Farm and Food Leader Spotlight: Paonia Community Kitchen
Edesia Community Kitchen is now Paonia Community Kitchen
Contributing Author: Christina Allen
The Colorado Farm & Food Alliance serves to highlight and showcase the vibrant local food movement that is present throughout Colorado. As part of our Resilient & Secure Foodsheds program, the Colorado Farm & Food Alliance acts as a convening force to build and enhance local food networks, and connect consumers, the public, and peers to local food producers, businesses, and organizations. As a part of our new Farm and Food Leader series, we want to highlight our partners in the local food movement and illustrate their commitment to building more secure food systems and a healthier planet.
Chris Sullivan & Dana Whitcomb. Courtesy of @mountainoven on Instagram
In August 2020, food industry veteran Mary George and her partner John Mattox sold Edesia Community Kitchen to Dana Whitcomb & Chris Sullivan. Dana and Chris describe themselves as "local food enthusiasts building resources in our facility to support a flourishing community and economy centered around the bounty of the North Fork Valley. We work to uplift agricultural producers and new food entrepreneurs as well as create a gathering space for community all under one roof.”
The community kitchen concept has a long history dating back to Greco-Roman times, where people ate together in public eateries called Thermopolis. Community kitchens persist in various forms as a way of sharing resources, bringing people together, and providing space and refrigeration to store and process the harvest. There are dozens of community kitchens in Colorado; Some provide low-cost or free food to people in need, others are home to food truck businesses.
Paonia Community Kitchen (PCK) is a certified commercial kitchen available for rent by businesses to turn produce into value-added products, launch their concept, and start making income immediately before investing in equipment. PCK is also available to individuals and private groups for parties, educational events, or canning, pickling, or dehydrating produce. Thanks in part to Paonia’s Monica Wiitanen (Small Potatoes Farm), the Colorado Cottage Foods Act allows individuals to sell many food items from their home kitchens directly to consumers, but in order to sell wholesale or to restaurants, a state-certified kitchen is required.
PCK’s 6,000 square foot space is home to Mountain Oven Bakery and Millhouse. Mountain Oven is on Fall break until Nov. 8, but after that will be open Fridays 8 - 11am and bakery goods are available for purchase via self serve, restocked every Friday and Monday.
Other tenants include Citizen Raw, making raw dehydrated snacks and serving dinner most Thursday evenings, Gaijin Ramen House making home-delivered Asian street food and serving dinner on Monday evenings, Forage Sisters, a field-to-table catering company which draws on the bounty from Deer Tree Farm on Rogers Mesa and neighboring farms, Rock n' Roots Farm, making organic plant remedies, and Colorado Cold Pressed, making raw, solvent-free, full spectrum CBD hemp oil.
Where: 395 Clark Ave Paonia
Hours: 24/7 self-serve and weekly events
Contact: paoniafoodhouse@gmail.com
Rent: $75/day, $18/hr, or monthly rates varying by use.
Learn more about the Colorado Cottage Foods Act below