Food and Beverage
Advantage Valley is Fertile Soil for Growth-Minded
Food & Beverage Producers
Advantage Valley has always been a great place to start or scale a small business, and our team provides a wealth of resources to small business owners and entrepreneurs alike. Our FASTER WV (Fostering Advantages for Start Ups & Entrepreneurial Resurgence in WV) initiative is here to identify, encourage, and support businesses like yours through workshops, coaching, classes, and capital!
Advantage Valley is investing heavily in the food and beverage production sector as we help plan and develop the Charleston Capitol Kitchen and future Food Enterprise Incubator. We are equally invested in helping develop the food and beverage producers in the region who can benefit from technical assistance services including, but not limited to, marketing strategies, production planning, distribution and fulfillment strategies, recipe and process assistance, nutrition panel and label development, and more.
ADVANTAGE VALLEY LAUNCHED CURATED WV GROWN GIFT-SETS TO SUPPORT LOCAL FOOD MANUFACTURERS THIS 2025 HOLIDAY SEASON
1,145 GIFT SETS SOLD
8,193 LOCAL PRODUCTS SOLD
The Taste of Appalachia Gift Sets will be ready for pick-up on
Monday, December 8th through Friday, December 12th at the Advantage Valley Office.
Pick Up Location
Advantage Valley Office
1045 Bridge Rd, Charleston, WV 25314
9 am to 6 pm (daily)
As a reminder, Advantage Valley is an economic development organization, not a gift store. Their office is located right off bridge road in a tan-colored house.
If you selected to have your box shipped, please know they will be shipped out at the same time. If you have any questions, please reply here.
We would like to recognize and thank the hard working small businesses that have been selected to represent our inaugural year of this Shop Local holiday gift set program. Several of the vendors are FASTER WV clients*!
Sugar Bottom Farm* – (Clay County)
Tipsy Roo’s* – (Kanawha County)
J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works – (Kanawha County)
Coal River Coffee – (Putnam County)
Legacy Foods – (Clay County)
Ronk Family Farm – (Lincoln County
Hinerman Hill Farm –granola (Preston County )
Sassy Gal’s – (Jackson County)
Blue Smoke Salsa – (Kanawha County)
Jumpin’ Johnny’s – (Monroe County)
Dark Hollow Foods – (Kanawha County)
Copperhead – (Kanawha County)
Jarhead Farms – (Greenbrier County)
Harvest Trails – (Berkeley County)
Tasty Blend Foods (Putnam County)
Deskins Candy – (Mercer County)
*SPECIAL THANKS TO RACHEL COFFMAN AND RUSS BAILEY FOR CONSULTING ASSISTANCE WITH THIS PROJECT.
*SUPPORT FOR THE PROGRAM PROVIDED BY THE BENEDUM FOUNDATION AND CORPORATE SPONSORS!
On the Horizon!
THE CAPITOL KITCHEN:
CHARLESTON’S FOOD ENTERPRISE INCUBATOR
A place where food and beverage producers will connect, scale and thrive!
As part of the ACT Now Coalition package of grant awards totaling $62.8 million for eight economic development projects in southern West Virginia, there will be a shared commercial kitchen developed in downtown Charleston. Food and beverage manufacturers in the region will benefit greatly from access to this new food enterprise incubator with co-packing capabilities and equipment!
The future Capitol Kitchen, Charleston’s Food Enterprise Incubator will include a shared kitchen rental space with wraparound entrepreneurial services, co-packing food production and aggregation, cold storage, and docking space to meet growing needs for access to healthy local foods and to boost small business entrepreneurial food endeavors and resiliency in the region. The Food & Beverage Business Accelerator will also be able to process and distribute agribusiness produced from repurposed former mine lands, supported by the WVU Sustainable Mine Lands component project. This facility will be developed with partners including the Charleston Capital Market, the Charleston Food & Farm Collaborative, and other food entrepreneurs who are backed by Advantage Valley through the GROW Now component project.
Stay tuned for more details as they become available about this exciting project!
* Click here to register your interest in using the future Capitol Kitchen: Charleston’s Food Enterprise Incubator. Let us keep you in the loop with information as it becomes available.
* Click here if you would like a free consultation with a FASTER WV business coach to discuss your food or beverage business.
MEET OUR BUSINESS COACHES!
Contact a FASTER WV Business Coach directly or CLICK HERE to complete an intake form and let us match you with a coach today:
Advantage Valley
Resources for Food & Beverage Manufacturers and Producers
Contact Bryan Shaw at (304) 352-1165 or bryan@advantagevalley.com for more details or to enroll in the program.
Contact Marjorie Cooke at (304) 352-1165 or Marjorie@advantagevalley.com for more details or to enroll in the program.
West Virginia Department of Agriculture
Lacy Davidson Ferguson, Business Development & Marketing Division