Most small-scale food businesses don’t have the capital to invest in their own production facilities, and rental costs at the handful of available commercial kitchens in the DC area are high. Crossroads Community Food Network’s shared-use Takoma Park Silver Spring Community Kitchen located in TPPC provides much-needed affordable food prep and storage space to local food producers. These entrepreneurs are building wealth and creating new jobs in our community.

The kitchen opened in 2017, and within a year it knew it needed to expand. After several rounds of fundraising and COVID-related construction delays, the project is done, and the amount of cold prep and storage space has doubled.

“The second floor has propelled the kitchen into another stratosphere,” says Community Kitchen Program Manager Ivie Baker. “The added space not only accommodates more businesses, it also brings flexibility.”

A new beverage business on the second floor is POWERUP, makers of herbal infusions. Baker notes that the second floor is geared toward those who make consumer packaged goods with e-commerce business models and/or strong relationships with retail outlets (as opposed to caterers and market vendors).

“The transition has been awesome,” he says, “and we’re learning so much more about what is possible. None of this would have been possible without Jill Feasley and Vicki Warren, who worked tirelessly -- raising funds, finding contractors, and overseeing construction -- to see the project through.”

$25,000 was given through a “Thanks Offering” grant from Presbyterian Women. This was one of a handful of programs nationwide to receive funding for what they felt was a “model” program worthy of replication in other churches and communities across the country.

See what other vendors are using the Community Kitchen.

This article originally appeared in TPPC’s What’s What, a weekly email edited by David Olson.