Carver Food Enterprise Center

The Carver Food Enterprise Center is a project of the George Washington Carver Agriculture Research Center, a non-profit organization located in the heart of the Rapidan Rappahannock Region of Virginia’s Northern Piedmont that aims to honor Dr. George Washington Carver’s contributions to agriculture and education.

The CFEC is a 6,200-square-foot, fully equipped facility that is being built in three phases.  The kitchen is intended to serve the five-county region of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock by offering services in three separate areas:

(1) As a Food Business Incubator, we provide inspected, certified, and affordable space and equipment for existing and emerging food business entrepreneurs. So far, we have helped start 13 new businesses, graduated two to brick and mortar, and curretly host 17 in our kitchen space. We also have helped over 250 businesses through our workshops, food safety training, and regulatory guidance.

(2) We are home to and create jobs through GWCARC’s existing and highly successful Stone Soup Job Skills Training Program.   Our Stone Soup Program helps low-income individuals and persons with physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities improve their quality of life by training in food service workforce.  The commercial kitchen serves as a learning lab for these classes. 

(3) We are part of a Food System Security Program by providing space and expertise in processing foods and preparing meals that can be distributed to local food banks and food pantries. So far, we have rescued over 3,000 lbs of food, making over 5,000 servings of nutritious meals for our community.

Our facility opened September 2023 to food trucks, caterers, and consumer packaged goods. 

Approximately $2 million is needed to complete phase 2 and 3 of this project which will focus on value-added processing and co-packing for local producers and food entrepreneurs.