2nd Stage Food Business Economic Analysis and Feasibility Study

Understanding the Needs of RI's 2nd-Stage Food Businesses to Support Growth

Thanks to federal funding from the EDA Local Technical Assistance Grant, RI Commerce conducted economic analysis for the state of Rhode Island in order to understand the needs of growing second-stage food & beverage businesses outlining recommendations to support growth in this important sector. 

Food business incubators and technical assistance providers in Rhode Island have achieved great success in helping to launch food & beverage businesses, almost half of which are women and minority owned. There are several success stories of home-grown food & beverage start-ups which have scaled to regional and national markets. However, many Rhode Island food businesses express that there are insufficient supports for "second stage" manufacturing and operations which is driving companies out of the state to find co-packing facilities, a common next-stage of growth for food producers looking to reach regional and national markets. 

Many neighboring states are grappling with similar infrastructure issues: the need for commercial scale co-packing and/or shared manufacturing kitchens, additional slaughterhouse capacity, bottling plants, etc. Over the last several years the State has invested significant resources into early-stage food manufacturing for small and innovative food & beverage startups which create good food jobs and offer an economic multiplier benefit by often purchasing from local farmers, fishers and food producers. Supporting the development of food clusters and next-level spaces is critical to cultivating and retaining food businesses in Rhode Island. Given Rhode Island's strategic location and emerging food innovation ecosystem, our food entrepreneurs and custom manufacturers are well positioned to capture the market opportunity of 60 million consumers within a days’ drive.