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When Morales first discussed his idea with the
Purdue specialists, he wanted to produce burritos, but what started
rolling out of his facility in August was pizza. “Jose illustrates
an important point about entrepreneurs,” Hayes says. “The
things that we originally discuss with our clients aren’t
always what they end up producing.” But Hayes maintains that
changing ideas is not necessarily a sign of failure.
“I had experience with Mexican food products,
and I really wanted to use that, but, at this point in time, these
pizzas were the best option for me,” Morales says. “The
most important thing was for me to get my business up and running.”
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| Food scientist Kirby Hayes
and Maria Marshall, a rural business development specialist,
advise Indiana entrepreneurs who are developing products for
the food industry. |
During the critical start-up process, Hayes worked
with Morales to make sure the building was up to code and to go
over regulations for producing a food product. “We wrote a
couple of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) plans
together and a listeria reduction plan,” Morales says. HACCPs
are plans to prevent hazards that could cause food-borne illnesses
by applying science-based controls from raw material to finished
products. Hayes also helped Morales get the building inspected and
comply with sanitation programs and nutrition regulations from the
Food and Drug Administration.
Marshall, in turn, acted as a sounding board
for Morales’ business plan. “For Jose, I asked him some
tough questions about the feasibility of his idea and really tried
to make him think through the whole process,” Marshall says.
“In this case, it was important to make sure that he wasn’t
putting himself at risk by going into business because he was so
excited about the chance to start up his plant again.”
“This process would have been much more
difficult without Kirby and Maria’s help,” Morales says.
“They dedicated a lot of time to helping me get this business
going. Now, we’re looking at processing chili, as well. In
the future, we might do burritos.”
Once the plant is fully operational, Morales
estimates that he will employ over 30 people. Currently, 11 workers
are employed.
“That’s 11 more people with jobs
who may not have had them before,” Hayes says. “It’s
also another business operating in a community that will benefit
from economic development.”
More than raw materials
The technical and business support that Purdue
Extension provides for these endeavors varies, depending of the
nature of the project and the type of assistance that is needed.
Jerry Nelson, co-chair of Purdue Extension’s
New Ventures Team, has been working with Premium Producers Association
(PPA) for the past two years. He first helped this group of farmers
form a cooperative to grow corn for a niche market and now continues
his advisory role as they develop plans for a processing plant.
PPA producers grow food-grade corn as opposed
to traditional yellow corn. Masa flour from white or yellow corn
is used to make tortillas for Mexican cuisine. Currently, producers
sell their corn to a buyer in Georgia, where it is made into fresh
tortillas. PPA’s goal is to build a processing plant in southwestern
Indiana and capitalize on the added value the corn will have once
it’s made into masa flour.
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