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A strong taste for a commercial kitchen
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MONROE - Interest in a local community commercial kitchen is tremendous, according to a survey hosted by the Green County UW Extension.

Survey results were presented to about 20 attendees at a public meeting Monday in the Amcore Bank Community Room.

"It was a good, exciting meeting," said Cara Carper, Green County's UW Extension community resource development educator.

A community commercial kitchen would provide an opportunity to anyone with a dream of producing and marketing a food product but lacks the space, equipment, financial resources or support of others to do it.

About 88 people responded to the survey, and responses still are coming in, Carper said.

People still may answer the survey online.

People were not required to answer every question, which causes some categories not to add up to the total number of respondents, Carper said.

Twenty-eight percent of respondents had no idea how much revenue they wanted to bring in with their products, but more than 50 percent are seeking less than $10,000 annually. That may indicate most people are seeking to supplement their present paycheck with a little extra income.

Only 15 percent wanted to make between $10,000 and $100,000. No one expressed a desire to make more than $100,000 a year.

Of those who gave their age, more than 77 percent were between 35 and 65.

Interest in producing one's own products fell to 8 percent after the age of 65. And among the younger crowd, ages 18-34, only 15 percent were looking at the commercial kitchen as a way to produce their own goods.

About 50 percent of the respondents were from the Monroe area, but all were within 25 miles of Monroe. The farthest surveys came from Brooklyn, Blanchardville and Lena, Ill..

Of the surrounding communities, Browntown produced the most surveys, about 13 percent. Eight percent were from New Glarus, and Albany and Blanchardville each brought in 6 percent.

People expressed interest in producing a wide range of foods, and could choose several types on the survey.

The greatest desire was to produce baked goods, with 42 people checking that option.

Sauces and salsas came in second with 29 votes, followed by food preparation and jams, jelly and syrups at 23 and 22, respectively.

The need for a place to prepare foods for catering and festivals came in with 19 votes, but the survey also showed nine respondents are currently producing those foods, the most of any category. If present producers use the commercial kitchen, total potential users would tally 28.

A community kitchen also would provide producers with needed classes on regulations, business planning, mentoring, accounting and marketing assistance, and others.

Fifty respondents wanted classes on regulations for food production, but all classes received between 18 and 40 percent of the possible 88 responses. In total, 292 people responded to the survey.

Carper already has begun contacting potential kitchen users who want to participate in small focus group discussions June 8 and 9.

If a respondent didn't leave contact information on the survey, or if interested in finding out more about the commercial kitchen in a small group setting, contact Carper at (608) 328-9441, or cara.carper@ces.uwex.edu.

The survey and the results are available online at www.gckitchen.org.