NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley is thrilled to support the Millrace Kitchen, an incubator space designed to support food business startups. Since opening in 2017, over 40 food businesses have worked out of the kitchen space at 40 South Main Street.
In this series, you’ll Meet the Millrace Members, get a sense of what it takes to start a food business and learn of some incredible food and baked goods being made right in downtown Woonsocket.
Tell us about yourself and your business.
My name is Tim Walker and I am a food service professional with over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry. My specialty is catering and that is the direction I am taking BunzUp! I started in early 2024 by putting together my vision for the business and purchasing a fully loaded sausage cart to act as my mobile kitchen. BunzUp is licensed as a Mobile Food Establishment (think food truck) and a catering company, so I’m able to cover a lot of ground depending on a clients needs and budget. This also allows me to produce my homemade style food and set up wherever the party is! My home base is Millrace Kitchen in Woonsocket, RI and I can service all of Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. I am equipped to cater groups of any size, from a small party of 10, an average party of 100 or a large scale event with 1,000+ guests.
What type of food do you make?
Through my years of managing a large catering company I have created and honed many recipes to cover a wide variety of cooking styles and flavors. The heart of BunzUp is putting together high quality food for people to enjoy. When I’m set up as a Mobile Food Establishment (think food truck) I serve top quality locally made sausages on Bakery Fresh Rolls, with a number of scratch made condiments like my Dynamite Chili Meat Sauce to my very popular Hot n Sour Relish (just to name a couple). I also offer All Beef Hot Dogs and a premium Grilled Cheese that you can customize and get fancy with. In the colder months people love my varieties of homemade Mac n Cheese and scratch made Meatballs. When it warms up I offer items like my loaded potato salad and other seasonally appropriate sides.
Catering offers more flexibility which allows me to showcase a larger variety of menu offerings. The Taco, Nacho & Baked Potato Bar are very popular because they offer almost endless flavor combinations and satisfy even the pickiest of eaters. As well, these menus easily check all the boxes for dietary preference and restrictions such as celiac, vegan/vegetarian and contain no nuts (the only nuts are the ones cooking the food:). Other popular menus include The Tailgate, The Italian and The Greek. I allow customers to mix and match to create their own custom menus too!
How can customers find you?
As a Mobile Food Establishment you can find me at a number of different locations depending on the season and the day of the week. I post my locations weekly on Facebook, or you can fill out the inquiry form on the website BunzUpCatering.com to have menus with pricing sent to your inbox. Of course, I am always available by phone or text at 401-214-7232 and am happy to answer any questions you may have about your event.
What are your food business dreams?
I am guilty of being an endless dreamer with more ideas than I know what to do with. At this juncture of my professional life, I am working at Building up my Catering Business and I am dreaming of creating my own line of sausages and provisions to sell locally and online. I have a passion for good food and I want to share that with the world!
Interested in starting up your own food business? Need for a baker or caterer for your next event? Looking for a unique space to hold a party?
Visit the Millrace Kitchen to learn more about our offerings.
