Flavors, Prince George’s County’s first culinary incubator, received $497,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand its programs to entrepreneurs of color growers, farmers, agribusiness owners and food concerns over the next two years.
The Local Food Promotion Program will implement the grant. The grant will be used to build out and deliver a technical incubator and develop a Flavors website and app-based visual education platform.
The grant’s goal will facilitate bringing more people of color into the culinary business space through an easily accessible online curriculum and attract local farmers.
“We’d like to see more Black and brown food and beverage brands,” Samia Bingham, Flavors’ founder and CEO, said according to the Washington Business Journal. “More profitable Black and brown food beverage brands throughout the DMV region where they are able to open up their own brick and mortars, they’re able to go into e-commerce. They are able to be on retail shows. That is our goal. That is our mission.”
The Hyattsville-based concept will need to get a match of $132,276 to bring the total project amount to $629,676. Bingham said with the grant, Flavors will host three cohorts in a hybrid 12-week culinary business technical training incubator starting in April.
She said courses dealing in accounting, legal, hospitality management, human resources, staffing, marketing and branding will be offered to Flavors members, as a priority, and other entrepreneurs.