Local First Arizona Develops Community Kitchens with Local Food Procurement
The Issue
Low-income neighborhoods throughout Phoenix, Arizona, have difficulty accessing healthy, affordable, and locally-sourced food. This is a critical issue, particularly in areas considered food deserts. Entrepreneurs operating out of community kitchens often resort to purchasing from major retailers such as Costco and Walmart, missing opportunities to support local farmers and integrate fresher food into their products. This disconnect between local food producers and small food businesses is a missed opportunity that could ultimately strengthen the regional food system. The lack of infrastructure to support local sourcing—such as aggregation, distribution, and storage—exacerbates the challenge.
Our Response
Local First Arizona, a Southwest Regional Food Business Center (SWRFBC) partner, has developed the Community Kitchen Incubator Program in partnership with multiple community stakeholders. The program includes five Community Kitchens across Phoenix. These kitchens serve as multi-generational spaces for food-based programming, entrepreneurship education, and community health initiatives. Since 2019, the program has supported 257 businesses.
The SWRFBC has played a pivotal role in the Community Kitchen project by providing technical assistance, fostering business connections, and building market linkages. SWRFBC’s support ensures that our community kitchens have access to high-quality, locally grown ingredients—strengthening farm-to-kitchen supply chains, expanding opportunities for small and mid-sized producers, and making it easier for food entrepreneurs to feature fresh, local food in the meals they prepare and serve.
To strengthen the regional food system, Local First Arizona is also expanding its Community Kitchen model by establishing direct connections between kitchen entrepreneurs and local farmers and ranchers. As part of this effort, Local First Arizona is assessing the current storage capabilities of partner organizations and exploring collaborations with local distributors that prioritize local sourcing. Simultaneously, the team is evaluating the specific produce needs of entrepreneurs and the production capacity of local farms—many of which have received technical assistance through the SWRFBC—to support contracts for locally grown products. Through this model, farmers gain access to reliable markets, while participating food businesses will be required to source a minimum of 25% of their ingredients locally, enhancing the value and appeal of their products.
capacity of local farms—many of which have received technical assistance through the SWRFBC—to support contracts for locally grown products. Through this model, farmers gain access to reliable markets, while participating food businesses will be required to source a minimum of 25% of their ingredients locally, enhancing the value and appeal of their products.
Our Impact
This initiative will transform the food supply chain for small food entrepreneurs and the communities they serve. The goal is to help lower food waste and storage burdens for farmers and improve access to fresh food for food entrepreneurs. By creating a localized supply chain, both producers and food entrepreneurs will benefit from increased stability, stronger business relationships, and reduced costs over the long term. The entrepreneurs participating in the program will be equipped with sustainable procurement practices and an ongoing ethos of purchasing locally beyond the timeframe of the program.
In full operation, this program is expected to generate over $120,000 in monthly sales for local farmers and ranchers, laying the groundwork for a more resilient, equitable, and self-sustaining local food economy. The program pilot, based in one of our community kitchens in an under-resourced Phoenix neighborhood with limited access to food, currently has 18 food entrepreneurs each purchasing at least 25% of their food from local sources. To make this possible, we are partnering with Sun Produce Co-op, which sources exclusively from more than 40 Arizona farms and producers across Central Arizona, in collaboration with food hubs in Tucson and Kingman.
The program pilot is scheduled to conclude in November, after which we plan to expand it across all five community kitchens operated by Local First Arizona. We believe this project will have a significant positive impact—strengthening producer capacity, opening access to new markets for food hubs, co-ops, and entrepreneurs, and creating opportunities for collaboration. It will also serve as a platform to advance equity and transparency across the supply chain through value chain coordination training.