LSU to incubate new food ideas

Have you long harbored a dream of starting a small business built around Grandma’s vinaigrette recipe, or that marinade all your friends love? The LSU AgCenter will soon be helping food entrepreneurs bring their products to markets with a new food business incubator. Gaye Sandoz, a 37-year veteran of the food process industry who helped establish the successful Edible Enterprises food incubator in Norco, began working with the AgCenter this month and says that she hopes to see the new incubator fully developed within the next year. The food incubator will be equipped with state-of-the-art kitchens and laboratories in which the start-up businesses can perfect and develop their products, sparing them the burden of start-up costs like major equipment purchases. Once the businesses start turning a profit, they will be able to move out of the incubator and into their own facilities. Sandoz will help the start-up businesses make contacts with suppliers and vendors. The businesses will develop their business plans with assistance from LSU’s Louisiana Business & Technology Center. Sandoz says the incubator will also be a resource for Louisiana restaurants to produce and develop their specialty products, helping them to market these products in the wholesale market. Anyone interested in finding out more about the AgCenter’s food incubator can contact Sandoz at 225-252-7162 or [email protected].