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GETTING STARTED

The TowneBank Community Kitchen was created to address the growing need for affordable, accessible kitchen space for our community’s farmers market vendors, food entrepreneurs, and value-added food producers. These businesses often struggle to find certified commercial kitchen space that is both convenient and supportive of their growth. Our kitchen provides Health Department-certified facilities along with the services and resources needed for these businesses to flourish.  In addition, it will address our own need to expand production space for Good Foods Grocery.

Located in Richmond, on Forest Hill Avenue near Huguenot, the TowneBank Community Kitchen offers a combination of traditional kitchen prep space for food entrepreneurs and educational class space for consumers. Whether you’re launching a new food business or looking to scale an existing one, we are here to help you reach your potential!

In alignment with our mission to promote inclusivity, Commonwealth Autism’s acquisition of Good Foods Grocery Store in Stony Point was a key step toward launching our workforce development program. This program provides employment and training opportunities for autistic individuals, empowering them to thrive in the workforce. With the addition of the TowneBank Community Kitchen, we are furthering our commitment to fostering a community where everyone has the opportunity to succeed within our community’s food system.

We use The Food Corridor to manage our booking, document management, invoicing, and payment systems.

With The Food Corridor, you will have access to:

• Easy kitchen scheduling and a one-stop-shop account monitoring from your phone, tablet, or computer
• Easy payments, tracking, and reporting of all your kitchen related expenses
• Expiration date tracking for your Food Protection Manager Certification and your General Liability insurance.

1. Create an account on The Corridor.
2. Follow the TFC New Kitchen Tenant Checklist to get started.
3. You must first submit your Application and signed Rental Agreement.
4.  Use the links in the Checklist to pay your Application Fee and Security Deposit.
5. Set up your payment method in your Account Settings on TFC.
6. Begin uploading your required documents in your Documents tab. If you don’t have these document yet…don’t sweat it!!! We can assist you with that!
7. You can schedule an Informational Call or Kitchen Tour if you’d like.  Contact info is on the Checklist.
8. Once you make your way through the list and your application is approved, you can Schedule your first booking on our Shared Calendar to get inspected so you can get cooking!

User Orientation. Each user must schedule a time prior to their first rental time slot to go through a User Orientation. This generally takes 15 minutes. The Kitchen Manager provides a walk-through, equipment demonstration, clean-up procedures, VDH hand-outs and/or other pertinent materials, and answers questions. Info on how to schedule is on the above Checklist.

Access Code. Once you have applied and been approved and followed all of the above steps, you will be sent an Access Code for the door.  Keep the code in a safe place – either print it out and carry it with you or store it on your phone. To request a new Access Code, email or text us on The Food Corridor.

VDH or VDACS Inspection Process.  The Kitchen Manager can assist you with your application to either VDH or VDACS.  Just follow the above Checklist and once your application is approved, there will be additional documents and instructions available to you on The Food Corridor.

Here is a tutorial to help you get started, and a quick video on how to book time.