The Old Prices Fork Elementary School has come to life again as was evident Wednesday with the grand opening of Millstone Kitchen.
Formally known as the Old School Project, the revitalization of the building has been several years in the making and was guided and supported by Live Work Eat Gather, Inc., a nonprofit organization.
Millstone Kitchen was named to honor the history of millstone manufacturing in the Prices Fork community and is part of a three-phase development plan creating the Old School Center. The effort seeks to build a multi-function facility that includes residential apartments, a restaurant, a brewery, and the Millstone Kitchen
Local entrepreneurs, farmers, and community members have guided the project in every step of development in order to determine how best to serve the Prices Fork community, Montgomery County and the broader New River Valley. The collaborative development process has resulted in a flexible, dynamic space filled with everything needed to launch a food business in the New River Valley.
So far the development houses an up-and-coming business concern, Moon Hollow Brewery; Millstone Kitchen and 16 apartments occupied by seniors and families on limited income. With a waiting list, 16 more apartments are under construction. A planned restaurant space is yet to be developed.
Millstone Kitchen is a unique kitchen, a commercially-licensed kitchen space. Available for rent by the hour, food entrepreneurs can ready their products for sale or test new recipes. They thus have the freedom to explore new markets and customers without the risk of opening their own storefronts. Millstone can also serve as a commissary space for local food trucks, offering prep and storage spaces as well as disposal services.
Some of the equipment in Millstone’s two kitchens includes a walk-in cooler and freezer, ranges, convection ovens, tilting skillet, steam-jacketed kettle, dehydrator, commercial mixers and commercial food processors.
The goal of Millstone Kitchen is to increase access to food sourced and created locally and to help the agricultural and entrepreneurial communities in the New River Valley compete in the national revival of food entrepreneurship.
But Millstone Kitchen goes far beyond just offering kitchen space to would-be foodpreneurs. The Kitchen offers business support services and seeks to cultivate a supportive community of new entrepreneurs based there. Kitchen users have access to professionals who can assist with business plan development, marketing, food safety regulations, and sourcing ingredients.
The Kitchen is offering the From Scratch Foodpreneur Series, which teaches budding food business people everything they need to have their food business up and running in six weeks. From Scratch is a free series of six three-hour classes held Thursday nights that continues through the end of February. Taught by a team of local experts, topics include Business Planning, Meeting Food Safety Requirements, Legal and Accounting, Marketing and Promotion, and Finances and Loans.
Thirty-six entrepreneurs are at the old school each week to learn and to network. More than fifty would-be foodpreneurs applied for the first classes, so plans are already in the works for a second series.
Moreover, Millston Kitchen has up to $20k to award new and existing foodpreneurs. Participants who complete the entire From Scratch series can qualify for funding of kitchen application fees, business license fees, inspection fees, food safety certification fees and the first year of liability insurance. Foodpreneurs who participate in the series and submit a final business plan can potentially win awards to cover additional start-up and early operating expenses such as kitchen rental fees and inventory costs.
Kevin Byrd, on the board of directors of umbrella organization Live Work Eat Gather pointed out at the grand opening that the development of the old school building was done in such a way to make it a model for community development. As many aspects of the original school building as could be preserved were used. For instance, the old soapstone in the school lab has been repurposed as the bar top of Moon Hollow Brewery. The brewery itself is housed in what was the school’s kindergarten space.
The refurbished facility is owned and operated by Prices Fork Village 1, L.L.C. Funding for the development was provided as a cooperative venture by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, the New River Valley HOME Consortium, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Vibrant Community Initiative, and Virginia Community Capital, all in partnership with Montgomery County.
