New venture gives residents ability to cook, market food items

St. Charles Parish residents who have a passion for cooking and a good idea for a food product could see their homemade recipes lining the shelves of supermarkets everywhere. That’s because the Norco Food Incubator, a facility that includes a commercial grade kitchen for production of home baked goods, is almost complete.

The facility will allow those food service entrepreneurs to bake, market and sell their home-baked goods.

“We’re anticipating the grand opening of the Norco incubator within the next few months and the renovations of the facility are right on schedule,” Corey Faucheux, the director of Economic Planning and Development in St. Charles Parish, said. “Anyone with an idea for a recipe can come rent the time they need to use the space, which could be a few hours a day or weeks.

“Once they rent the time they need to use the space, they can cook their recipe in an industrial kitchen to make or bake large quantities, and once they’ve finished someone will assist them with marketing and preparing the finished product to sell in stores or other outlets.”

Faucheux says now is the time to sign up to use the facility because the grand opening is only a couple of months away.
Faucheux says when people were calling in to check on the progress of the facility months ago, the incubator was just in the planning phase.

“We’ve grown beyond that now,” he said. “This is definitely the time to call if you’re interested in participating or would like more information about the Norco incubator.”
Faucheux says the idea came to fruition through a joint venture with Greater New Orleans Inc., Goodwill Industries, the Louisiana State University Business and Technology Center, and the River Parishes Community Development Corp.

“We plan to expand our incubators to other parishes some day,” he said. “Lafourche, St. John and St. James are possibilities if everything is successful.”
Faucheux says that right now the steering committee is working on plans to make sure the facility will be managed properly.

“We’re working out a fee structure for the use of the various services provided at the incubator,” he said. “There will be someone hired to manage the facility.”
Faucheux says that by next month the group will have a better idea of what it will cost residents to use the facility.

For more information, call 985-783-5140 or e-mail econdev@stcharlesgov.net.