Carver Food Enterprise Center

The George Washington 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 GWCFEC 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 will provide inspected, certified, and affordable space and equipment for existing and emerging food business entrepreneurs.

(2) We will provide a permanent home for, 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 to improve their quality of life by participating in food service workforce training.  The commercial kitchen will serve as a learning lab for these classes. 

(3) We will establish 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. 

Our facility will be open to food trucks and caterers in the late summer or early fall of 2023 as phase one of this project is completed.

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.