Randy Boyd donates $250K to nonprofit Conexion Americas

Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd has donated $250,000 to Nashville nonprofit Conexion Americas to expand its culinary incubator and entrepreneurship program.

The donation from Boyd and his wife, Jenny Boyd, marks the largest individual gift to the nonprofit in its 14-year history, Conexion Americas announced this week.

Founded in 2002, the nonprofit’s mission is to build a welcoming community and create opportunities for Latino families.

The group opened the 28,800-square-foot Casa Azafran community center at 2195 Nolensville Pike in 2012, which serves as a hub for international culture and a major resource for immigrants for everything from learning English to financial and health services. President Barack Obama visited the community center in 2014 to discuss his executive actions on immigration.

Casa Azafran also includes the Mesa Komal licensed commercial kitchen and culinary incubator. The kitchen quickly became a hub for food truck operators, catering companies and culinary entrepreneurs to prep and store food. Commercial kitchen space is limited in the Nashville market, largely due to the thriving food truck industry, which now includes 70-plus trucks.

Mesa Komal also provides training on how to launch and grow a food business.

The kitchen serves 25 businesses with a long waiting list. The Boyds' donation will provide funding to double the size of the kitchen to accommodate 50 food entrepreneurs, according to a news release. The donation also will support a new co-working commons with printers, internet access, workstations and a conference room. Construction is underway and is slated for a November completion.

Randy Boyd issue the following statement regarding the donation:

“Too often we think of entrepreneurship as the next Google or Facebook, but entrepreneurship takes many forms. Whether the next billion dollar high tech firm or the next flower shop, they are all very important. One area that is underserved but has tremendous potential is food entrepreneurs. Whether starting a catering service, a restaurant or a new consumer product, opportunities abound. And the cost to start is small. All one needs is access to a licensed commercial kitchen. Conexion Americas culinary incubator is providing that opportunity. Jenny and I are happy to be able to support their expansion and to provide an opportunity for more culinary entrepreneurs. Who knows? One may become the next Tennessee Bun Company, Mars, or Bush's.”

Gov. Bill Haslam named Boyd commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development in December 2014. A longtime Knoxville businessman, Boyd is the founder of Radio Systems Corp., which produces pet products under the brands Invisible Fence, PetSafe and SportDOG. He also owns Boyd Sports LLC, owner of the Tennessee Smokies Baseball team. Jenny Boyd is owner of Boyd’s Jig and Reel, a Scottish pub in downtown Knoxville.

Political insiders consider Randy Boyd a potential gubernatorial candidate, but he has been leery of throwing his name in the field.

Conexion Americas co-founder Renata Soto said the Boyds' investment will support “talented cooks who hail from all over the world and right down the road.”

“We will be able to support at least 50 entrepreneurs who are inspired to create food businesses building upon the rich cooking traditions of their home countries or family recipes. Access to an affordable licensed kitchen is one of the greatest barriers for scalability and success for food entrepreneurs of all kinds and stages of business development,” Soto said in a statement.

Jon Solaro is one of those 50 food entrepreneurs who will benefit from Mesa Komal’s expansion. Solaro and his business partner plan to lease space at the kitchen for their upcoming Fly Boys Nashville food truck, which is a 55-year-old Airstream trailer serving classic American foods with innovative twists.

“Somebody had mentioned (Mesa Komal), and my business partner is from the Dominican Republic, so it was a nice transition to deal with them and I liked they were in the community and thought it would be a good fit for us as a small business starting out,” Solaro said.

The expansion of the culinary incubator is part of the larger expansion at Casa Azafran that includes Metro Nashville Public Schools’ addition of one more classroom to its Early Learning Center. The classroom will serve 16 children with exceptional needs for a total of 96 children at the pre-K center, according to the news release.

Conexion Americas plans to host a public opening of the new spaces at Casa Azafran from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 17.

Reach Lizzy Alfs at 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.