The owners of the building that houses Fork Food Lab, a shared commercial kitchen at 72 Parris St. in Portland, on Monday confirmed a new partnership with the Sustainability Lab that will ensure the kitchen stays open.

Eric Holstein of Forq LLC said in a written statement that he and his business partner had “entertained a handful of offers to take over the business” after Pilotworks announced in June that it would shut down the Fork Food Lab operation. Forq sold Fork Food Lab to Pilotworks, a New York-based company, last year.

“Today, we’re extremely happy to have found an excellent partner in the Sustainability Lab,” Holstein said. “They have a history of helping the Greater Portland region food economy and align with our goal of Fork Food Lab being a hub for food entrepreneurship. We are confident they will bring back the programming and excitement that was present when Fork Food Lab opened.”

Bill Seretta, president of The Sustainability Lab in Yarmouth and chair of the Maine Food System Innovation Challenge, said last month that he and other entrepreneurs were looking for a way to rescue the food lab, which was founded in 2016 and is used by more than 30 start-up food businesses. Pilotworks, which operates three other shared commercial kitchens, in New York, Dallas and Chicago, abruptly announced it was closing the 6,000-square-foot lab in July and told the businesses using the facility that they had until the end of September to get out.

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