MORE AT MOR. The Wisconsin Farmers Union's headquarters, Market On River (MOR) also serves as a multi-use building, featuring housing and event spaces as well as small businesses and vendor booths. As of early 2026, MOR (128 W. River St., Chippewa Falls) is also home to a commissary kitchen called River Street Kitchen.

The breath of fresh air that enveloped and rippled out from the 120-year-old brick building on the corner of Chippewa Falls’ Island and West River streets, continues to ebb and flow a year-and-a-half since opening its doors as Market On River.

The Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU) has long known Chippewa Falls as the home of its headquarters, and since the multi-million dollar revitalization of the historic structure at 128 W. River St., a new era has ushered in.

The 45,000-square-foot, three-story building is multi-use, perhaps embodying the heart of WFU best through its community events, local in-house vendors and still-evolving interior. In the first few weeks of 2026, the latter has been especially exemplified, with Market On River launching its community kitchen.

River Street Kitchen, located in the northwest corner of the building, is a commercial-grade space intentionally fitted for as wide a range of use as possible. Its rollout signals the second phase of Market On River’s first floor space, currently home to a number of small businesses, Facilities Director Jackie Boos said.

Kitchen Steward Michelle Thiede, right, walked a group through the River Street Kitchen during a recent workshop at Market On River.

Before heading to Madison for WFU’s annual Farm and Rural Lobby Day on Jan. 14, Boos and Michelle Thiede – a fixture of the Chippewa Valley’s eat scene, founder of Forage in Eau Claire and familiar face among many local restaurant teams – brimmed with excitement for all that River Street Kitchen could be.

The vision for River Street Kitchen will be somewhat determined by its users, Boos and Thiede said, though its intention will be to serve as both an incubator for entrepreneurs and an education space.

While WFU and Market On River have hosted presentations and seminars, the new community kitchen brings a brand-new resource to the Chippewa Valley.

The kitchen is agile, in that individual portions of it can be rented out by users with varied and specific needs. It's fitted with a 12-shelf commercial cooler and commercial freezer, double convection oven, commercial hood, two-foot flat top grill, Irinox blast chiller and freezer, a 40-quart Globe mixer with attachments, commercial dishwasher and a ton of other gizmos and gadgets.

IN A YEAR FROM NOW, THIEDE HOPES TO SEE THE KITCHEN FILLED WITH USERS, PERHAPS AS MANY AS 20 ROTATING IN AND OUT.

Depending on what resources and space within the kitchen a user wants to work with, rental rates will vary.

For instance, if a local food truck team simply needed a commercial kitchen space for prep and dishes, those areas could be rented out while a separate user could utilize the six-burner, and so on. Rentals range from $10-$28/hour. 

“The thing I struggled with for the kitchen was being fair for people starting their businesses and using it, and being fair to the Farmers Union which has put this space together,” Thiede said.

“It’s a hard business model because everyone coming into that kitchen is going to use it a different way. You could have two bakers and the odds of them doing the same things in the same way is very slime to none,” she continued.

River Street Kitchen is fitted with equipment and appliances meant to meet a very wide variety of needs and uses. It includes a double convection oven, commercial hood and commercial dishwasher, 40-quart Globe mixer, Irinox blast chiller, commercial freezer and much more.

As Market On River’s Kitchen Steward, Thiede guides the infrastructure of the space. With her own experience across the community’s food and entrepreneurial scenes, Thiede has also attended a shared kitchen summit, researched and toured similar kitchen spaces in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

“Once you get into Minnesota, there’s plenty of community kitchens,” Thiede said. “There was a lot of talk of those places filling up fast.  This incubator kitchen idea is really growing.”

Now, River Street Kitchen is utilizing a shared kitchen management system called “The Food Corridor” to create a near one-stop shop of resources for those using the incubator kitchen. Space rental and scheduling, billing and accounting, licensing information and more are just some of its included tools.

River Street Kitchen – and the addition of Thiede to the WFU team – is poised to bring a new energy into Market On River. As to why it is rolling out now, Boos explained a number of factors including the securing of necessary grant and federal funds – and inspections and equipment installations – lined up with the start of the new year.

"Michelle's input has been key (to understanding how to do this well), but we're also working very closely with the county to ensure we have everything we need in order to give people the right tools."

jackie boos

facilities director, market on river & wi farmers union

While attending Lobby Day in Madison, the WFU team expects the kitchen’s final inspections to wrap up. Upon returning, Thiede will continue to connect with those who have already inquired about the space, meet with the Small Business Development Center to continue learning about entrepreneurial tools and work on her own new business, Little Roasting Pot.

“Starting a business, or restarting that process for me, is overwhelming, “Thiede said. “Here, I feel like we can tie in those education pieces, break things down for people and actually help them get up and started. That’s the incubation part of this.”

“Michelle’s input has been key (to understanding how to do this well), but we’re also working very closely with the county to ensure we have everything we need in order to give people the right tools,” Boos added. “There are steps users will need to take – getting the right licensing, compliance and things like that.”

In a year from now, Thiede hopes to see the kitchen filled with users, perhaps as many as 20 rotating in and out. “With the amount of people already reaching out with interest, I don’t think that’s an unattainable goal,” she said.

“Just to fill the space with a lot of creativity and love, I think that that is going to create a totally different vibe in here. It’s going to be like a weekend every day.”

Learn more about Market On River's (128 W. River St., Chippewa Falls) commercial community kitchen, River Street Kitchen, online at  www.marketonriver.com/river-street-kitchen. Find rental information for it online.