News Release Distributed 09/03/14

BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU AgCenter Food Incubator has received a $25,000 grant from the Louisiana Economic Development Business Incubation Support Program. The funds were awarded through the Louisiana Business Incubator Association in August and will be used to purchase faster, more efficient processing equipment.

The Food Incubator was one of seven Louisiana business incubators to receive a grant.

“Adding faster processing equipment to our line will enable food companies to produce more product per processing day, which saves them money,” said Gaye Sandoz, Food Incubator director. “We’re grateful for this support.”

In addition to new equipment purchased with the grant, tenants now have access to a used 60-gallon kettle purchased at a fraction of its original cost. The incubator also has refurbished equipment no longer being used by the LSU AgCenter School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Sandoz said.

“Given that we are teaching our tenants to run efficient businesses, we hope this sets an example of how to recycle and still be functional,” Sandoz said.

The Food Incubator provides small food entrepreneurs with kitchen space, processing equipment and assistance from AgCenter marketing and food science experts. It currently serves 18 tenants whose products include salad dressing, barbecue sauce, hummus and pralines. Six more tenants are expected to join soon.

Olivia McClure