BUILT TO CREATE ACCESS.
DESIGNED TO CREATE OPPORTUNITY.
The Forge Food Collective was created from a simple belief: talented food entrepreneurs shouldn’t be held back by a lack of access to the space, resources, knowledge, and connections they need to grow.
Based in Bethlehem and serving the greater Lehigh Valley, The Forge is a shared use commercial kitchen and food business incubator designed to help turn culinary ideas into sustainable businesses while strengthening the local food economy.
OUR STORY
Knowing what it takes to build a food business.
The Forge Food Collective was developed by local culinary entrepreneurs Quartez and Veronica Moore, owners of The Taste Smokers.
As food business owners, the Moores understand firsthand the challenges entrepreneurs face, from finding dependable commercial kitchen space to navigating food safety requirements, building sustainable business systems, and accessing the resources needed to grow.
Their experience revealed a larger need within the community: entrepreneurs didn’t simply need another kitchen to rent. They needed infrastructure, guidance, education, and community.
The Forge Food Collective was built to help fill that gap.
What began as a vision for accessible commercial kitchen space has grown into a broader food business incubator designed to serve emerging entrepreneurs, established food businesses, caterers, chefs, food makers, farmers, value added producers, and others working to build something through food.
WHY “THE FORGE”?
A place to Make. Build. Grow.
A forge is a place where something is shaped, strengthened, and transformed.
That idea is at the heart of The Forge Food Collective.
Bethlehem has a long history of makers, builders, and people who created something from the resources around them. The Forge carries that spirit forward through food and entrepreneurship.
Some members may walk through our doors with an idea. Others will arrive with an established business ready for its next stage. Some will need production space. Others will need education, mentorship, certification support, connections, or a community of people who understand what they’re building.
Wherever you begin, The Forge is designed to help you move forward.
OUR MISSION
To reduce barriers to food entrepreneurship by providing accessible commercial kitchen space, business development resources, education, mentorship, and a collaborative community where food entrepreneurs can build sustainable businesses.
THE BIGGER VISION
Building Businesses.
Strengthening A Food System.
The Forge is part of a larger vision for a stronger, more connected local
food economy.
By expanding access to shared food infrastructure, The Forge creates opportunities for entrepreneurs to launch and grow businesses, for farmers and producers to explore value added products, and for local organizations and community partners to build new connections around food.
Over time, that vision extends beyond the kitchen itself, supporting entrepreneurship, local agriculture, workforce development, food education, institutional food purchasing, and new pathways for locally produced food to reach the community.
When local food businesses have the resources to grow, the impact reaches far beyond the kitchen.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE FORGE
Built by entrepreneurs who’ve been there.
Quartez & Veronica Moore
Program Developers & Operators, The Forge Food Collective
Owners, The Taste Smokers
Quartez and Veronica Moore are Bethlehem based culinary entrepreneurs and the owners of The Taste Smokers. Their experience building and operating a food business has given them firsthand insight into the operational, regulatory, financial, and infrastructure challenges food entrepreneurs face.
Through The Forge, they are bringing that experience full circle, creating the type of resource they know can make a meaningful difference for entrepreneurs at every stage.
Their role includes developing The Forge’s programming, operational systems, member experience, and entrepreneurial support model, with an emphasis on creating pathways that help food businesses move from idea to operation, and from operation to sustainable growth.
COMMUNITY COLLABORATION
Made possible through collaboration.
The Forge Food Collective is being brought to life through collaboration focused on expanding opportunity through food.
The commercial kitchen is located within the Boys & Girls Club of Bethlehem, which provides the physical home for The Forge.
Blue Zones Activate Bethlehem selected the commercial kitchen initiative as its Food Systems Marquee Project, providing funding for commercial kitchen equipment and supporting the planning and development of the initiative.
These contributions helped create the infrastructure that makes The Forge possible, while The Forge Food Collective team leads the program’s operations, membership, programming, and entrepreneurial support.
YOUR PARTNER IN FOOD.
The Forge Food Collective is here to provide the space, resources, guidance, and community to help you move forward.
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Interested in supporting the Forge Food Collective? Contact us today about sponsorship and involvement opportunities.