Cascade Community Markets invests in infrastructure for next generation of local farmers and food entrepreneurs

In an idyllic, tourism-driven town known for brats and beer, launching a food business in Leavenworth requires more than a strong recipe or quality produce.

Farmers face high land costs and a short growing season that limits annual income, while food entrepreneurs contend with rare and expensive brick-and-mortar leases. City code also prohibits food trucks, further narrowing entry points for new businesses.

“We're really the worst off for it as a community, because we have incredibly talented people here who make incredibly good, delicious things, and they don't want to do it at a grand price point or scale,” said Cascade Community Markets Executive Director Cali Osborne. “They want to feed their community, and that's really incredibly valuable.”

For many farmers and artisans, the Cashmere and Leavenworth Farmers Markets, which are organized by the nonprofit Cascade Community Markets, can be the most viable point of entry.

“The farmers market, to me, is kind of the most obvious and the easiest, or lowest barriers of entry,” said Paul Sozio, founder of Refugio, which serves Argentine-inspired empanadas.

Following in the footsteps of a handful of local entrepreneurs — such as Bavarian Bagel, which now has two brick-and-mortar locations — Sozio launched his business at the Leavenworth Farmers Market last summer. The price of a weekend booth allowed him to test his product, maintain his other jobs, and gain exposure without the expensive risk of signing a lease. 

However, prior to joining the market, Sozio’s biggest hurdle was finding an affordable, licensed place to prep and cook. The only kitchens available were as far as Wenatchee, with rental rates that far exceeded what he would earn at the market.

“I was mostly breaking even after I paid for my ingredients, my space, my equipment — those types of things,” said Sozio. “So to pay those prices, it would have absolutely not made sense. It would have prevented me from doing it all together, because I would have just been losing money every week.”

His breakthrough came through mutual friends and Leavenworth business owners, who offered their recently vacated kitchen at a reasonable rate. After six weekends at the market, Sozio walked away with several follow up opportunities, and is currently in the process of securing an even larger deal.

“There's this momentum that now is giving me more opportunities, which was the dream and the goal from the beginning,” said Sozio.

In recent months, the same commercial kitchen was sold to Cascade Community Markets, who plans to expand the same opportunity to entrepreneurs like Sozio.

“Kitchens are so expensive, whether you're buying one, renting one, or building one, it's an extremely costly industry to get started in,” said Osborne. “What I have seen as a trend in our valley is that it can be cost prohibitive for really creative, talented people to actually build a life and a business around their food business or food art, if you will.”

With plans to open in June, the organization is in the process of outfitting the new Leavenworth Commissary Kitchen with enough equipment to meet a multitude of needs, such as installing a hood and range, sourcing a commercial-sized dough mixer and acquiring other processing tools. The nonprofit plans to rent the space for around $25 an hour, with discounts for high frequency use, vendors of its markets, nonprofits, and farms.

“We're all about keeping the food system local, and this should really help us create that market opportunity for folks who want to get into it,” said Osborne.

According to Osborne, the kitchen is ideal for bakers and chefs like Sozio, but it can also help farmers extend their season by providing a commercially licensed space to process and preserve their product. Or, the space could be used as a “ghost kitchen,” where the commissary kitchen becomes a pop-up restaurant or take-out space for an evening.

“It can be a really good opportunity for someone interested in starting a restaurant, or someone who's filling in the gaps in their catering business to make some more income,” said Osborne.

To Sozio, having an affordable commissary kitchen is not only a “huge win” for farmers and other entrepreneurs, but also the community. By reducing the barriers of entry, he hopes to see food options expand and diversify in a town run by brats and pretzels.

“Having a kitchen to cook in is the critical piece that allows people, and hopefully other people like me in the future, to get their feet wet and to test their products…and get out there to hopefully bring more interesting, different and diverse food to this valley,” said Sozio.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media