A $523,000 grant awarded by the Oregon Department of Agriculture will allow Cottage Grove’s Bohemia Food Hub to grow its commercial kitchen operations, allowing space for tenant businesses to more easily grow past the startup phase.
The company, which leases food production space to companies like food trucks and cottage food producers, will add more cold, frozen and dry food storage space. It will also expand its kitchen and prep area.
“It’s one thing to find a commercial kitchen where you can get started. But to find a kitchen that you’re able to rent and grow your business so you’re at a mid-scale capacity, this is the space that we’re going to be able to move into,” said Bohemia founder and executive director Kim Johnson.
Johnson said such companies often run into space issues when trying to store finished products or ingredients that will go into a product. The expansion will improve Bohemia’s ability to accommodate such needs while welcoming in more tenants, possibly from other industries including small agricultural producers in the area.
The grant money comes to the Oregon Department of Agriculture via the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program.
A total of $2.15 million was awarded in this round of grants. Bohemia received the second-largest amount. Elgin-based Sitting Bull Farms received about $2,000 more for a project with a similar description. Oregon State University also received just under $500,000 for expansion and remodeling of its Food Science Pilot Plant.
Several other Oregon organizations received grants ranging from $17,000 to $167,000.
