With the help of a newly launched Syracuse test kitchen, anybody, even students, can bring their homemade recipe to the mainstream industry.

‘It’s giving (opportunities to) small entrepreneurs who may never have had an opportunity to come out and be successful,’ said Dave Evans, director of Nelson Farms. ‘It gives them an opportunity they have never had before.’

The new kitchen opened its doors for business March 26 at the South Side Innovation Center (SSIC) on South Salina Street.

The program is helping anyone from the community who would like to commercialize a product from a home recipe, said Lynne Foster, the newly hired product development coordinator for COMTEK, as the employees have dubbed the community test kitchen.

The program is a joint effort between Syracuse University and Nelson Farms at the State University of New York at Morrisville. The program is an expansion of the entrepreneurship program at SSIC.

The test kitchen was established in response to requests at the SSIC and the Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (WISE) program for help in commercializing homemade food products.

‘They were getting requests like, ‘I make this great sauce or cake or pie, and I’d like to put it on the market. Can you help?” Foster said.

With the aid of a $30,000 grant from the Central New York Community Foundation, the SSIC fulfilled the need.

The test kitchen was started to give people an outlet for their ideas. Anyone in the community can propose a recipe to develop into a commercial food product. The test kitchen the helps the entrepreneur work through creating a commercially viable recipe capable of being scaled to production.

‘SUNY Morrisville came to us for a grant to get equipment for a test kitchen located at South Side Innovation Center, started by Syracuse University,’ said Peggy Ogden, director of the CNY Community Foundation.

‘It’s an incubator for neighborhood entrepreneurs,’ she said. ‘The importance of the SSIC is that on the South Side there is not a lot of economic development, but there are a lot of people with good ideas.’

Though the program costs $100 for the first two days of kitchen work and $25 for every day after, the program provides comprehensive help for those attempting to commercialize their product.

The process starts by submitting an application to SSIC detailing the food to be created.

‘Once they fill out the application, I call people back and set up appointments to discuss their food more thoroughly,’ Foster said. ‘We also talk about whom are you going to target the product to, who’s your competition, so they can really learn to market a product during that time.’

After the product is finalized in the test kitchen, Nelson Farms tests the product for commercialization.

‘We work with the idea to tweak their recipes to meet FDA (Food and Drug Administration) requirements to be commercial,’ Evans, the director of Nelson Farms. ‘I will work with (the test kitchen) on those standards. We are FDA and Department of Agriculture certified. We can process and upscale the formulas to try to bottle and get it out there. Basically what it boils down to, we come in after the test kitchen has done everything for food safety requirements.’

The ultimate aim of the project is economic development.

‘This is a perfect example of community foundation having philanthropic resources. And adding the entrepreneurship of SU and Morrisville gives them the ability to serve upon the South Side of Syracuse, an area in need of creative economic development,’ Ogden said. ‘Many people are trying to get into the food product business. And in order to be successful, they need the test kitchen to help them.’

The program is open to the entire community, and people from all walks of life, including students, have put in applications to use the kitchen, Foster said.

mwwoolle@syr.edu