The Ripollès Development Agency has everything ready to offer the first shared workshop for companies and entrepreneurs in Girona regions. It is located in the facilities of the Ripollès Hospitality Classroom, in Ripoll and already has all the permits to be a "test bed" for all types of food.
In the first phase it only allowed working with already prepared dishes and finishing them, but now it allows testing with fresh products such as meat.
The objective is to offer a well-equipped 150 square meter space for companies or entrepreneurs to carry out tests without having to make an investment and paying rent for the facilities.
In this first year there have been four interested projects that, in the end, have not come to fruition and have not ended up renting the space.
"The facilities allow you to do a tasting and see if the idea can be real, if you can make a profit and then, if you see that it works, you make the necessary investment," explains the coordinator of the shared workshop, Joan Pere Sallarès, during a visit to the installations. They estimate that an entrepreneur would have to make an investment of more than 30,000 euros to be able to have the machinery, spaces and health permits they have on their own. For example, they have convection ovens, vacuum sealers and different stoves, among others.
During the time they have been in operation, they have already aroused the interest of four projects, all of them in the region, but the idea is to open up to the entire territory. According to the coordinator, three of them were already in very advanced conversations, but in the end they did not end up renting the space. One of the advantages of this workshop is that they have health permits to sell throughout the State. However, you must meet a series of requirements and be willing to do the entire administrative documentation process.
Regarding deadlines, they try to be "as agile" as possible and estimate that they will need at least three weeks between receiving a candidate project and deciding whether it meets the requirements. The Department of Health must also approve the proposal.
From the Regional Council of Ripollès, the head of economic promotion, Chantal Pérez, highlighted the pioneering and strategic character of this shared workshop.
"It is the first of the Girona regions and we claim the mountain territory and the local product and the circular economy," he points out.
Located in the Ripollès Hospitality Classroom, until now this space was only used by its students. But the idea is to open it to entrepreneurs and companies that want to try new lines of business. Those interested will be able to use the existing machines, furniture and appliances, with the exception of kitchen utensils, which each person must bring their own.
The agency also carries out support and advice work such as obtaining the health transport registration because, once the food is prepared, the interested party has taken it because the warehouse to leave it is not included. At most, the entrepreneur or company can rent the space for 500 hours a year, among the conditions they offer.
