With a United States Department of Agriculture license for developing meat-based products, the Starting Block kitchen incubator plans to construct a separate building for further development at its facility in the Hart Industrial Park in Hart.

The Starting Block has submitted its zoning application to the City of Hart for the proposed 32-by-40-foot building to be built off the south face of the building near the parking lot.

Starting Block Director Ron Steiner said the facility is one of the very few kitchen incubators to be licensed for developing meat products. Currently, if a client wants to work on meat product development, the entire kitchen area must be washed down to accomodate it. The Starting Block was awarded half of a $500,000 Michigan Economic Development Grant for the meat kitchen last winter in conjuction with The Stream business incubator based in Newaygo County, Steiner said. He estimates the new meat product development building will cost approximately $125,000 to construct and another $20,000-$25,000 will be spent on equipment.

"From a food safety standpoint, that's the way to do it (have a separate building)," Steiner said. "We're ready to break ground soon as we get zoning approval. We're anticipating some real demand here from all over the place for meat products."

Some meat product development to come out of the Starting Block includes West African Cabobs which has since moved onto its own facility in Grand Rapids and Suzie Q Pasties. Another client has worked on beef pasta shells. The Starting Block also has a client developing a chili product, Steiner said.

"We don't have that many yet," he said.

The goal is to have the new building completed by late September or early October. Mike Blackmer of Hart will be the primary contractor.