Lab Kitchen For Portland Food Startups To Stay Open Thanks To New Partnership

The Fork Food Lab, which was scheduled to close Monday after two years providing commercial kitchen space for Portland food startups, has new life. On Tuesday, the Yarmouth-based Sustainability Lab announced it has entered into a partnership with the Portland enterprise to keep it open. The Fork Food Lab has 25 member businesses, representing more than $3 million in sales, according to the Tuesday announcement. In late July, the lab’s parent company, Pilotworks, said the Portland facility — as well as another one in Providence, Rhode Island — would have to close “due to the structural layout and market dynamics in this location.” [From fight club to food club in Portland] Bill Seretta, president of The Sustainability Lab, said Tuesday he aims to raise $250,000 to eliminate the Portland lab’s debt, build the membership to a “self-sustaining” 45 rent-paying businesses and expand training programs. “Fork Food Lab is a critical part of the infrastructure for small business creation in Greater Portland,” he said in a statement.