Why this Rhode Island culinary incubator is a game-changer

“Rhode Island has a third world food economy because we unsustainably export all but 2% of our agricultural and aquaculture products with no added value and import 95% of our total food supply.” Lisa Raiola, founder of hope and main (H&M) in Warren, RI, explained what prompted her to start the culinary incubator. She added, “People who dream of starting a food-related business come to us and we help them realize their vision.

Raiola has an impressive resume that includes a master’s degree in public health, 30 years of experience developing nonprofit organizations concerned with distributive justice, and teaching medical ethics at Brown and Roger Williams universities. Importantly for this story, she is also a cancer survivor who attributes her recovery in part to a Ayurvedic diet.

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Lisa Raiola and Waterman Brown. Photo by Anat Sagi

Perpetually on the go and just back from a business lunch she hosted in Newport, RI, Value was lucky enough to find her at H&M, where she and her husband, Waterman Brown, helped incubates get ready for their weekly farmer’s market.

Brown, a Rhode Island native whose heritage dates back to the state’s founding fathers, is a retired pilot who now does business development for H&M, but our observation of their interaction is that they have a real partnership and together tackle the myriad problems that arise every day. .

The story of the founding of Hope & Main is so improbable and inspiring that it deserves a brief account.

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After recovering from cancer, Raiola decided to start an Ayurvedic food delivery business to feed other cancer patients. Although she was looking for a small space, she was shown an abandoned classic brick 18,000 square foot school building. Raiola immediately “pivoted,” changing her vision to one that uses her development background to help emerging food entrepreneurs. With overwhelming community support, she and Brown purchased the building, and after renovations, Hope & Main became a reality in 2014.

A major motivation for Raiola’s new direction was his distress over Rhode Island’s unemployment rate, then the second highest in the nation. She believed she could create a “virtuous circle”—keeping local farm and sea crops intact, with H&M’s food processing adding value, thereby increasing margins. Simultaneously, people would be employed to create and promote these products.

His vision was a resounding success. To date, they have launched 300 businesses and seen 39% of them succeed. Why? Because at H&M, in addition to providing kitchen space, they provide training on the non-romantic part of having a dream – budgets, marketing, distribution and even graphic design. Class attendance is mandatory because, according to Raiola, “food startups fail more often due to a lack of expertise in these areas than a disappointing product.” She added: “A corollary to this is that the passion and ambition of entrepreneurs is as important as what they do.”

A current success is that of Matt and Tami Mullins Newport Sea Salt Co.. (with the ironic slogan “reef to table”), started four years ago at H&M. “Based on our cooking experiences in Italy, where people are embracing local produce, we knew we wanted to make salt, but that’s all we knew,” Matt said. “Hope & Main helped us with licensing, health department approval, and allowed us to grow without the prohibitive cost of buying all the equipment ourselves.” The Mullins sing the praises of the collegial environment that is part of the incubator: “We all talk to and learn from each other.

Newport Sea Salt Co. Photo by Tami Mullins

Between online orders, farmers markets, wedding favors and local hotel gift shops, the Mullins can’t keep up with the demand for their deliciously packaged sea salt. “In five years, we hope to have our own little salt pan where we can operate 24 hours a day,” Matt said.

Raiola is committed to launching minority and women-owned businesses. Nearly half of H&M startups fall into this category. An exciting example is Chelsea vegan Prejean Smoked Mmm Eat. A vegan for six years and trained as a chemical engineer, Prejean had a long-held vision of being a food entrepreneur but knew she lacked the business skills. “When I learned about the support they give people, I thought it would be a safe space to start,” she said. “They took a steep learning curve and made it less steep.”

Barbecue from Smoky Mmm Eats. Photo by Marianne Lee

Prejean’s plant-based sausages, made from natural ingredients available at any well-stocked grocery store, are already such a hit that she’s getting requests for them from across the country. Raiola’s suggestion that Smoky Mmm Eats apply for a wholesale license will help Prejean achieve its national distribution goal.

Chelsea Prejean. Photo by Kevin Williams

As mentioned above, Raiola’s initial vision was to help his beleaguered state. In this she has the support of Dave’s Market, whose 10 grocery stores offer many H&M products. Dave’s believes that “these businesses add variety and flavor to the RI food scene and strengthen our own communities: our friends, neighbors and families.” For startups like Newport Sea Salt Co. and Smoky Mmm Eats, working with Dave’s allows them to grow in a manageable way. “An order from a juggernaut like Whole Foods could sink a fledgling business,” Raiola explained.

During covid, the restaurants have partnered with H&M Food Equity Facilitator Caitlin Mandel. They froze individual portions of prepared entrees, which were made available to food insecure people. Funds were raised to partially cover the costs, so diners were charged a fraction of the retail value.

For those who have a brilliant culinary concept but lack the ability to execute it on their own, H&M’s fully licensed contract kitchen is happy to help. They are currently co-packing Nice Catch fish pâté, Foss Marinara Saucechowder, teas, honey, salsa, hot sauce and more.

For the future, Raiola and Brown would like to open an incubator 22 km north of ProvidenceIR, which has an underserved urban population. Their other goal is to improve access to capital to reduce the risks associated with good food ideas. With a seven-year business survival of almost 40%, which far exceeds the national standard of 8% after five years, they are confident that their future incubators will be a good investment.