File Photo / Tim Greenway
Bill Seretta, executive director of Fork Food Lab, said plans are on track to move into a larger facility in South Portland later this year.
Updated: February 23, 2021
Fork Food Lab mulls moving options with two potential partners
Photo / Courtesy Fork Food Lab
Fork Food Lab members include Adrian Espinoza Garcia, owner of Empanada Club, shown working here in the shared kitchen at 78 Parris St. in Portland.
Fork Food Lab, a Portland shared commercial kitchen and food-business incubator that lost a third of its members during the pandemic, still has its sights set on moving into bigger space.
"Our plans are still moving along," Fork Bill Seretta, Fork Food Lab's executive director and president of its Yarmouth-based nonprofit owner, told Mainebiz in a phone interview. "The need for it has increased dramatically.”
While the original plan was to have relocated by now, he said the need hasn't disappeared, adding, "If anything, it's become more intense."
Fork Food Lab is currently based in 5,200 square feet at 75 Parris St. in Portland's West Bayside neighborhood. As it scouts out locations for a much larger facility — as much as 20,000 to 22,000 square feet — it's in discussions with two partners that would join it as owners or tenants.
Without going into details, Seretta said that one is a large nonprofit in need of its own commissary kitchen, while the other is a large food company in need of a test kitchen with a small-bath production capacity.
He emphasized that while there are a couple of possibilities for new space so far, nothing is finalized yet and that the discussions are very fluid and are dependent on the timing and availability of a property. Even if an agreement is signed today, he estimates that "it will take us a year to move anywhere."
The plans come as Fork Food Lab prepares to welcome nine new businesses over the next few months, after losing about a third of its members during the pandemic. The current roster is just over 35 members, including Steffy Amondi of Actual Foods who recently shared her startup story in a Mainebiz podcast interview.
It also started an online market during the pandemic that continues to grow, and is gearing up to launch a weekly outdoor seasonal market this summer akin to a neighborhood farmer's market.
"We're still working on the details, but the idea is to complement and supplement our online market," he said, adding that the expected start is in early June. He also describes his general business outlook as cautiously optimistic.
"Everyone in the food business is hopeful for a new normal by next year," he said. "It's not going to happen this year."
On a personal note, Seretta looks forward to being back in the Fork Food Lab facility by mid-April after working remotely for a year.
"As more people get vaccinated, we'll be able to get back to more interactions," he told Mainebiz a day before he was scheduled to get his first vaccine shot, and noted that Fork's food entrepreneurs have missed direct contact with customers over the past year.
"It's one thing to sell," he said, "but it's more important to get feedback from customers."
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