Small business, big opportunity: NWA caterer lands military contract
Sept. 11, 2026
By John Lovett
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Fast Facts
- Partnership linked Our Healthy Communities with Arkansas National Guard
- Caterer a client at Arkansas Food Innovation Center at the Market Center of the Ozarks
- Arkansas APEX Accelerator part of national group supported by Department of Defense
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Download PHOTOS of Susan Moore and Daymara Baker at AFIC@MCO
SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Susan Moore started out looking for a commercial kitchen earlier this year to prepare meals. What she found was much more.
As the executive director of Our Healthy Communities, a northwest Arkansas nonprofit organization, Moore had spent several years preparing meals for senior centers. That changed in February of this year when the senior centers’ managing agency brought food services back in-house.
Moore’s search for a new commercial kitchen led her to the Arkansas Food Innovation Center at the Market Center of the Ozarks, or AFIC@MCO, a part of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s research arm, the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
The center, located in Springdale, provides 24-hour, no-contract commercial kitchen space, technical support and training workshops. But it also connected Moore with a network of resources that helped her land a new kind of customer: the military.
“Government contracting does not necessarily mean landing a multimillion-dollar defense contract,” said Daymara Baker, AFIC@MCO business development manager. “They also need the everyday goods and services that small businesses provide. I thought that was a great opportunity to demystify what government contracting is and show that it’s another revenue source for small businesses to tap into.”
Our Healthy Communities was chosen in a competitive selection process to provide meals for one of the Arkansas National Guard’s two-day youth summer camps earlier this year.
Working out of AFIC@MCO, Moore and her team at Our Healthy Communities prepared 70 daily lunches for the youth campers, including Moore’s signature “ooey-gooey” bars.
For Moore, the campers’ thumbs-up to the dessert was icing on the cake, but the job also showed that a small nonprofit organization could successfully compete for and fulfill a government contract, Baker said.
Kimberly Randle, procurement counselor for the Arkansas APEX Accelerator, called it a “true, win, win, win.” The Arkansas APEX Accelerator is part of a nationwide network funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense, offering no-cost services and assisting Arkansas-based businesses with all aspects of government contracting at the local, state and federal levels.
Administered through the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, the outreach arm of UADA, the Arkansas APEX Accelerator is housed within the Community, Professional, and Economic Development, or CPED.
Randle reached out to Baker for prospective vendors in northwest Arkansas to cater to the Arkansas National Guard, which led her to Our Healthy Communities. Randle and Baker had worked together on several projects, including trainings and tours of AFIC@MCO “to raise awareness of the services and benefits both organizations offer to support Arkansas businesses and food entrepreneurs,” Randle said.
“Nothing excites me more than seeing a successful new entrant into the government marketplace, to see the needs of our government entities efficiently and effectively met, and to see our Arkansas economy grow and thrive,” Randle added.
More than a kitchen
The Arkansas National Guard contract is one example of how the connections surrounding AFIC@MCO can help tenants find opportunities beyond the physical kitchen, Baker said.
In addition to its commercial kitchen and bakery spaces, the center has infrastructure to support food trucks with electrical connections at parking spaces, graywater disposal and a grease recycler.
Moore’s next mission is to use her food truck to provide meals for an organization in Rogers serving men working toward sobriety. She recalled a previous visit, when a simple meal of beans and cornbread drew high praise for the comforting aroma.
“Just the smell of that home-cooked food, I think it brought back a lot of memories for them,” Moore said.
It was a small moment, but one that reflected her belief in the impact of a simple meal and the importance of using her business to serve the community.
For information on becoming a tenant at the AFIC@MCO, visit the website at https://aficmco.uada.edu/ or write Baker at daymarab@uada.edu.
To learn more about ag and food research in Arkansas, visit aaes.uada.edu. Follow the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station on LinkedIn and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 22 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three system campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media Contact:
John Lovett
U of A Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
(479) 763-5929
jlovett@uada.edu