The equipment has been purchased and final work begun on Socorro's first community commercial kitchen. Once open, local food producers and chefs will be able to make baked and canned goods for sale locally and regionally.

The kitchen, located in the Finley Gym complex, is paid for through funds from the city, grants and the Socorro Farmers Market. It features a commercial-size convection oven for baking; a 300-pound, 8-gallon floor mixer; a stove with a 7-foot-wide, $15,000 hood with a chemical fire suppression system; refrigerators; a triple sink; storage and enough preparation space to allow more than one user at a time.

The kitchen will offer an option for people looking to sell their food products and will benefit the city through increased gross receipts taxes, said Tom Hyden, president of the Socorro Farmers Market.

"People talk a lot about small business incubators," said Mayor Ravi Bhasker.

Noting that the environmental department is enforcing new regulations for food vendors, the mayor said the new kitchen "will allow people to cook in a place that's certified. We're a small town, we're trying to help out in a small way."

Like a fertile seed, the idea of the kitchen has grown from its original inception as an extension of the summer Farmers Market to a commercial kitchen for general use. Cooperation between the city, the Socorro County Chamber of Commerce and the Socorro Farmer' Market has brought it to fruition.

"People have good ideas all the time," said Hyden, "but they run into constraints. The main constraint in small food production is the cost to develop a kitchen which meets the environmental guidelines."

Local producers Jane and Al Smoake, of A & J Family Farms, estimated they would have to spend $70,000 to build a commercial kitchen to make their jellies. And new, environmental regulations require specific additions to a home kitchen before producing food to sell.

The commercial kitchen will give people the option to prepare their food in a clean, qualified space at a reasonable hourly rate. The Smoakes have volunteered to be managers of the kitchen under the Farmers Market.

Originally, the idea was to purchase equipment such as refrigerators and storage space to encourage farmers to grow more produce and lengthen the Farmers Market season, said Deborah Dean, Socorro tourism director and a member of the Socorro Farmers Market.

"The regular Farmers Market ends in October, but there are still fall crops — sweet potatoes, squash and such — and we needed to have place to sell it."

Dean applied to the New Mexico-based McCune Foundation and received a $10,000 grant for equipment.

Then, a lucky break took the project in its new direction. Chamber of Commerce Director Terry Tadano applied for a USDA grant to help local jewelry manufacturers — and was granted more money than the original request. He rewrote the Rural Business Enterprise Grant to use the additional $37,500 for the community commercial kitchen.

"The city has been a big supporter in this from the start," said Hyden. "(Mayor) Ravi Bhasker and (City Clerk) Pat (Salome) have been a big help.

"Then Terry (Tadano) got involved. Not only did he bring in more money from the grant, he knows the community so well he was able to bring subcontractors in for the construction at reasonable rates," Hyden added.

The city has paid for the costs to renovate the space. The work: asbestos abatement, plumbing, electrical wiring and carpentry, including making the space ADA accessible, were all completed by local contractors.

"One of the great things about living in a small town, " said Hyden, "is that these local folks worked closely with the SFM and the Chamber to keep their costs down. They have gone out of their way to keep the costs within the amounts available."

"The Socorro Community Kitchen is a partnership between the City of Socorro, Socorro Farmers Market, USDA Rural Development, SEC (Socorro Electric Co-op) and the Socorro County Chamber of Commerce," said Tadano, who oversaw bidding for the work. "All the subs (subcontractors) have worked well with us — donating time and materials to the project.

"Jaramillo Plumbing "saved us a couple thousand dollars and Joe Gonzales donated a (specialty) door. Daryl Ross of Ross Electric also went out of his way to hold down costs," he added.

Final rules for use of the kitchen are being hammered out by the Socorro Farmers Market, but Hyden said costs will be reasonable, "We want people to use it."

Training to use the kitchen, he said, will involve three aspects: use of the equipment, safety and hygiene.

Eventually, Hyden sees the Farmers Market helping people to develop their business plan, marketing plan and label to sell their products, not only at the local Farmers Market but regionally and nationally as well.

"This is something the mayor and council have supported to get people back in business and as an opportunity to start a business," said Salome.

The kitchen is housed at the south end of the Finley Gym Complex.

"The building has fostered a lot of programs since the city bought it," said Salome.

Since 1990, he noted, the former middle school has housed Socorro Mental Health, the literacy program, CASA (Court Appoined Special Advocates) and the Municipal Court. For a time, the Magistrate Court was housed in the complex as well as Socorro County Arts.

For more information on the kitchen, contact Hyden at 575-517-0463 or by e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Contact Gwen Roath