By Cali Bagby

Randall Waugh wanted to make and sell his own hot sauce, but he couldn’t just use his household stove and sink. He didn’t have the funds to create his own commercial kitchen, so when Jean Perry let Waugh use her kitchen at Vortex, his dream of having his own hot sauce business became a reality.

“My hot sauce would not exist without Vortex,” said Waugh.

And because of his success, Waugh is confident that others could start their own business, especially if they had access to a commercial community kitchen.

The kitchen would be licensed and offer entrepreneurs shared equipment, and facilities at lower costs then if they owned their own cooking area.

There are similar shared facilities across the country including Idaho, Arizona, California, Montana and Texas.

Waugh and other islanders have been working on generating interest for such an undertaking for the last five years. Their recent progress has been the development of a survey with the help of Lopez Locavores and the Northwest Agricultural Business Center. The survey will help to determine if interest exists for such a project and what equipment islanders would need.

Waugh said the information from the survey could help form the initial planning phases of the kitchen, but it could be expanded in the future.

Some islanders have asked why Waugh doesn’t use kitchens already available like the one at the Senior Center, but Waugh said already established kitchens have several conflicts: community events may not provide flexible hours, and the lack of adequate storage and proper refrigeration space.

Waugh said the Lopez Village Market would be an ideal location because it is a “blank slate” inside.

One of Waugh’s visions for the future of a shared kitchen would be to use it as an educational facility. Students are already learning how to grow food with the LIFE program at Lopez School and kids could use the kitchen to learn how to process and preserve food, said Waugh.

Waugh said he hopes the survey will show whether or not people are interested and if not, he’ll stop “beating the drum,” but he sees the kitchen as an idea just too good to pass up.

“A lot of people don’t have jobs and people could make $200 to $300 a month pickling or making jams,” said Waugh. “There is tremendous potential for this community.”

For more info, email Waugh at LopezIslandSharedKitchen@gmail.com.

To find the survey visit www.surveymonkey.com/s/FVN58MC.