Leeward Community Collegeʻs ʻĀina to Mākeke program helps budding food entrepreneurs turn local agriculture into consumer products.
The second cohort recently began their 12-week coursework in fundamental business practices to bring food from land to market.
This year, instructor Chris Bailey wants to utilize the Wahiawā Value-Added Product Development Center, which he also manages. When the center opens in the fall, he hopes it can provide yet another facet to the program.
“In addition to this 12-week course work connecting with all these industry experts across food safety, product development, licensing, legal work, marketing, it is a defined pipeline into the center,” he said.
Bailey said those in the program will be amongst the first users of the facility, and as the LCC program continues, students will have priority use if they have a need for it.
The value-added center will house food-processing equipment and the state’s first hyperbaric high-pressure processing machine, which is used to extend the shelf-life of products.
“For a lot of entrepreneurs, they may start their value-added product journey making their product at home, doing it in smaller batches, working to get sales channels. You may be selling at vendor fairs, at farmer's markets,” Bailey said.
As entrepreneurs grow, however, they may need to build up their capacity. The center is designed to be a space for them to do just that.
He said with the facility, “all of a sudden, the users can achieve better efficiencies, and hopefully also drive their cost down lower.”
He hopes it will support continued growth in wholesale and retail channels across the state, and allow food entrepreneurs to eventually explore exporting outside of Hawaiʻi.
“This is the kind of infrastructure that I think is going to be a key component to help springboard and launchpad a lot more processors in the local food landscape,” Bailey said.
Though the ʻĀina to Mākeke program goes beyond pure product development, Baily added it provides “incredible wrap-around support…it's really just holistic business development and marketing support.”
The program is also partnering with Hawaiʻi Food and Wine Festival and with local grocery stores to get participants' products to local consumers.
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