Community Ventures invites Kentucky growers, food producers and retailers to explore Chef Space Too, an initiative connecting local ingredients, food businesses and market opportunities. With Mustard Seed Hill in Millersburg serving as its rural hub, the program brings together farm and food entrepreneurs to help more Kentucky-grown ingredients become products ready for larger markets.
Every product begins with a connection: a grower with an ingredient, a producer with an idea, a retailer with room for something customers will love. Chef Space Too invites all three to start a conversation about what comes next.
Growers: Start a conversation about what you grow
Could your next business relationship begin with the ingredients already on your farm? Chef Space Too helps connect farmers and food producers around local sourcing.
Tell the team what you grow, when it is available and the kinds of business relationships you want to build. Think beyond a crop list: what would you like a potential food-business partner to know about your farm?
Food producers: Prepare your product for its next step
Participants may receive business planning, financial forecasting, sourcing and retail-readiness support, plus kitchen incubator access through Mustard Seed Hill or Chef Space when appropriate.
Bring your questions along with your product. Are you looking for a Kentucky ingredient supplier? Working toward a wholesale price? Deciding whether your production process can support a larger order? Describe your next goal so the conversation starts with what matters to your business.
Retailers: Help shape the farm-to-shelf conversation
Market and retail partners are invited to express interest, too. Tell the team what you would like to source and what you need to evaluate a potential supplier. Product categories, packaging expectations and ordering requirements are useful places to start.
Your perspective can help make conversations between growers, makers and buyers more practical from the beginning.
How to participate in Chef Space Too
Visit Chef Space Too and complete the interest form. Introduce your farm, food product or retail business and describe the connections or support you are seeking.
Chef Space Too is funded through the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s Local Food Promotion Program. Mustard Seed Hill, Chef Space and Community Ventures contribute facilities, food-business expertise and entrepreneurial support.
Grow it. Make it. Stock it. Tell us where you fit—and what you want to build next.