One of the difficult things when launching a small business is getting over the initial hump of finding a place where business can expand. Laurie Lashomb, the manager of the Mother Road Farmers Market in Winslow knows a great deal about these types of small businesses and the people who run them. For many, the farmers market has been a place to sell homecooked foods. However, with certain regulations around selling homemade food, it can make it quite difficult for these culinary aspirations to come to fruition.
Recently Russ Yelton and Donald Laughlin with White Mountain Economic Development have been working together with Lashomb in order to address these issues. This effort included a meeting last week with Local First Arizona, a statewide organization that focuses on workforce development, that included Yelton, Laughlin, officials from Navajo County and the City of Winslow and vendors of the farmers market, to discuss the creation of a rentable commercial kitchen for vendors to produce their food items on a larger scale.
The kitchen will be housed at the Winslow Council on Aging’s Active Adult Community Center located at 212 E. Second St., and it already has a commercial oven with stove and a 40-quart mixer in a space that can grow and adapt to the people who would rely on it to build up their small business.
Prior to the meeting, those present were served a lunch with each dish from a different vendor of the farmer’s market. Elissa Buck served lemonade from her family’s lemonade stand, Ceraphia’s Lemonade. Ceraphia is one of the daughters of Elissa who a couple years ago at the age of seven asked her mom to start the stand. They hit the ground running and have put in the work to make the stand a local favorite. When Ceraphia’s Lemonade first opened at the market the menu included just two types of lemonade, regular and strawberry, and now they boast over 18 flavors. What started as a weekly start up at the market has grown to where they now accept online orders and will even deliver freshly squeezed lemonade right to the door. They offer loyalty cups and are working on renovating a trailer to make the whole operation mobile. This is one of the many success stories the market has been able to support.
The next dish was jalapeno poppers from Chloe MacDonald. She spoke of originally making crafts to sell at the market under the name Cacklin’ Crafter, which she still does, but now has pivoted to offering food because she saw how much success her friends were having in that category. Now she said that it’s a big hit and she has been able to make a lot more money.
The next course was a chicken noodle soup made by Not-So-Boring Farm. Mark and Belinda Boring are the faces of their operation but insist that their four-year-old is the one making all the final decisions on their micro farm. The Borings have found a great deal of success at the market and have been able to provide a lot of produce during the growing season. Belinda spoke about the recent success they have had making their own spice mixes from the produce in their garden. They also make various jams that they sell. This is one of the reasons that the Borings think a commercial kitchen would provide value because they would be able to produce a much larger batch of seasonings that they would never be able to do in a reasonable amount of time in a residential kitchen.
Lastly, the audience was served from one of the market’s most popular vendors, Hannah Bush, who runs Greybush Bakery. She served a turkey sandwich on homemade focaccia bread with one of the Not-So-Boring Farm’s spice mixes on the bread.
The farmers market has had a lot of wins since it received the USDA grant that brought the market to life two years ago. There are over 200 vendors approved to be at the market, there has been over 60% growth, it is the first market in the area to offer nutritional assistance coupons and the produce is not only locally grown but brings nutritious foods to people who need it. It also increased the revenues of the vendors significantly.
As the conversation around a rentable commercial kitchen continues, community leaders, market vendors, and local officials remain optimistic that this initiative will broaden dinner options in Winslow. By transforming the ideas born in a home kitchen into scalable businesses, the market can further boost economic growth and enhance the vibrant food culture that has already begun to flourish.
