With a community space and local ingredients, Three Sisters Kitchen is serving up startup assistance for food entrepreneurs.
Specifically, the nonprofit is trying to fill a void in the world of new food businesses: assistance for people focused on manufactured food products. To do so, it is taking applications for its Food Business Training Program.
Three Sisters launched has been running training cohorts since 2018, Three Sisters director Anzia Bennett told Business First. Participants are meant to explore concepts for food businesses and determine viability.
Lilia Avila of Fiesta Food on Wheels was one of the participants in the first cohort. The startup was originally intended as a food truck, but it eventually abandoned that idea as it was too much work for too little return, Avila told Business First.
"What I learned is people wanted healthy food, local food," Avila said.
Today, Fiesta Food offers pre-packaged dehydrated foods. Its offerings include mole, pico de gallo salsa, salsa verde, birria and adovada. The target market includes campers, people in college, people in the military and low-income individuals, according to Avila.
Following the initial 15-week cohort, graduates that decide to actually launch businesses can go on to receive additional support like technical assistance and training. And through a program with Nusenda Credit Union, grads can also get low-interest loans of up to $5,000, according to Bennett.
Additionally, Three Sisters Kitchen has launched its own product lines — a blue-corn waffle mix, granolas and spice shakes — plus a cafe (although it temporarily closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic).
The nonprofit opened in 2018 and is located downtown at 109 Gold Ave. SW. The next cohort for the Food Business Training Program begins in March, and applications are due Feb. 15.
