By Joe Mingle
Healthy Food For All
This April, the Northside Planning Council named longtime local food activist Chris Brockel the new FEED Kitchens Manager. Brockel has a long history of leading a variety of local food movement initiatives and has been part of FEED’s staff since 2015.
“Chris’ broad experience and extensive skill set has already made him an essential part of FEED’s operations,” said Abha Thakkar, executive director of the Northside Planning Council (NPC). “We’re all thrilled he’s taking on this leadership role and will help guide FEED Kitchens’ future growth and development.”
The Food Enterprise and Economic Development (FEED) Kitchens is an NPC project. A shared commercial kitchen available to all users, the FEED facility includes five commercial kitchens with specialized equipment for baking, processing produce, deli prep and meat processing. FEED Kitchens has helped dozens of local food businesses start up and flourish since it opened in 2013.
“I’m honored to have this opportunity to continue building FEED Kitchens’ important role in the community,” said Brockel. “I’d like to personally invite local food activists and entrepreneurs to visit and talk about how we can support each other’s work building the local food system.”
A member of the City of Madison Food Policy Council, Brockel is the former executive director of FairShare CSA Coalition and the Food and Gardens Division Manager at Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin (CAC). While at CAC he led the Healthy Food for All Delegation, working with United Way of Dane County and the Goodman Foundation to write a ten year plan to increase access to healthy food choices for low income families in Dane County. Brockel has received the Hunger Hero Award from the Wisconsin Food Security Consortium, a public health award from Madison Dane County Public Health and was designated as a food system innovator by Madison Magazine.
Interested in starting a new food business like a catering operation, retail product or food cart? Need a commercial kitchen to expand an existing business? FEED Kitchens may be the place for you. Email feedmanager@feedkitchens.org or call 608-204-7017 to learn how FEED Kitchens can help your business grow and prosper.