Cook Room

Taproot is planning to expand its services by adding a cook room, offering businesses and individuals access to a modular, fully equipped kitchen including a gas range, convection ovens, a large steam jacketed tilting kettle, a fire-suppression hood, a blast chiller, and lots of dry storage. We submitted the plans to the San Juan County Building Department and going through the process of getting them approved. UPDATE: On April 24, 2023, we received our APPROVED PERMIT from San Juan County (SJC)!  We can move forward with construction!

The project will convert existing storage units at Lopez Storage into one large room that will have a proper hood on one end plus lots of room for processing and storage. The hood is designed to have quick-connect connections to propane and electricity. We borrowed this concept from other shared-use facilities where different users need various types of equipment. Movable tables and shelves will allow each kitchen user to arrange things for their operation. Open storage allows users to expand and shrink their storage needs as the seasons’ cycle.

As a small nonprofit and SJC inspected shared-use commercial kitchen, Taproot is trying to provide nourishment, livelihood, and support food security on Lopez. Taproot currently has three major funding sources – kitchen use fees, grants, and donations. Please consider donating today to help fund needed construction costs so we can expand our services! Check out Taproot’s Cook Room Fundraiser — any amount will help us reach our goal!

Project Milestones

Plans was developed in 2021

Taproot was gifted over $90,000 in 2021 to help fund the project

Plans were submitted to San Juan County (SJC) in March 2022

A Provisional Use Permit was granted by SJC to Taproot in March 2023

Taproot applied for Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) from the USDA to fund equipment purchases — we are awaiting a decision to be made in summer 2023

Permit Approved by SJC on April 24, 2023

Project Contact

For more information contact Staci French, Taproot Project Manager at taprootKitchenStaci@gmail.com