art shared-use commercial kitchen, large cold and frozen storage space, and a separate commissary where CCK staff will offer contract processing options to local farmers and market vendors. CCK will play a key role in advising on curriculum and facilitating connections between market vendors and other Boston-area food businesses. CCK will also recruit other wholesale and retail food businesses to participate in the program.
“This new partnership between our organizations is a game-changer for local food businesses,” said Jen Faigel, CCK’s Executive Director. “It directly connects Interise’s excellent business education program with CCK’s hands-on food production training and shared kitchen facilities, and links them to the tremendous opportunity for retail sales at the new Boston Public Market. CCK is thrilled to be partnering on this effort.”
On September 29 from 6 – 8 p.m. at 196 Quincy Street in Dorchester, the organizations will host a tour of CCK’s Pearl Food Production Center, where vendor applicants and local small food businesses will be able to learn about funding, business planning, bookkeeping and marketing opportunities available to them.
The Boston Public Market will be a permanent, year-round, self-sustaining market featuring fresh locally-sourced food brought directly to and from the diverse people that make up Massachusetts and New England. The market’s permanent, indoor location on the Greenway directly above the Haymarket MBTA station is slated to open next year. The Boston Public Market currently runs two seasonal farmers markets each year along the Rose Kennedy Greenway featuring over 30 local producers. For more information and to follow the progress of the market, visit www.bostonpublicmarket.org.