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Wednesday’s series of public meetings at which a general overview was presented by leaders of the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC), who were contracted to construct a feasibility study and a business plan, drew “a very encouraging number of people,” Bluffton Mayor Ted Ellis said.
Whether that interest will translate into substantive support remains somewhat to be seen, “but no one has come up to me and asked me if I was crazy,” Ellis said.
Karl LaPan, president and CEO of NIIC, and Steve Franks, Gateways Program Manager at the non-profit center, made the presentation to four groups: an early morning, noon, late afternoon and an evening session.
“It was exciting to see the broad representation of people from the community who cared to come look at this,” LaPan said Wednesday evening. “There were good, thoughtful questions. I’m thrilled with the input.”
Although an exact count was not taken, about 90 to 100 people attended one of the four sessions.
“From the people I spoke with who came today, I definitely think the interest is there,” said county economic development director Mike Row.
“It was certainly a diverse group,” Ellis noted.
The proposal for the facility dates to just over 18 months ago when Ivy Tech Community College and the NIIC approached the mayor with their idea.
LaPan explained that part of their role is to “take an inventory of the assets of the communities in northeast Indiana and build on those.”
With the concentration of food-related industries here, along with the county’s agricultural base and proximity to I-69, they felt that the chances of success for a food incubator were strong.
A group of city and economic development officials visited a food show and a feasibility study was performed which showed encouraging results. Last year, the city allocated $30,000 from their County Economic Development Income Tax (CEDIT) funds to pay for the full business plan.
LaPan and Franks gave a summary of their plan, which is detailed in an accompanying story.
“The evidence is pretty compelling,” LaPan told the noon-time crowd of about 40 people. “I really think that if you don’t do this, someone will.”
Franks said that a recent study confirmed that in northeast Indiana, “there’s no better location for this than Bluffton.”
The team that worked on the business plan found that there are over 50,000 new food venture prospects within the 150-mile radius that typically identifies the service territory for a business incubator.
State Representative Jeff Espich, who was in attendance at the early morning session, said that he sees a key ingredient to the success of the idea is to have the support of the existing local food processors.
Citing Pretzels, Inc. as an example, he asked “Is this going to help them grow and stay in Bluffton? Will it create new jobs?”
Espich questioned whether there are enough budding entrepreneurs in the area to support the project.
Bluffton and Wells County is the home of four food producers. In addition to Pretzels, Inc., The Inventure Group, Ossian Packing and Dawn Foods employ a total of about 450 to 500 people in the county.
Ellis related an incident in the past few years when one of those firms had shared the need for a closer test kitchen as they were working on a new product. “At the time, this wasn’t even on our radar,” he said.
LaPan said that identifying this support would be part of the “going-forward work” in the process.
“The more of them on board the merrier,” he said Wednesday. “But it would not be crucial that all of them express significant interest and support in terms of utilizing the facility.”
Franks also mentioned as part of his presentation that one of the major mistakes that other business incubators had made was in not having a salesperson on staff.
“They hired a kitchen and project manager and then waited for people to come to them,” he said. The NIIC proposal includes the hiring of a sales professional with experience in the food industry.
City Councilman Jim Phillabaum brought up the question of ownership of the enterprise. “Will it be a quasi-government entity?” he asked.
LaPan addressed the question, noting that it is certainly an important one.
“Initially, that is the most likely approach,” he said. “Or it could also be part of the Local Economic Development Office (LEDO).
“These incubators take a lot of long term care,” he explained. “Particularly in the early stages, there’s a lot of evidence that being a part of the LEDO or a unit of government works best.”
LaPan added that the entity can eventually become a “stand-alone not-for-profit.”
In a discussion after the noon meeting, LaPan confirmed that the start-up for a food business incubator here could be parallel to the development of the NIIC itself.
Eight years ago a group of business and government leaders in Fort Wayne recognized a need for a business incubator there. The NIIC is a stand-alone non-profit corporation but receives more public funding than private. (The NIIC gets 68 percent of its funding from public funds with the remaining 32 percent from fees, private companies and foundations.)
Since commencing incubation services in late 2001, the Innovation Center has generated $49 million in cumulative revenue and has added over $26 million in payroll to the regional economy, according to information provided at the meeting.
“The program will always need (public) support,” LaPan said. “But that’s okay as long as we’re producing results, as long as we’re creating opportunities for our young people and, indeed, entrepreneurs of all ages.”
A national study recently found that, on average, business incubators have returned $4.96 for each $1.00 of public investment, LaPan said.
“We’ve analyzed this to the point that we need to either pull the trigger or ride off into the sunset,” Bluffton Mayor Ted Ellis said Wednesday evening.
“We want to know what the public thinks, or if anyone can identify something we haven’t thought of,” he added.
Ellis is more upbeat about the proposed food specialty incubator than before Wednesday began, but he still intends to move forward cautiously.
“I’m more than half sure we’re onto something here,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “But the more eyes that can look at this, the better.”
He noted that no one has made any major objections, “nor minor ones for that matter,” he said.
Those who attended the meetings were asked to register their email addresses. Ellis and county economic development director Mike Row will email a survey to those on the list, seeking their comments, both for or against.
“My target is to get a concrete proposal before the city council by Labor Day,” Ellis said.
Assuming no major objections come forward, he anticipates asking officials from the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC) for a specific proposal that would include a dollar amount and what the city could expect for that.
According to NIIC president Karl LaPan, if the city council wants to move further on the project, they would need to commit $50,000 in “seed money” that would be used primarily for two purposes:
First, to engage the NIIC’s consulting services, and secondly, the money would be used to attract other funds, serving as a “catalytic investment,” LaPan said.
The business plan details other funding sources, estimated start-up and operating costs.
Although LaPan could not pinpoint a mathematical likelihood of the proposed center’s success, he was obviously positive about its prospects here.
“It’s hard to quantify and say for certain whether any new venture will be successful,” he said. “But we feel like we’ve done our due diligence and the project will depend on its execution of the plan.”
Referring to the formation of the NIIC, LaPan shared that “there were plenty of predictions that we wouldn’t be around in three or four years.”
LaPan had high praise for Bluffton’s local leaders.
“You have a cohesive team here,” he said. “Mike Row is extremely knowledgeable and helpful, the city council has been very involved.
“And the mayor has been extremely engaged,” he added. “He’s been strategic, involved, deliberate and intentional. He’s taken a very careful and deliberate look into this.”
One encouragement Ellis had was after the noon meeting, when a gentleman approached him, introduced himself and said “I may be your first customer.”
The entrepreneur shared his specialty food concept with the mayor as well as the two NIIC officials.
-Mark Miller
miller@news-banner.com
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