A future for food incubators?

When Warren-based, food-business incubator Hope & Main went live last October with 30 entrepreneurs, founder Lisa J. Raiola likened the experience to “giving birth to 30 babies.”

Over the past year, Raiola estimates more than 50 businesses have launched through the nonprofit incubator, creating 75 new direct jobs and pumping $1.1 million into the local economy. Those estimates are based in part on the number of hours businesses have clocked while using space in the incubator, though Raiola acknowledges that a number of those businesses are still in research and development or have flamed out.

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Even the failures, however, can be much-less-costly learning experiences than the alternatives, she says.

“The food business is so expensive and many people end up with bakeries, cafes, kitchens or restaurants that they can’t sustain and then lose everything,” Raiola said.

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She estimates about 30 incubator entrepreneurs are still actively producing and selling their products. And one, Hola LLC, d.b.a. Hola Baked Goods, has been successful enough to leave the incubator and operate on its own in Warwick.

Count Peter Lehmuller, dean of the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University, among those impressed by the incubator’s first year.

He said a food incubator “dovetails perfectly with the state’s desire to support small-business startups and capitalize on culinary tourism by branding Rhode Island grown and produced foods.”

But providing “the business-support services, mentoring and collaborative environment to make the incubator – and its startup businesses – successful is a tall order,” he said. “So yes, I would say I am impressed with Hope & Main’s work.”

Lehmuller added that, “The need for food-business incubators is going to increase; competition among good incubators will also increase.”

Indeed, a new culinary and startup incubator program is slated to open in Providence after the rehabbing of a West End mill complex is complete. The project, Room & Works, will include apartments and shared kitchens aimed at young professionals who want to live and work in shared space.

How successful Hope & Main or any future competitors will be depends on “the quality of facilities and – in my opinion more importantly – the quality of the business mentorship the incubators provide,” Lehmuller said.

On that score, Hope & Main is off to a strong start, though both Raiola and Lehmuller see access to capital as an obstacle to startups moving forward. Raiola would like to see financial institutions and other investors create more capital for the food enterprises as they grow, an issue she said has been “a huge problem.”

Lehmuller sees food as a “true engine of economic development. … the broader the number of resources directed to the food economy in Rhode Island, the better it will be for us.” •

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