Last week we highlighted Carla Gallegos-Ortega, owner of Sabor New Mexico. For those of you that may have missed last week's Newsletter, Carla makes salsas and sauces that we now offer. The South Valley Economic Development Center (SVEDC) is a nonprofit that offers a community kitchen, The Mixing Bowl, that Carla uses to cook and jar her salsa. Having a relationship with the SVEDC allows us to learn about new businesses that are incubating there, and to build relationships with emerging local producers. The SVEDC is a valuable resource in the Albuquerque community.
The SVEDC is an information and resource hub for community members that want to start a business or need guidance in growing an existing one. Their programming is divided into three main areas: The Mixing Bowl, The Virtual Incubation Program, and The Business Incubation Program. In addition, they offer trainings, small business support, and house Delicious New Mexico, an online platform for local producers to offer their products on the wholesale and retail markets. The Business Incubation program supports new and emerging local businesses by offering them the resources they need to grow so they can focus on meeting their goals. The SVEDC provides full-time business consultants to help assist with growth and operations.
The Mixing Bowl—the facet of SVEDC programming that helped Carla launch her business—is a large, community commercial kitchen (one of the largest in the country!) that offers use of equipment at an affordable price and in a healthy and positive environment. In addition to providing the space for a business to produce products, the SVEDC helps develop distribution avenues to facilitate businesses growth. There is a food consultant on-staff to help guide entrepreneurs through the nitty-gritty of starting a food business (food safety, regulations, permitting, etc).
The SVEDC is an amazing resource in Albuquerque that is providing support to those interested in starting their own businesses. They offer a warm, positive, and welcoming environment staffed by folks who truly care about supporting our communities and supporting those that are driven to starting their own businesses. Without them we wouldn't be able to offer the small-scale local products that we do.
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