Incubator Kitchen, a entrepreneurship incubator in the Northern Kentucky, is putting on a wholesale food show called Good n’ Local.
The goal? Connecting customers with local artisans and makers.
“Good n’ Local, really for me, is this idea that it’s connecting local buyers to local makers,” founder Rachel DesRochers told LINK nky. “We have so many small, artisan producers across the region in the food space.”
Good n’ Local is scheduled to be held on March 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at MadTree Brewing’s Oakley location. Fifty vendors are slated to be present, selling food items in a variety of categories: perishable, non-perishable, ready-to-eat, body care, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages.
The expo will feature two panels. During the first, panelists will discuss growing and understanding local food. Sam Pellerito of CinSoy Foods, Tonica Chavez of ETC Produce & Provisions and Julie Lincoln of DohJoy are the three panelists.
The second panel will discuss local and regional wholesale food selling and distribution. As of now, Dave Knox of Blue North and Shannon Sherrard of Graeters are the two confirmed panelists.
“There’s not really a formal food education program here in the region,” said DesRochers. “Putting some education panels into the project that we’re going to build for Good n’ Local I think will just help start building that component for us.”
DesRochers believes Good n’ Local has true staying power and wants the event to be an annual occasion.
“Good n’ Local helps us step out of this physical location that we’re in and Newport, and says, ‘no, we’re actually building this for the region, this is something that you have access to,” said DesRochers.
Small businesses, vendors and food trucks will be present at Good n’ Local. Invitations have been extended to larger companies such as Kroger. In many ways, the event aims to give a smaller business a chance for exposure from a large company like Kroger.
Founded in 2013, Incubator Kitchen has helped over 170 companies launch from ideas to legitimate businesses. Based in Newport, their shared kitchen space allows food entrepreneurs to have access to a kitchen and other necessary tools in order to scale upward from a startup into a healthy business.
“Whether it’s growing food, whether it’s hot prepared catered food, whether it’s packaged goods, beverages — this idea can create an event for the region that brings all of those people to one place and then invites all the buyers and the stores,” said DesRochers.
Registration is free and is open now at eventbrite.com.
