Pertinent to the development of value-added foods projects has been the evaluation and consideration of a commercially-inspected and regulatory-approved food processing facility (often referred to as a commercial kitchen).  While there are certainly some characteristics of a commercial kitchen facility that are specific to certain projects (location, products, management) a majority of the issues facing entrepreneurs considering such an operation are similar.  For example, a minimum set of construction, inspection, operation and approval criteria apply broadly to commercial kitchen facilities. In addition, the overall assessment of production and processing within these facilities (in terms of cost evaluation, break-even analysis and market evaluation) is the same.  The consideration of a commercial kitchen facility as a value-added enterprise has been historically pertinent to crop producers (mainly fruits and vegetables) and those who participate in advanced marketing methods such as farmers' markets, green grocers and road-side stands.  Therefore, consideration of commercial food processing facilities by these typical implementers should include a fairly standard set of criteria as well as advanced circumstances based on business specifics.  However, despite the overwhelming demand for such information, no such general "feasibility" study is available.  The current Ag Tag project will match a USDA-funded market development study that seeks to remove distribution barriers facing fruit and vegetable growers by developing a feasibility study of a commercial kitchen facility.  This is a natural match for the USDA-funded study which, among other activities, surveys and evaluates the operation, design, management and shopping patterns/preferences for green grocers, farm markets and road-side stands.  In essence, the project proposed here seeks funds to support the development of a feasibility analysis for a hypothetical commercial kitchen facility as a potential value-added enterprise for fruit and vegetable growers/marketers and to support the establishment of value-added resource centers (information centers) that will be stocked with educational materials that enhance the growth of Tennessee's value-added agriculture industry and placed in 100 locations across the state (primarily in county Extension offices).  An electronic version of the resource centers will also be available at the CPA's web site.

• Project Team
• Publication - coming soon
• News Release
• Final Report