Raquetta Dotley, Executive Director of the Net Resource Foundation, has announced a new event coming to Cocoa Café every second Friday of the Month from April until November.
Food Truck Fridays and Farmers Market will host their first Friday event on April 11, at the future location of their planned Cocoa Café at 618 West 38 Street in Alton Park. The event will be from 5-7 p.m.
“Our organization is in the process of redeveloping the lot where the old convenience store used to be,” Dotley said. “We're in the process of redeveloping that into Coastal Café, which will be a food truck commissary, a shelf incubator and a café. We recently hosted a community event there in September and one in December, which weren’t publicized but had great turnouts.”
Dotley said due to the success of those prior events, the organization got feedback from the community to determine possible future events.
“We thought we would just go ahead and keep the ball rolling,” she said. “We came up with Food Truck Friday and Farmers Market to host right at that spot. We know it is a high traffic area.”
She said the Farmers Market will also assist the Alton Park residents who don’t always have access to fresh produce, fresh poultry and eggs and other valuable items.
“This will provide the residents with that opportunity to have that right here in South Chattanooga,” Dotley said.
Dotley said there is room for a combination of eight food trucks and Farmers Market vendors.
Right now, they have three food trucks and two Farmers Market vendors, one who will be selling produce and the other selling coffee products, reserved for their inaugural event.
“That means we have three more spaces available to anybody who might want to participate,” she said.
This past September city officials and the community came together for the official groundbreaking ceremony. Dotley said Tucker Build, the contractor assigned to renovate and build the new facility, are currently getting all the permits taken care of so they can start construction soon.
Dotley said she is hoping Cocoa Café can open in the summer or fall. The commissary, shelf incubator and café idea came from board member Paul Middlebrook.
“He grew up out here in Alton Park,” she said. “He remembers what it was, even before it was the Big H Store. He remembers what that block, that area, that corner used to look like. The business district out here in Alton Park. For years, that has been, closed and abandoned.”
Hoping to bring Alton Park business back to life, The Net Resource Foundation spoke to people in the community and Dotley said they also partnered and listened to the folks at Launch Chattanooga.
Launch Chattanooga is the organization that helped to create the Kitchen Incubator at East Gate. Dotley said they met with Mark Holland, Hal Bowling, and DeJuan Jordan who suggested a smaller yet similar concept at the Alton Park location to help small business owners in the St. Elmo, Alton Park, Southside, and downtown area.
“It was really a collaborative approach,” she said. “It's a simple solution without having to tear that part of the of the building out.”
The Kitchen Incubator at Cocoa Café will be designed to support food-centric businesses in their early stages, offering a comprehensive range of facilities and support to help them succeed. It will include a licensed commercial kitchen and storage area.
The Food Commissary fulfills the legal requirement for operating a food truck in the city. The Café will also offer a space available to rent for functions and events
She said the plan also fits the mission of The Net Resource Foundation. Founded in 2015, the organization’s main purpose is to help the community, find quality programs, mentor the youth, provide services to the community, and help with food security.
“We focus on community programs and civic engagement programs,” she said.
For more information about the upcoming Market or to register as a vendor visit: cocoacafecha.org/local-food-community-fun-join-cocoa-cafes-farmers-market-food-truck-fridays/
Learn more about Cocoa Café at cocoacafecha.org