Ogden getting its first kitchen incubator program with O-Town Kitchen
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- An undated photo of the kitchen space at the former James Madison Elementary School in Ogden. The space has been converted to house a kitchen incubator program for budding entrepreneurs.
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- An undated photo of the kitchen space at the former James Madison Elementary School in Ogden.
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- James Madison Elementary in Ogden is pictured Nov. 30, 2021.
OGDEN — Until the current school year, the building at 2563 Monroe Blvd. housed James Madison Elementary School. However, the school was shuttered and its students sent elsewhere amid changing populations and redrawn boundary lines.
In the coming weeks, it will be bustling with activity once again as the site of a new kitchen incubator program.
O-Town Kitchen — founded as a preserves company by Isaac Farley, who works in Weber State University’s Office of Community Development — will serve as the anchor for what is being touted as the Ogden area’s first shared kitchen space. The program is slated for a late-spring opening.
The reimagined company currently has an open waitlist for new businesses interested in using the former school building’s kitchen to help grow their operations.
In addition to the cooking and production space, the incubator program aims to provide equipment, support and training for entrepreneurs.
“This really is meant to be an educational program,” Farley told the Standard-Examiner. “We partnered up with Ogden School District’s adult education program. … Everyone who is a tenant business of this location is going to also register as a student of adult education and be able to participate in (classes and workshops) through Weber State’s Small Business Development Center.”
At launch, the program will be able to accommodate businesses producing packaged goods like artisanal jams and preserves, pickles and relishes, canned goods, specialty sauces, baked goods, breads and candy/chocolate.
Prepared-food operations making things like sandwiches and wraps, tamales and empanadas, soups/stews and artisanal pizza, as well as most catering companies, also will be functional in the space. Moreover, O-Town Kitchen is working toward the future accommodation of food trucks.
The kitchen is unable to accommodate deep-fat frying and alcoholic products.
Aside from helping food entrepreneurs grow their businesses, Farley has designs on fostering connectivity between them and other links in the supply chain.
“I’d like to have relationships with local farmers where these tenant businesses can source their raw product,” he said. “I’d love to build a network of local retail locations that would be willing to pick up some of the products that are produced in this kitchen. … I would even love to get relationships with a labeling company.”
Farley and his team are in the midst of final preparations for the kitchen, including the installation of another hand wash sink and the replacement of the old garbage disposal. Additional walkthroughs with regulatory agencies also will occur. From there, Farley anticipates a quick ramp-up to opening.
“This has been something that has been a long time coming,” Farley added. “There are really successful models of this in both Logan and Salt Lake, but those are kind of the closest options.”
For more information or to join the email list for O-Town Kitchen, go to https://otownkitchen.com.