PASCO COUNTY – The UF/IFAS Extension Pasco County and Pasco Economic Development Council will present the sixth annual SMARTstart Food Vendor Fair on Jan. 29.
The family-friendly food event shares incubator business opportunities and supports food entrepreneurs’ businesses. The community can buy food and arrange event catering or gifts.
“Events like the SMARTstart Food Vendor Fair highlight the incredible talent and diversity of Pasco County’s small business community,” said Jack Mariano, chair of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners. “Supporting these entrepreneurs strengthens our local economy and showcases the innovation happening right here in our own backyard.”
The East Pasco Incubator Kitchen features an incubator where budding food entrepreneurs can produce food in a licensed commercial kitchen and then use the packaging and labeling station to create nutrition fact labels for their products. Members of the East Pasco Incubator Kitchen get access to business coaching through the SMARTstart Program. This center is co-located with UF/IFAS Extension Pasco County and features a community garden where SMARTstart members can grow their own ingredients.
“Every year we are excited to see the new culinary creations coming out of the East Pasco Incubator Kitchen and would be honored if the public were to join us to see what’s cooking,” said Dan Mitchell, assistant vice president of entrepreneurship for Pasco EDC.
Participating SMARTstart Incubator members include:
- Bee Ready 4 Anything: Sells honey and bees and provides bee removal services and pollination services.
- Bean Buggy and Co.: Mobile coffee trailer serving espresso, desserts, bagel sandwiches and craft drinks for events and catering across Tampa.
- Blue Crow Espresso: Pours delicious espresso from their mobile coffee bike.
- Boots on the Grind Catering by Chef Jasmin: Veteran-owned catering and private chef business based in Wesley Chapel specializing in authentic Puerto Rican cuisine and other culturally inspired dishes.
- Da Flava Spot: Serves Jamaican cuisine, specializing in jerk chicken and more.
- Edenesque: Specializes in homemade beef jerky and freeze-dried fruits and vegetables.
- Finga Lickin Ting: Offers authentic Jamaican patties and other traditional pastries.
- Maggie’s Snow Shoppe: Mobile Shave Ice business specializing in making syrups from scratch using fresh fruit.
- Peppa & Thyme Provisions, LLC: A Jamaican-inspired food truck and catering service bringing bold island flavors to the Tampa Bay area.
- Pucker and Pop: Serves specialty lemonade and old school dirty sodas.
- Son’ni Boi & Petal, Inc: Specializes in creating sweet treats for company events, parties or family gatherings, offering their signature cashew brittle and more.
Want to go?
The sixth annual Food Vendor Fair will be held Jan. 29 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the SMARTstart East Pasco Incubator Kitchen, 15029 14th St., Dade City. Admission and parking are free. Vendors’ item prices will vary.
