Taiko drums and excitement roared as a crowd of over 300 people attended Leeward Community College’s brand new Wahiawā Value-Added Product Development Center (WVAPDC)’s grand opening on April 12th. The 33,000 sq ft state of the art food production facility aims to educate and support the students, entrepreneurs, and farmers of Hawai’i in turning food into innovative, value added products.
What are value added products?
Value added products are raw agricultural products that have been enhanced or modified in order to increase their value and shelf life. In simpler terms, these are foods that you don’t typically eat fresh, but are foods that are able to be packaged and sold days later.
After a blessing ceremony and a few messages from honored guests Senator Donovan Dela Cruz and Leeward CC’s Chancelor Carlos Penaloza, attendees of the grand opening received their first look tours around the facilities. The center’s 12,000 sq. ft. of kitchen space includes two dry production kitchens, one wet production kitchen, and a large variety of kitchen and packaging equipment. The Wahiawa VAPDC is also home to the state’s first high processing pressure machine. This machine uses pressure instead of heat to safely eliminate harmful microorganisms in order to make the food last longer.
In addition to the tours, small, local food businesses such as Mochi Momma, Hawaiian Vinegar Co., and Mossy Mokes were there to give people a taste of their delicious products. The center presents opportunities for small businesses such as these to add value to their products, go bigger with production, and possibly get their products onto local grocery shelves.
“It all comes down to activation,making sure that we can serve our student community, our entrepreneurs, and ultimately our local farmers. Folks that are growing Hawai’i-grown fruits and vegetables, how do we get that into the hands of incredible entrepreneurs to create the next generation of innovative products?” says Chris Bailey, the Wahiawa VAPDC’s manager.
The concept of the center itself contributes to a larger vision of a more sustainable Hawai’i, through the increased support of our agricultural sector. The center will operate in gradual phases. The current, initial phase one is dedicated wholly to education. This means educating people on how to develop and market their value-added products while utilizing the center’s resources and industry professional’s expertise.
Who is this facility for?
Culinary students and entrepreneurs in need of support in early stage food production commercialization and product development can apply to utilize the center’s resources. All culinary students under the UH system are able and encouraged to use the facility for their value added products. In fact, LCC has recently created a value-added course for culinary students that will allow them to use the center’s facilities. Another one of the center’s amazing educational opportunities for students and entrepreneurs is their ‘Aina to Makeke program.
What is ‘Aina to Makeke?
The ‘Aina to Makeke program is a broad, 12-week process that will take applicants through steps such as developing their business plan, learning about compliance matters, and marketing and packaging their products. Once entrepreneurs figure out where they are in their business plan, they will work with experts in the facility who will help them to master their next steps whether that is sending out a grant, or developing a new packaging for their product.
The Wahiawa VAPDC is also partnering with culinary students from the high schools and academies. Leeward CC Chancellor Penaloza states that, “Everyone should have access to these resources and that’s why we love what we do in community college, we’re open access.” Providing opportunity for all students and entrepreneurs to learn about value-added product development is an integral part of the center’s vision for a more sustainable Hawai’i.
In addition to their usual operations, the center will also host online seminars to educate people on topics such as what value-added products are and how high pressure processing works. With the combined efforts of learners and the experts in the facility, people can learn how to create value added products such as hot sauce or vinegar.
A Future Food Hub
Following the initial education phase, the project also intends to obtain and become a storage warehouse which can hold capacity for the agricultural and value-added products that will be coming in and out of the facility. Their final phase and larger vision is to become an innovative food hub that will help Hawai’i to become more sustainable and self-sufficient. While the center still has some finishing touches to be done, they expect to be fully operational by late summer 2024.
Have any ideas for a value-added product? Visit the Wahiawa VAPDC website https://www.leeward.hawaii.edu/wvapdc/ to begin the consultation process or email them at vapdc@hawaii.edu for any questions.
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