BUSINESS
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Education Center, also known as UF/IFAS-IRREC, Cooperative
Extension, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Horticultural Research Lab.
MOBILE SERVICE
Food trucks can also take advantage of having a commercial
kitchen to work in, or they can use it as their base
for state inspections, a place to dump their wastewater from
food preparation, and even rent parking space and keep the
truck there.
A few years ago, Mike Nattis of Port St. Lucie started a
raw nut and seed-based snack business he named GaVi’s
Goodness after his two daughters. Some of the snacks, which
incorporate granola, are in bars; others are balls. He mills his
own cashew and almond flour, mixes his ingredients, and
when ready, drops balls directly into the plastic clamshell
packaging. When everything is packaged and labeled, he
stores it in plastic storage bins.
Nattis heard about the kitchen when he was at one of the
farmers’ markets. He talked to Piscitelli about renting space
in the kitchen.
“I was ready, chomping at the bit, to get to the next level,”
Nattis recalls. “I needed to go there now.” When the kitchen
opened for business in October, Nattis was there. Now he
goes twice a week to make his snacks and says he’s there
more often for holidays.
“It gives me a big, beautiful clean place to work. It’s fantastic
— I love it,” he says. “It gives me the opportunity to use
a licensed commissary (commercial kitchen) in town. And it
gives other people a chance to succeed, whether they are an
entry level business or an established business.” >>
Mike Nattis, owner
of GaVi’s Goodness,
displays his raw nut
and seed-based snacks,
which are produced,
packaged and labeled
at Sunshine Kitchen.
/www.stophunger.org