The pace is picking up for the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator and production is taking off faster than ever. 
The Food Incubator program received a $25,000 grant from the Louisiana Economic Development Business Incubation Support Program. The money will supply equipment to assist tenants with faster processing.
With the grant, the Food Incubator can now upgrade from a single-piston bottler to a double-piston bottler.
“They pay $20 an hour, and they can produce three times as many bottles of salad dressing as they did before with this new equipment,” said Food Incubator director Gaye Sandoz.
Sandoz said all of the money contributes to supporting the program’s food businesses and sustaining the Food Incubator by providing new equipment. She said incubator tenants’ hourly rent will remain the same, but the new processing equipment will increase daily product output, saving tenants time and money.
The LSU AgCenter Food Incubator was one of seven in the state to receive the grant. Sandoz said the program’s success in assisting food businesses is what sets it apart from similar programs.
“I think that we were chosen because we’re proving that our program is going to be a sustainable program here at LSU,” Sandoz said. “We have lots of support from our food science department, the LSU AgCenter and our students.”
The LSU AgCenter Food Incubator is a business incubator, providing start-up food businesses with the support, services and resources to get off the ground and running. In addition to the new equipment made available through grant funding, tenants now have access to a used 60-gallon kettle and refurbished equipment no longer used by the LSU AgCenter School of Nutrition and Food Sciences.
The Food Incubator currently serves 18 tenants, manufacturing products ranging from salad dressing to hummus. With a wait list of 20 food businesses, Sandoz said the incubator is expecting new tenants soon.
The Food Incubator is a resource not only for emerging food businesses, but for students interested in the food industry. 
Sandoz said the Food Incubator has three student assistantships and just hired a doctoral student to help with operations as well. The program also works with student volunteers, she said.
The program specifically recruits through the food science and nutrition program, but all interested students are welcome to apply, Sandoz said.
“That’s a large part of the program — involving the students, so they can learn the real life situations, work with real companies and basically intern within these companies,” Sandoz said.
Sandoz said students are working on projects ranging from developing an electrolyte popsicle to a protein drink. She said recent incubator graduate Hanley’s Foods hired a student as an intern to assist with the formulation of an avocado salad dressing to be put on the market.