LopezRocks - Item

The Taproot Community Kitchen, the shared-use commercial kitchen off Dill Road, nears seven years of collaborative effort to provide sustenance and entrepreneurial opportunities for the islands' community, and we have much to celebrate!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, shared-use or commissary kitchens are becoming go-to places that farmers, caterers, food trucks, and value-added food producers use to focus on their food business. They offer a licensed commercial space, so business owners don't have to worry about the overhead of getting their own kitchen set up. These types of kitchens offer shared tools, equipment, and management. Taproot Community Kitchen is rentable by the hour for any community member and we offer cold and dry storage for businesses.

Our efforts to provide a facility on Lopez that promotes resilience, economic empowerment, and delicious local foods has reached a further milestone. We are embarking on a key next step -- the addition of a cook room with a large range, ovens, and a commercial fire suppression kitchen hood. Our new kitchen will have far more prep and processing space, more equipment, and a large area for dry storage. We feel at this junction it is a good time of the year to take stock of our latest endeavors.

Accomplishments at Taproot:
Three licensed WSDA producers - Just Heavenly Fudge Factory, Chicaoji Sauce, and Vortex
Over fifteen Lopez businesses using the current prep kitchen and/or storage including Island Grazing Table, Lopez Grind, Lopez Farm Cottages, Lopez Berry Buds, and Pine Tree Creamery
A range of non-profit users including the Food Share, Lopez Locavores, and the LIFRC Gleaning program
A line up of potential value-added food producers, who have expressed interest and are awaiting the completion of our new cook room
A handful of home cooks, who have become expert users of our processing equipment including the freeze dryer, vacuum packer, and commercial sized dehydrator
The San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild and San Juan Islands Food Hub graciously set up a walk-in freezer at Taproot, which is now filled with island meats and produce
Cold storage in our walk-in refrigerator for business use and chilled storage in an additional CoolBot space for storage of island gleaned fruits and Food Share produce
Food business start-up guidance and mentorship (with Spanish translation available), including a recent 2-day WSDA focused value-added food production and food safety workshop held by the WSU Food Processing Authority

Taproot is in the final steps of our fundraising process to finish our cook room expansion. We've secured funds to outfit the kitchen and storage space with equipment from multiple USDA Grants, most of the funding coming from a USDA Rural Business Development Grant. However, between final construction costs and installing the county required Class 1 fire suppression hood we need to raise another $80,000. As soon as our fundraising is complete, we'll be able to finalize the expansion. Our goal is to open our cook room doors this summer.

Please consider a donation to help build the cook room, any amount will help us!

With the completion of this project, we'll be able to offer new and existing farmers, caterers, food processors, and value-added food makers more space and kitchen tools to flourish and grow which in turn supports our local economy! Once the cook room is complete, we have a goal of becoming a co-packer, one who processes and packages products for their clients, which would benefit farmers, food producers, and our local food system across all islands. And we will be able to better support and partner with our food focused nonprofits like the Lopez Locavores, Transition Lopez Island, and the developing Lopez Food Center to increase food safety, emergency food supplies, and abundant affordable access to healthy locally grown foods.

We hope you can join us in our effort - small and large donations will make the difference!
Taproot is a 501c(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization (EIN# 81-1346888). Your contributions to Taproot are tax deductible.

Taproot has three primary funding sources - kitchen use fees, grants, and donations. At this time, we’re leaning heavily on grants and donations to support infrastructure, helping us build a strong foundation that will last us for decades to come.

Donations are gratefully accepted through Paypal (credit or debit) or by check. Taproot has earned a Candid Gold Seal of Transparency profile on GuideStar.
Send donations payable to:
Taproot A Lopez Kitchen
P.O. Box 551
Lopez Island, WA,98261

The Taproot Board meets weekly, Mondays noon-2pm at Vortex, and anyone is welcome to join us with questions or suggestions. Or you can reach us at [email protected] to set up a time to tour the current prep kitchen or ask us questions about our projects.

Cook room construction

Cook Room Project Website and Online Donation