West Virginia Hive Seeking Community Input On New Fayette County Food Business Incubation Hub

Fayetteville, W.Va. (November 21, 2024) – Leaders of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA) and its entrepreneurial program – the West Virginia Hive – are seeking the community’s input by the end of the year on several aspects of a new Food Business Incubation Hub in Fayette County.

Judy Moore, deputy director of the NRGRDA and executive director of the WV Hive, said a persistent gap identified by WV Hive partners is the lack of concentrated business development support for food businesses, including access to commercial kitchen space. She said there are no shared-use licensed commercial kitchens within the 13-county service area of the WV Hive, which is based in Beckley.

Moore said the public is invited to participate in these surveys before December 31:

Demand Survey – bit.ly/wvhive-foodbusinessincubationhubsurvey

The WV Hive would like to hear from existing and aspiring food and beverage entrepreneurs to determine potential interest in using a shared-use commercial kitchen facility based in Fayette County.

Responses will help WV Hive assess potential demand for the facility that will in turn inform development and build out of the space. Questions relate to potential user needs of space, equipment, and business support services. Individual responses will be viewed only by the project team. Survey results will be aggregated and anonymized prior to any public use or presentation so that no individual business can be identified.

Location Survey – https://bit.ly/wvhivehubsearch

The WV Hive is asking leaders of local municipalities, main street and downtown organizations, real estate developers, property owners and others in the region for suggestions of potential sites for its Food Business Incubation Hub.

With the support of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Partners Network (RPN) in Southern West Virginia, WV Hive secured a USDA-ARC Rural Community Advancement Program (RCAP) grant of $750,000 to establish the Food Business Incubation Hub. This funding will support buildout of a shared-use kitchen with space for food and beverage businesses, bakers, caterers, food trucks, and farmers to make their products coupled with wrap-around WV Hive business support services specific to food manufacturing.

Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development West Virginia State Director Ryan Thorn were in Fayetteville on August 29 to announce the grant award to the WV Hive.

Moore said the WV Hive Food Business Incubation Hub is a signature project of the Rural Partners Network (RPN) Southern West Virginia Community Network. The network includes government and non-profit leaders from 12 southern West Virginia counties. The Southern West Virginia Community Network was selected in November 2022 as one of 22 rural regions nationwide to take part in the Rural Partners Network initiative. RPN is an all-of-government program that partners with rural communities to help them access resources and funding to create local jobs, build infrastructure, and support long-term economic stability.

WV Hive is the entrepreneurship program of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority. Its 13-county service area includes Raleigh, Fayette, Summers, Nicholas, Webster, Greenbrier, Pocahontas, Monroe, Mercer, McDowell, Wyoming, Logan, and Mingo counties. More information about the WV Hive can be found at https://wvhive.com/.