FPDL is looking for new companies for our Incubator Program
Do you dream of starting up a new dairy company? Would you like to manufacture dairy products and you need assistance identifying a manufacturing partner? Don’t look any further, because we are here to help and we are looking for new partners for our Incubator Program!
Cornell University’s Food Processing & Development Laboratory (FPDL) is a 7,000 square foot facility that can support R&D, small scale food production and scaled-up manufacturing efforts.
Cornell’s FPDL provides education, training and technical assistance for the production of value added food and dairy products throughout New York State. The FPDL serves as a statewide center for food and dairy processing education and training, product development and cutting-edge food processing research. It is a key resource supporting the long-term sustainability of value-added agricultural businesses (and their suppliers) across New York State. Our goal is to help promote and grow dairy processing opportunities in New York State and to provide opportunities for agricultural producers to develop and market value-added products. The successful establishment and expansion of local, value added products also encourages the creation and expansion of other local business (farmer’s markets, restaurants, agri-tourism, marketing, etc.).
To facilitate dairy start-up companies and promote growth in the dairy industry, we have developed our dairy processing incubator program. To qualify, you must be in NY State and be a small dairy business or be aspiring to start a business in dairy processing in NY. This is not an open-ended proposition, as you must sign agreements with Cornell University indicating your desire to start and grow a dairy processing-type business. You must have an approved business plan in place within 3 months of starting and must be planning to move out of our facility into your own facility within 12-18 months. You also provide the labor (although we do have Food Science students/interns that are available on certain days that we use to assist in production), and for set fees, we provide equipment to use. We will help with small product development projects provided you already have the concept. If you want us to do full blown product development, fees increase accordingly.
Our Incubator Program has been running now for more than 4 years and has supported several companies, is currently are working with Tumino Cheese Company.
“Tumino Cheese Company, LLC was founded as a business in November 2015 but the roots of the company go back much further. The three partners involved in the company have strong ties to farming and an abiding love of dairy cows and tasty cheese. In December 2015, Elisa Tumino-Van Amburgh, Sue Prokop, and Mariann Fessenden made their first cheeses using the Cornell University FPDL. Tumino Cheese Company came to the facility with the intent of developing recipes to recreate several Northern Italian, Alpine Style cheeses, and mostly cheeses that are not commonly found in the U.S. market. Since joining, they have been developing and enhancing recipes and aging techniques to recreate the characteristics of those cheeses including the aging capacity necessary for full development. Over the last year, they have produced several cheeses that are now being marketed and while doing so have made use of the connections for market access that the Cornell program provides. In addition, the company is continuing to develop their food safety and HAACP plans as they consider their move to their own facility once the program has concluded“ Elisa Van Amburgh
Their logo says it all: “Born in Italy and made in Finger Lakes”.
L-R: Sue Prokop, Elisa van Amburgh and Mariann Fessenden (Tumino Cheese Company)
Working with TCC for the last 18 months, I have seen them growing, learning and developing their business from the idea of producing traditional Italian cheeses to a successful cheese company who is providing delicious high quality cheeses for the New York market.
Now it’s time to search for new companies who want to take advantage of our Incubator Program.
We also provide contract manufacturing support to start-up companies as well as established manufacturers developing new and innovative products. Examples of product development and research projects supported by the FPDL include dairy-based puddings, drinkable yogurts, fermented dairy beverages, flavored egg nog and other dairy related products. Because of our smaller scale equipment, our facility is ideal for manufacturing test runs of new formulations or producing consumer or shelf life testing type products on a relatively small scale, yet still mimic real production.
If you are interested in any of these programs, or would like more information on the facility, please contact Rob Ralyea at rdr10@cornell.edu or Carmela Beliciu at clb352@cornell.edu.
Visit the FPDL website here.
