[Link]

story
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COLUMN ONE

Where culinary dreams take shape, batch by batch

Chef's Kitchens and other incubator kitchens give cooks a place -- fully stocked -- to share and nurture their
food-related businesses.

By Mary MacVean
April 21, 2009
In one kitchen, Bob Suchyta perfects his muffins and brownies, trying to build a business in case the
economy costs him his radio job. In another, Chelsea Britt, a recent college graduate, bakes in hopes
of keeping her dad's panfortepanforte business going. In a third kitchen, Robyn Chandonnet prepares
vegan raw cheesecakes.
There are dozens of stories behind the bowls and stoves and recipes at Chef's Kitchens, an incubator
for food businesses. Stories of people shedding careers or adjusting to new and unexpected
challenges. People with a dream and a cleverly decorated cookie or a family tamale recipe or the goal
of owning a restaurant.
A small food business often starts at home -- cooking or baking after a day job, handing out samples,
asking friends and family for advice. But after that, the home cook must confront the reality of
insurance, permits, packaging, marketing. And a kitchen. Selling food from most home kitchens is
illegal. Building one can cost tens of thousands of dollars; rental kitchens are scarce.
Enter the "incubator kitchen" -- for rent, stocked with equipment and licensed by health authorities.
"We want to be a place where people can start from nothing and grow -- and grow out of us in some
ways," says Andrea Bell, the owner of Chefs Kitchens Co-op, in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood
of Los Angeles.
CC Consalvo would like nothing better than to outgrow Chef's Kitchens. She and two part-time
employees of Clean Plate Meals make and deliver organic "farm-to-table artisan" meals that
accommodate dairy or gluten intolerance and other special requests.
Her dream is to own a cafe.
But for now, she says, she feels at home at Chef's Kitchen, where the five kitchens are open 24-7 for
the 40 or 50 businesses operating there. Rents at the 25-year-old facility -- a stucco building whose
front door leads to a narrow hall, with two kitchens to the left and three to the right -- run from $16 to
$25 an hour, depending on how much time a cook, teacher, photographer or other tenant needs.
Last fall, Bell says, the economic news left her worried that "things could get pretty rough" for her
incubator, but that hasn't happened. In fact, she says, her office is getting more calls, five or six a day,
inquiring about the kitchens.
The recession has hurt some specialty food manufacturers, but overall, the industry reported $48
billion in retail sales nationally in 2008, an increase of 8.4% over 2007, according to a report by the
National Assn. for the Specialty Food Trade. Experts say that tough economic times inspire creativity.

"I think the economy will stimulate the entrepreneurial mind," says Mari Fassett, who "searched high
and low" for a kitchen after she began her successful Marimix snack company in 1993, and who now
is building a four-kitchen incubator in Orange.
"Everybody has a dream of some kind of food . . . a favorite dish they really think people would
love," says Bell, a former caterer with 25 years of experience. "People are a lot more interested in
what goes into their food, the ingredients, the health aspects. By buying from people who are also
concerned about that, you can get food of the caliber you would make at home."
Chef's Kitchens is one of about 60 such incubators around the country. La Cocina in San Francisco
was conceived to help low-income people develop businesses. Others help farmers get their products
to consumers. Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen is a consulting firm in New York that operates three
incubators in the off-hours at kitchens run for another purpose, such as job training, says Kathrine
Gregory, owner of the firm. Rents are around $20 an hour.
These days, Gregory says, she encourages people to "think small and package small." While a
shopper might hesitate to buy a big box of expensive cookies, they're likely to feel comfortable with a
$5 splurge.
At Chef's Kitchens, Bell and partner Sarah Cawley say some of their tenants work full time, and
others work as little as four hours a week.
There's a bookcase of cookbooks for sharing, as well as informal advice about getting a spot at a
farmers market or shelf space at Whole Foods, and referrals for packaging or insurance. (The cooks
who use the incubator must get certification in food handling, and insurance. If they want to sell food
in L.A. County, they also need a business license.)
And should a cook need an egg in the middle of the night, he or she can usually borrow one.
"Sometimes, you go in and the music is playing and people are dancing and singing and cooking,"
Bell says. "You are not stuck in your kitchen."
Cawley, who came to the U.S. from Ireland in 1982 and worked for Bell at her catering business
before becoming her partner in Chef's Kitchens, has a reputation as a mother hen. Tenants say she can
quickly get an oven fixed or a scheduling problem solved.
"The people who are here -- they put their faith in me," she says. "They have faith in me and I have to
give that back. I don't want them to worry."
Sometimes, it's worry that leads people to the kitchen in the first place.
Robyn Chandonnet was a hairdresser when her husband's multiple sclerosis began limiting his
activities. After seeing many doctors, he turned to alternatives, cut out all processed foods and
eventually began eating only raw food.
For a party, when her father-in-law turned 70, Chandonnet tried to make a cake that her husband
could eat, consisting entirely of vegan ingredients. An idea was born, and Chandonnet went to work
trying to perfect a product.
"A lot of cheesecake went into the toilet in the process," Chandonnet says, but in 2005, when she had
a recipe she thought was marketable, she went to Chef's Kitchens.
"It was like coming home," she says. "I love Sarah. Without this place, I would never be in
business."

Her Nude Foods cheesecakes -- raw and vegan, in seven flavors, including lemon-blueberry,
chocolate and pumpkin spice -- are sold in some Whole Foods stores. She began alone, and now has
three employees; her gross sales went from $32,000 the first year to $122,000 in 2008.
Bob Suchyta hopes his muffins and brownies will prove just as appealing.
He worked in his father's Dearborn, Mich., bakery from the age of 5. By the time he was 20, he'd had
enough. Now 43, he's worried about the future of his radio job.
Last year, he brought his low-fat apple muffins to El Segundo's town fair. Soon, he was sinking
money into equipment, and in January, he started working at Chef's Kitchens. He sells his baked
goods at the Torrance Farmers Market on Saturdays and has been trying to get a contract with a cafe.
He still has his day job, but he says he's closing in on breaking even as a baker.
Chelsea Britt, 25, also hopes to use what she learned from her father, Randy, a farmer in Chico who,
along with the produce he brought to a farmers market, ran a business that sold a California-style
version of the Italian cake called panfortepanforte, made with almonds, dried apricots, and nectarines
and dates.
"I remember him practicing," says Britt, who designed the label featuring a stylized almond tree.
Last April, her father died. Britt had already moved to Los Angeles and wanted to stay. She went
home temporarily to his kitchen to learn the ropes. She's now working on the business at Chef's
Kitchens, with a hoped-for fall debut at a Santa Monica farmers market.
There's no guarantee any of them will succeed, but the dreamers keep coming. Chef's Kitchen alumni
include Akasha Richmond, who used one of the kitchens as a caterer and to test recipes for her
well-regarded Culver City restaurant, Akasha.
Bell says she doesn't know what percentage of her tenants go the distance, but she advises people not
to plan on making a living in food for at least two years.
"You really need to not just be a good cook, but a good businessperson," she says.
"People who think they are going to jump in and cook a few chocolate chip cookies and make a living
at it are probably setting themselves up for failure."
Two young men came in recently to take a look at the kitchens; they want to make healthful, organic
food, Cawley says.
She advised them to keep their computer business jobs as they work on their food careers.
"Maybe they'll last a week," she says. "Maybe five years."
[Link]@[Link]

August 8, 2007

When Cooks Dreams Outgrow Their Ovens

By INDRANI SEN
DEBBIE BONNERS carrot cake, with its moist, macadamia-spiked layers, pineapple tang and aroma of candied
ginger, could have come straight from her familys kitchen in North Carolina.
The ruisleipa rye bread that Simo Kuusisto bakes is a dense, chewy, faintly sour taste of his homeland, Finland.
And crunching into a pickled cucumber barrel-fermented by Jon Orren practically transports one to an
old-fashioned New York deli counter.
But all three foods come from the same place a squat industrial building in Long Island City, Queens.
Ms. Bonner, Mr. Kuusisto and Mr. Orren are among three dozen food makers who rent space at Mi Kitchen Es Su
Kitchen, a community kitchen and entrepreneurial incubator.
Created by Kathrine Gregory, a former restaurateur, Mi Kitchen solves a perennial problem for start-up food
businesses in New York City: where to do all the cooking.
The options are limited. Using a home kitchen is complicated by health and insurance regulations. Renting
space for a professional kitchen and equipping it is prohibitively expensive for most beginners, and commercial
kitchens are scarce and often dont allow the flexibility that new businesses require.
For the last two years, Ms. Gregory has rented sections of the 5,000-square-foot teaching kitchen of the Artisan
Baking Center, a nonprofit worker-training center. The kitchen is available only when classes are not in session,
and she charges $180 a night or $220 for a day shift.
I was very lucky to find this space, said Mr. Orren, who started his small-batch pickle company, Wheelhouse
Pickles, in 2005. He has made pickles at Mi Kitchen since April of last year. If Mi Kitchen didnt exist, he said,
I think the only other alternative for me at that point in the companys growth was to try to find a restaurant that
would allow me to use the kitchen in the off-hours.
Ms. Gregory said about 60 percent of those who use the kitchen are talented home cooks. Among them are
producers of granola, toffee, hummus and chocolate-covered pretzels. Many still have day jobs.
Most of the people, this is their dream, Ms. Gregory said. One night a week or one night a month theyre going
to work a 9-to-5 job and then come over here and work another eight hours standing on their feet in a hot kitchen.
Their passion is so strong that theyre willing to subject themselves to this.

Thats certainly true of Mr. Kuusisto. A chef for the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, he first picked
up bread-baking as a hobby, spurred in part by his craving for the Finnish rye bread he grew up with. Now hes
considering a career switch.
This is my first step toward maybe doing a bakery, Mr. Kuusisto said as he shaped loaves around midnight on a
recent shift at Mi Kitchen. He paused to knock on the wooden countertop. Who knows? Maybe well conquer
America with this bread!
After a full work week, Mr. Kuusisto bakes at Mi Kitchen from 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Friday nights, producing
150 to 200 pounds of bread to sell at a farmers market on Long Island.
Its a good playground for me, he said with a slightly bleary smile. To see if the bread sells.
Mi Kitchen fits in with the Artisan Baking Centers mission, said Rebecca Lurie, the centers director. Mi
Kitchens rent helps pay for the classes. Ms. Gregory runs Mi Kitchen as a business but offers free mentoring and
entrepreneurial workshops. And Ms. Lurie said, You can see how theres a quick tie-in because as those
businesses grow, they need trained workers.
Mi Kitchen is one of a number of similar incubators across the country to help entrepreneurs. The National
Business Incubation Association includes 21 kitchen incubator programs, said Meredith Erlewine, the groups
director of publications.
On a recent Saturday morning at Mi Kitchen, Anthony Brisbon, a graduate of the baking program, assembled
fruit and cheese plates for Two Mamas and a Cook, a catering company he recently started with two other
graduates. Ms. Bonner mixed cake batter for 12 fudge layer cakes. Kelli Bernard, the owner of Amai Tea & Bake
House, wandered over with a tray of her fragrant tea-infused butter cookies to ask Ms. Bonners opinion on some
shapes she was testing.
As useful as Mi Kitchen has been, Ms. Bernard said, there have also been frustrations. Access to the kitchen is
limited by class times, and sometimes the foods juxtaposed there have had disastrous interactions early
batches of sour pickles got moldy because of the bakers yeasts in the air; doughs have absorbed the smells of
foods cooling beside them in the refrigerator.
Pickles and cookies dont go together, said Ms. Bernard, who plans to open her own cafe in Gramercy Park this
fall. Nor do salmon and cookies.
Still, for Ms. Bonner, who left a career in marketing to start her company, Debbies Soulful Sweets, the kitchens
community feeling is a great advantage.
Baking alone, isolated, you dont last very long, she said as she sliced a German chocolate cake. I want to be
big. I want to be manufacturing nationally and selling mail order. But before I can be big, I want to be good. And
in order to be good, I have to be here.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
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Being own boss is upside to getting downsized, say new

biz owners
BY LORE CROGHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, December 21st 2008, 4:00 AM

When the brass warned layoffs were coming, Vilma Villatoro thought she'd be spared. She was wrong.
"We're downsizing," the accountant at the United Bank branch at Rockefeller Center was told. "Pack up your
things and leave today."
Her only job prospect paid beginning bookkeeper's wages, so last spring she took charge of her employment.
She opened a shop called Chila's Department Store near her Crotona Park East, Bronx, home that sells
bargain-priced, brand-name shoes.
"Every woman wants to have many pairs of shoes - like Imelda Marcos," said Villatoro, 53. "If they come to me,
they don't have to pay a fortune for them."
As job losses mount citywide - Controller William Thompson predicts 170,000 by late 2010 - more and more New
Yorkers will launch their own businesses. The trend is starting to pick up momentum, experts said.
A third of the 150 students in Prof. Bruce Niswander's entrepreneurship classes at Polytechnic University in
downtown Brooklyn have lost their jobs or fear they will.
Calls are pouring in to Kathrine Gregory's office at a new business incubator called Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen
from jobless or soon-to-be jobless New Yorkers seeking advice about starting food businesses.
She tells them they don't have to spend $100,000 to lease and equip commercial kitchens when they can use
hers one day at a time. She runs three facilities where new business owners on tight budgets can cook.
Even in a recession, help is available for New Yorkers who decide to create their own jobs.
Incubators like Gregory's offer low-cost workspace to people who are short on rent money. Microlenders dish
out funds when banks won't. Colleges and government agencies provide free counseling.
"Starting your own business is going to be very scary if you're used to getting a paycheck, but it's liberating to
be your own boss," Gregory said.
Villatoro recently got counseling at the Small Business Development Center at Lehman College and applied for a
$50,000 microloan for Chila's.
She opened her shop with money from the $96,000 she got in severance, her 401(k) and personal savings but
still needs more cash.
She wants the money to fund a move to a storefront at a new apartment complex on Louis Nine Blvd. built by
the Women's Housing and Economic Development Corp.
Villatoro gets her goods dirt cheap from liquidators, so the pricing's enticing at Chila's: $69 Steve Madden flats
and $85 Jessica Simpson patent-leather pumps go for $29, and the "deal of the day" shoes by the front door
are $5 a pair. But her shop is tucked away on a side street, and it generates less revenue than her online
sales.
"If I didn't sell on eBay, I would be losing money," she said.
Laura Paterson got laid off last month from the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. She knew the
economy was bad, but it was still a shock.
Paterson, 33, was hoping to keep her job as marketing director for at least a couple of more months. She had
already launched a startup, Hot Blondies Bakery, with a former co-worker who had left the museum last spring.
They wanted at least one of them to have a paying job for a while longer.
Now Paterson, a Nolita resident, is baking and filling orders for brownies with business partner Lorin Rokoff, 30.

Doing Well by Doing Good

Jessica Chen
[Link]
Friday, October 19, 2007; 12:00 AM

In June 2006, Bill Gates announced he was stepping down from his
full-time role at Microsoft and shifting his focus to the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation. When the world's richest entrepreneur decides to take a
step in the nonprofit direction, he may be onto something.
In the last decade, a generation of social entrepreneurs has become
increasingly visible by creating self-sustaining businesses. Social
entrepreneurs are similar to regular entrepreneurs with one main
difference--their gains aren't measured in financial profit, but by the impact
they have on society.
Many entrepreneurs have started social enterprises, breaking nonprofit
tradition by blending mission with money, referred to as "double bottom
line" businesses. Jerr Boschee, executive director and founder of The
Institute for Social Entrepreneurship, says for a while, nonprofits were
hung up on the double bottom line because it seemed contradictory to merge
doing well with doing good. But Boschee says self-sufficiency has become
necessary for many nonprofit groups to operate. "We have today three times
as many nonprofits as we had 30 years ago, and they're all at the same
watering hole."
No longer limited by philanthropic donations and public subsidies, these
organizations now have a way of being self-sufficient while still helping
others in social need. And for some of these organizations, helping others
means helping them start their own businesses.
Helping Others Get Started Mi Kitchen es Su Kitchen !is a kitchen
incubator in Queens, New York, dedicated to helping struggling
entrepreneurs start and develop food businesses. The kitchen offers
business counseling, mentoring and support for entrepreneurs who have a
line of goods, but are limited in funds and business knowledge.
"We go through the whole thing," says founder Kathrine Gregory. "How
do you market?! How do you write a business plan?"
The 55-year-old food industry veteran is an entrepreneur herself and offers her know-how by partnering
with nonprofits that house kitchen facilities. In 1996, Gregory started her kitchen incubator concept with
an organization that had an 850-square-foot kitchen in Brooklyn. The facility was being used for job
training, but operation costs were quickly eating up the funding. Gregory convinced the board to let her
test the kitchen incubator concept, and the resulting profits helped turn the nonprofit into a
self-sustaining business.
Today, Mi Kitchen es Su Kitchen operates in conjunction with the Consortium for Worker Education
and Artisan Baking Center. With a 5,000-square-foot facility, the kitchen is used for culinary arts
training, general education and ESL courses during the day. At night the kitchen transforms into a

bustling entrepreneurial atmosphere, complete with a dough press, chocolate melter, and a variety of
mixers and ovens.
According to Gregory, most entrepreneurs at Mi Kitchen es Su Kitchen--who pay $180 to $220 per
shift to use the space--turn a profit within the first six to 12 months. The revenue made from rentals has
totaled about $200,000.
"People think this is an amazing concept," Gregory says. "It's really a win-win, everyplace that you
look." She believes that leveling the playing field for low-income entrepreneurs is one reason her idea
has hit home with the local community.
Kiva founders Matt Flannery, 30, and his wife, Jessica, also took the business partner angle with their
[Link] microlending website. The two started Kiva after traveling to Africa and learning of the
enterprising atmosphere there.
"We interviewed people every day for weeks and talked about people's business plans," says Matt. "I
thought it was fascinating that I was talking about business, business plans and scaling an inventory
challenges in a place that I only associated with deep poverty."
The experience stayed with Matt and Jessica when the two returned to California and partnered with
four others, working out of coffee shops and a tiny San Francisco apartment to develop the Kiva
website and concept. Their goal remains showing people the business dynamic they experienced in
Africa. "It was a different take on poverty, a different take on Africa than you typically hear when you're
out here in the United States," Matt says.
On the Kiva website, lenders can donate to entrepreneurs trying to start a business in third-world
countries. Loans start at $25, which goes a long way in the third world. The entrepreneurs pay back the
loans 99 percent of the time--a remarkable default rate in the finance world. "[It's] connecting as an equal
or a business partner, an entrepreneur, rather than as a charitable endeavor or benefactor or taking pity
on someone else," Matt says.
And pity is something Matt says the media has thrived on for some time. "Often we want to hear about
war and bloodshed and disease and that's only a small part of the story about what goes on in a huge
continent like Africa," he adds.
Like Gregory, Matt also struggled to convince others about the viability of his idea. "One attribute of
good ideas is that they challenge people's existing mindset," he says. "Now that I know that, I wouldn't
have put so much weight in other people's opinions."
Why It's WorkingDespite some skepticism, "Social entrepreneurship is really taking off around the
world," says David Bornstein, author ofHow to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power
of New Ideas, which has been translated into 16 languages. In his book, Bornstein chronicles the work
of Ashoka, an international organization that helps fund entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to
social problems.
According to Bornstein, the relentless won't-take-no-for-an-answer quality of entrepreneurs is what
gives them their edge in business. "They absorb the failure, they learn, they surround themselves with a
good team and then they redirect." These same attributes, when applied in the social realm, can result in
community-changing solutions.
In the end, Gregory says it's the energy of the entrepreneurs she comes into contact with that sustain her
in her business. For Matt and Jessica, being part of something larger than themselves has inspired them.
"It's not about me, it's not about my organization," Matt says. "It's about people connecting to people
and using technology as a conduit."

June 23, 2007

For Women, a Recipe to Create a Successful Business

By LAURA NOVAK
SAN FRANCISCO One morning in May, Veronica Salazar stuffed refried beans into sandal-shaped masa
cakes, concentrating to block the commotion in a cavernous kitchen here in the Mission District. The chopping of
vegetables added to the din as the clang of metal pans against stainless steel equipment competed with
background music from a local Spanish-language radio station.
But this kitchen, known by the Spanish name La Cocina, is no ordinary restaurant or commercial operation.
Instead, the chefs here all women, most of them immigrants work side by side to achieve a common goal:
starting their own food businesses and, in some cases, elevating themselves out of poverty.
Known as a kitchen incubator, La Cocina (la-koh-SEE-nuh) is a shared-use space created two years ago to
provide a platform for women entrepreneurs without assets. Offering a low hourly rate for access to 2,200 square
feet of restaurant-quality kitchen space, the nonprofit La Cocina also provides training from high-profile mentors
and technical assistance on creating business plans and building marketing programs.
Theres an entrepreneurial gene, said Valeria Perez Ferreiro, executive director of La Cocina. And we are
finding amazing entrepreneurs who are already cooking or have a product that is so promising that it deserves to
be seen in the market and that we think has a chance for success.
Ms. Salazar, 32, was one of the first participants in La Cocina and is one of its bigger successes. Her company, El
Huarache Loco, makes traditional foods from Mexico City.
Working with intensity, she needed to produce 700 of her trademark huaraches, the bean-filled cakes, for her
weekly booth at a farmers market and hundreds more for Carnaval San Francisco festivities over Memorial Day
weekend. She also prepared fish and shrimp ceviche as an employee stirred 30 gallons of carnitas in a brazing
skillet for a catering job for 100 people.
I come here to learn all the business, and I need to learn more every day, Ms. Salazar said, while dicing pounds
of tomatoes for a salsa roja. Tomorrow, I have three parties. So if I do this tomorrow, I know I can do something
by myself.
The specialty foods prepared here are a reflection of the ethnic makeup of La Cocinas participants. More than
half the women are Latina, with another 8 percent African-American. The rest are Asian or Caucasian. Their
products, both fresh and packaged, range from Mexican street fare to Irish chocolates, vegetarian sushi, South
African meat pies and Brazilian cakes.
La Cocina has opened its own booth at the high-end Ferry Building Marketplace, where it sells its participants

packaged products along with house-made charcuterie, pricey olive oils and $8-a-dozen organic eggs.
Every day La Cocinas calendar is replete with participants preparing packaged products and hot food for
catering jobs, coffee shops and a busy farmers market near the airport. Anna Shis Gourmet has a standing
weekly order for 900 of her vegetarian tofu egg rolls for the Berkeley school district. Maria del Carmen Flores sells
1,500 of her yucca and plantain chips in 50 stores. Independent grocers around the Bay Area and Whole Food
Markets throughout the state have picked up many of La Cocinas specialty products.
The really cool thing about a business incubator is that when you get entrepreneurial people in one place,
theres a synergistic effect, said Tracy Kitts, vice president and chief operating officer of the National Business
Incubation Association, a nonprofit membership organization. Not only do they learn from staff, they learn tons
from each other, and this really contributes greatly to their success.
The association estimates there are 1,200 incubation programs in the United States. Only 19 of them are kitchen
incubators, Mr. Kitts said, because the start-up and operating costs are much higher than for a mixed-use space.
Eight of those programs are in urban areas, including Rochester, New York City, Denver and Minneapolis.
La Cocina is housed in a starkly modern structure wedged among tattered row houses and apartment buildings in
the Mission District. Residents are primarily low-income people from Mexico and El Salvador, where Ms. Perez
Ferreiro says there is a strong tradition of entrepreneurship.
La Cocina was created by the California Womens Foundation in response to a survey that indicated that 90
percent of women in the Mission District said they needed adequate equipment and proper permits to run their
businesses, but that commercial kitchen space in San Francisco was either unaffordable or geographically
inconvenient. Many of them said they were cooking illegally out of their homes.
The foundation and government grants make up more than three-quarters of La Cocinas $575,000 annual
budget. About 17 percent of its funding comes from rent charged to six commercial tenants (including men), who
pay $30 to $40 an hour, depending on the type of equipment being used. The program participants pay $8 to
$10 an hour for the space, utensils and small ware.
We are not creating a parallel nonprofit world where they are in a sheltered workshop, Ms. Perez Ferreiro said.
The reason we charge a fee is that we want them to have a business model that is sustainable. If they dont
incorporate the cost of doing business, its artificial, and its going to crumble.
To avoid that, Jason Rose, La Cocinas culinary director, and Caleb Zigas, the program director, both of them
bilingual, meet weekly with the women to review food costs, recipes and sales and marketing plans. Participants
also pair with consultants from partner organizations who work on finances and cash flow statements.
Ms. Salazar of El Huarache Loco employs five family members at her booth at the Alemany Farmers Market,
where Mr. Zigas says she takes in $3,000 every weekend. Costs of goods, licenses, employee wages and kitchen
rental means she nets $1,000. But he points out that Ms. Salazar will soon be able to afford to buy a home; he is
searching for commercial space for her to open a restaurant, a prospect he calls thrilling.
Its the translation from informal economy, which is cash-in, cash-out, to a formal economy, which is concept,
then investment, then growth, Mr. Zigas said. Its a really hard conceptual translation to make, to go from

knowing how much youre making every day to thinking about money in a longer-term vision.
When Jill Litwin applied to La Cocina, she had abundant vision but needed help with what she calls her road
map. Ms. Litwin is the owner of Peas of Mind, a line of frozen organic toddler food that she developed in
Vermont.
At first, she was only capable of making 12 mini-casseroles at a time. The staff brought in a food scientist to help
Ms. Litwin recalibrate her recipes so that each batch would turn out 400. They also introduced her to a human
resources specialist and made a critical introduction to a food buyer for Whole Foods Market.
They are helping people produce products that are high quality and of great integrity, said Justin Jackson,
executive coordinator for purchasing at Whole Foods in Northern California. If it wasnt well thought through
and executed properly, our interest wouldnt be what it is.
Peas of Mind is now in 80 stores in California, 20 of them Whole Foods Markets, which is discussing plans to take
her product national. Ms. Litwin says she has doubled her 2006 sales in the first quarter of this year.
If you are an entrepreneur, you are in your own world and you never know if youre on the right track, Ms.
Litwin said. This is definitely a community you can bounce ideas off of. And if they dont know the answer, theyll
find somebody who does.
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WINTER, 2005
WINTER, 2005
BW SMALLBIZ -- STARTUPS
BW SMALLBIZ -- STARTUPS

Hatching For Success

Hatching
For areSuccess
Business incubators
back -- and ready to transform your startup
Business incubators are back -- and ready to transform your startup

Here's no doubt that Arthur "Mac" Jones knows how to build a company. A former Arthur Andersen accountant, Jones was CFO and later
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1998, he By
signed
onthe
ascompany
CEO of International
Pharmacy
five-person
mail-order
pharmacy
andmillion.
prescription-benefit card company.
By 2000, the company had 25 employees and $10 million in sales. That year, Jones sold it for $40 million.
But Jones, now 57, also has the good sense to know when to accept a helping hand. That's why his next venture -- a nutritional supplements
But Jones,
now 57, also--has
the good
sensefrom
to know
when to accept Center,
a helping
That's
why hisinnext
venture --Ala.
a nutritional
manufacturer
is being
launched
the Entrepreneurial
a hand.
business
incubator
Birmingham,
IPM wassupplements
housed there when Jones
came--on
board launched
and it's where
the venture capitalists
put $3
million into
that startup. "Once
you've
in an
incubator,
you know you
manufacturer
is being
from he
themet
Entrepreneurial
Center, a who
business
incubator
in Birmingham,
Ala. IPM
was been
housed
there
when Jones
be in
the he
next
time
says. who put $3 million into that startup. "Once you've been in an incubator, you know you
came on want
boardtoand
it'sone
where
met
thearound,"
venturehe
capitalists
want to be in one the next time around," he says.
It's easy to see why. Jones pays about two-thirds of the market rate for rent, and receives free marketing and accounting advice from local
It's easy to
see why. Jones
abouttheir
two-thirds
of to
theresident
marketcompanies.
rate for rent,His
andcurrent
receives
free marketing
and accounting
advice
professionals
who pays
volunteer
services
company,
Health Care
Supplements,
nowfrom
haslocal
five employees and
revenues
of growing
$1 million.
Jones
expects
it to strike
outfunded
on itsHis
own
in about
a year.
professionals
their
services
to resident
companies.
company,
Health CareorSupplements,
now has five
employees
and chief aim
and who
outs volunteer
of
a new
business.
They're
often
bycurrent
state
and
local
governments
economic development
agencies,
and their
revenues is
of to
$1spur
million.
expectsWhile
it to strike
out on
its own in about
a year.
localJones
job creation.
the staff
at mixed-use
incubators
probably won't have an in-depth knowledge of your industry, they can help with
Just
a few yearsproblems
after hundreds
of them imploded
in the
tech
bust,
business incubators -- which provide office space and professional advice to
the day-to-day
and questions
common to
most
small
businesses.
-- arehundreds
making aofcomeback.
Aboutin1,000
incubators
now operate
in the--U.S.,
a 10%
increase
over 2001.
Incubators typically
Just a fewstartups
years after
them imploded
the tech
bust, business
incubators
which
provide
office space
and professional
advice take
to in young
startups --companies
are making
a the
comeback.
About
1,000Prinster
incubators
now
operate
inneeded.
the U.S.,After
a 10%
over
2001.
Incubators
typically
take
young
that
have
a of
clear
business
plan
butand
need
access
to specialized
facilities
or advice.
They
generally
offer
below-market
rent
and the
That's
exactly
kind
help
James
Steve
Kramer
theincrease
manufacturing
company
they
had
worked
forin
shut
down
in 2002,
expertise
of staff
or outside
consultants
willing
to work
at reduced
rates.
Companies
can
"graduate"
from
the
incubator
once
reach
milestones
companies
that have
aKramer
clear
business
plan
but aneed
access
to specialized
facilities
or
advice.
They
generally
offer
below-market
rent they
and
the
Prinster
and
decided
to start
contract-electronics
manufacturing
outfit.
They
met
with Thea
Chase
Gilman, director
of the
Business
as or
completing
aa big
roundwilling
of financing
oratwinning
a rates.
heftyJunction,
contract
--Colo.
goals
help
them
achieve.
"Incubators
companies
expertisesuch
of
staff
outside
to work
reduced
Companies
can
"graduate"
from
the
incubator
once
theypotential
reach take
milestones
Incubator
Center --consultants
nonprofit
mixed-use
incubator
in Grand
-- incubators
who
askedcan
them
tough
questions
about
buyers,
cost that
are
missingafinancing
something,
give
the resources
they
need
get
to
theto
stage
where
can
get funded,"
says Kala
managing
such as completing
big roundoptions,
ofand
financing
or winning
a heftyThey
contract
--to
goals
incubators
helpthey
them
achieve.
"Incubators
takeMarathi,
companies
that
structures,
andthem
equipment
needs.
worked
together
draftcan
a business
plan.
director
of the Houston
Network,
which
invests
its portfolio
companies
that have
graduated
from incubators.
are missing
something,
and give Angel
them the
resources
they
needabout
to get 25%
to theofstage
where in
they
can get funded,"
says
Kala Marathi,
managing
director ofAfter
the Houston
Network,
which
about
25% of its
portfolio
in companies
thatand
have
graduated
incubators.
securingAngel
a $100,000
bank
loan,invests
Prinster
and Kramer
founded
Canyon
Electronics
Cables.
Theyfrom
rented
a 1,200-square-foot manufacturing
Incubators
canincubator
afford toat
beabout
picky25%
aboutbelow
who they
chooserate.
to host.
they
local entrepreneurs
with aissues
full-fledged
one
facility in the
the market
The Typically,
incubator's
11 want
employees
helped with critical
such business
as payrollplan
and and
financing
to
five afford
employees.
(Ifabout
youabout
need
helpthey
developing
a
incubators
offerlocal
assistance
whodidn't
aren't
quite ready
to
beone
full-time
Incubators
can
be picky
who
choose
toplan,
host.
Typically,
they
entrepreneurs
full-fledged
business
planPrinster.
and
options.
"Wetoknew
the manufacturing
side
of
themost
business.
[Thewant
incubator]
helpedtousentrepreneurs
withwith
the a
stuff
we
know,"
says
tenants.) To
get in,
you'll
then
have to pass
muster
the incubator's
director,toand
sometimes a
selection
committee.
Bebe
prepared
to five employees.
(If you
need
help
developing
a plan,
most with
incubators
offer assistance
entrepreneurs
who
aren't quite
ready to
full-timeto answer
questions
your to
business'
growth
strategy.
"I'm looking
for space
companies
can
do something
that can
a lot
of jobs
tenants.) hard
To
get
in,Electronics
you'llabout
then quickly
have
pass muster
with
the incubator's
director,
and in
sometimes
a really
selection
committee.
Be
prepared
to add
answer
Canyon
outgrew
its facility
and
rented
additional
thethat
incubator.
"When
I was goneunique,
on vacation
they
even
took
overtomy
hard questions
about
business'
growth
strategy.
"I'm looking
for
companies
can
do something
that
can
add
a lot of
jobs
toalready
the
community,"
says
Charlie
D'Agostino,
director
of the
Louisiana
Business
andreally
Technology
Center
in
Baton
Rouge.
Companies
that
office,"
saysyour
Gilman.
The
28-employee
company
had
2004
revenues
of that
$850,000,
up from
$60,000
inunique,
2002.
And
in
December,
2004,
Canyon
have
ansays
established
management
team, receive
significant
funding,
or generate
substantial
usually
won't
be accepted.
the community,"
D'Agostino, manufacturing
director
of the Louisiana
Business
and
Technology
Center profits
in Baton
Rouge.
Companies
that already
moved
into
aCharlie
6,000-square-foot
facility
of its
own in Grand
Junction.
have an established management team, receive significant funding, or generate substantial profits usually won't be accepted.
Whether
an incubator
is right for your startup depends on what type of company you own and what assistance you need. Some incubators are open
NARROWING
THE FOCUS
all
companies;
others
welcome
only
those
in certain
sectors.
And their
-- make
universities,
corporations,
investors,
Whether to
an
incubator
is right
for your
startup
depends
on
what
type
of company
youdifferent
own
andsponsors
what
you
need.
Some
are
open
Sector-focused
incubators,
also called
clusters,
are becoming
increasingly
popular.
Theyassistance
now
up more
than
halfincubators
of private
all incubators
andlocal
are
to all companies;
others
welcome
onlywho
those
in certain
sectors.
And or
their
different
sponsors
-- universities,
corporations,
private
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local
governments,
and
economic
development
agencies
-- often
determine
the
servicesmarkets.
they
offerBut
and
the
types
startups
they
accept.
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designed
for entrepreneurs
need
specialized
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to
particular
finding
one of
that's
right for
your
company
company
needs plenty
of funding
to grow,
for-profit
incubator
that
in
tenant
companies
can
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choice.
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enrolling
one is or
no
governments,
andClusters
economic
development
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and
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startups
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industry
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inyour
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be a good
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in one
no area or
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in Maryland.
Then
ask
a few important
questions
beforeinyou
guaranteeindustry.
you'll get
cash,
because
most take
equity stakes
onlysign
theirup.
most promising tenants. Start by finding the incubators in your area or
industry. Then
a few
important
questions
before you
sign or
[Link] governments, universities and corporations are becoming players in this field as well.
Whileask
some
cluster
incubators
are funded
by state
FINDING
THE RIGHTincubators,
FIT
University-sponsored
often focused on technology, provide access to a broad range of resources, such as volunteer business school
goodRIGHT
place
toFIT
start
your search
is the Web
of the National
Business Incubation
Association,such
[Link]/resource_center,
which lists its Center
FINDINGAstudents,
THE
faculty
research
and expertise,
andsite
state-of-the-art
laboratories.
Corporate incubators,
as Panasonic's Linux Collaboration
member
incubators
by Nokia's
state
and
links
toincubator
about
20 in
state
incubation
associations.
Overall,
incubators
fall into two
categories:
A good place
to start
your
search
is the
Web
site
of
the National
Business
Incubation
Association,
[Link]/resource_center,
which
its mixed-use
in San
Jose,
Calif.,
or
Innovent
Annapolis,
Md.,
accept startups
working
on innovations
thatbroad
promise
tolists
expand
the
incubators,
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and sector-focused
incubators,
work categories:
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toline.
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incubation
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which accept companies from a variety of industries, and sector-focused incubators, which work only with companies in certain
[Link] Woodworth was in search of a more unusual type of sector-focused incubator -- a kitchen incubator -- for his Stony Brook Cookie Co., which
Mixed-use
incubators
are ideal
whoitshave
established
productprospects
or knowledge
of theirPortland,
industryOre.,
but who
the settling
ins
now sells gourmet
cookies
andfor
giftentrepreneurs
baskets through
Weban
site.
He investigated
in Boston,
andneed
New help
Yorkwith
before
Mixed-useon
incubators
are idealVentures,
for entrepreneurs
who
have
an established
or knowledge
their industryretail
but who
help withbusinesses.
the ins
Nuestra Culinary
a Jamaica
Plain
(Mass.)
incubatorproduct
designed
for small toof
medium-size
food need
and catering
For
Woodworth, who'd spent 12 years in the restaurant and catering business before launching his company, the draw was mainly financial. He
estimates he would have had to spend about $30,000 to set up a commercial kitchen that met Food and Drug Administration regulations. Instead,
he was able to launch Stony Brook with a meager $3,200.
Woodworth rents NCV's 1,600-square-foot kitchen for $27 an hour during the day and pays $62 a month for dry and freezer storage. He shares an
office equipped with fax, copier, and Internet access with NCV's 47 other tenants. The incubator holds seminars on everything from menu pricing
to tips for running a catering business, and local suppliers often give NCV companies discounts. "It was the perfect place to start my business,"
says Woodworth. The three-employee company had 2004 revenues of $65,000, and sales have quadrupled in 2005. Woodworth hopes to move to a
permanent location next summer.
Once you've managed to find an incubator that appears to suit your needs, it's time to dig in and do some homework. Find out about the incubator's
graduation requirements, and how flexible the rules are. You don't want to be kicked out before you're ready. Many incubators increase their
tenants' rent and other fees after an initial period, so ask about long-term lease arrangements and fees charged by outside consultants. And take a
look at companies who've recently graduated: Are they where you want your company to be in a few years? Perhaps most important, talk with
current tenants and recent graduates about their experiences. If they're anything like Arthur Jones's, you'll want to enroll right away.
By Michael Patterson

Advertising | Special Sections | MarketPlace | Knowledge

Centers

From In Business Magazine

November/December1999, Page 20
chicken wings, cheesecake ... and more

KITCHEN INCUBATOR CREATES NEW CAREERS

Build a commercial kitchen in a business center, and they will come. Thats the
story in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Molly Farrell
Former executive Nancy Davenport is now a lunch lady, thanks to a commercial kitchen installed at the
Coulee Region Business Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The 35,000-square-foot center leases space to
incubator businesses and currently has 15 tenants, including a screen printer, sculptor, driving school,
environmental consultant and kiln manufacturer.
Davenport was looking for a career change after working at the Franciscan Skemp Medical Center for
21 years, most recently as its patient financial services director. I was talking to the mother of one of
my daughters friends about starting a catering business and told her that the kitchen would be an issue
because health regulations require that any food prepared for the public be made in a commercial
kitchen, remembers Davenport. I approached a number of restaurants about renting their kitchens at
night, but wasnt getting anywhere. The woman called me a few weeks later and said the Coulee Center
was building a kitchen for incubator businesses, and I dialed the number right away.
David Loomis, executive director of the Coulee Region Business Center, says he began seeking funding
for the kitchen in 1998 after several people expressed interest in starting food-related businesses at the
center. The $85,000 kitchen was completed in May, 1999 with federal, state and local funds, as well as
donations of student labor and staff expertise from Western Wisconsin Technical College. The students
put up washable fiberglass wallboard and a seven-by-11-foot walk-in cooler. Other renovations to the
1,400-square-foot space included installing a trench in the floor to clean up spills, false walls to hide the
plumbing and electrical wiring, and a new lighting system.
The kitchen equipment cost approximately $40,000 and includes two ovens and two ten-burner stoves, a
convection oven that can bake 16 trays of cookies at a time, two 21-cubic-foot freezers, two powerful
microwaves that can be used for thawing food or melting butter, a commercial dishwasher, slicers,
mixers and a meat grinder. There is a tilting braising table that can cook ten turkeys or 30 gallons of
chili at a time. The table has a crank that turns it 90 to drain away grease. We dont have deep fat
fryers, notes Loomis. We didnt want to encourage that kind of cooking because it creates a bigger
mess in the filter and exhaust systems and is a fire hazard.
Loomis relied on his years of experience in the food service business as a sausage maker, deli and
concession stand manager and caterer in selecting the kitchen equipment. Ive been around food so I
knew to make the kitchen portable, he says. All four of the kitchens stainless steel tables are on casters
so they can be wheeled to the ovens or cooler for loading and unloading. When tenants are ready to
deliver the food, they can wheel the table out the back door to load up their truck, he adds.
CULINARY TENANTS
Davenport, the first culinary tenant, began using the kitchen in early June. Her business, Serves You
Right, provides meals to the employees of local companies. Since June, she has been serving lunch
Mondays and Wednesdays to 60 of the 300 employees at The Company Store, a manufacturer of down
products. In September, she began serving lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays to 80 of the 300
employees at APAC, which provides customer service functions for other companies customers.

Brian Collins, owner of Knuckle Suckin Chicken Wings, began leasing the kitchen in October. Caterer
Mike Tessmer, owner of T-Bones, uses the kitchen to clean his equipment. Tessmer specializes in
barbecue and brings a portable cooker to the clients site. Food preparers who sell to the public are
required by city, county, state and federal health department regulations to clean their equipment in a
commercial kitchen, so Mike comes back to the center if the client doesnt have a commercial kitchen,
says Loomis.
Two other businesses, Muddy Paws and Hmongs Golden Egg Rolls, are close to moving into the
kitchen incubator. Tami Cabrera Weinmann, owner of Muddy Paws, makes ten varieties of plain and
flavored cheesecakes, as well as dozens of special-order cheesecakes. Cabrera Weinmann lives in
Minneapolis and will make the three-hour trip to La Crosse one Sunday a month to use the kitchen.
She test marketed her cheesecakes for two years before incorporating Muddy Paws in November.
Cheesecakes are considered a dairy product, so my business has to meet the regulations of both the
states Department of Agriculture and Health Department, and I was looking for a commercial kitchen
that could meet them, says Cabrera Weinmann. She found a small commercial kitchen in Minneapolis
that she can lease for freezing and storage, but it didnt have a large oven. Its worth it to me to drive to
Coulee because I can make 30 to 40 cheesecakes in those ovens in an hour or two, she says. There are
also tons of space for dry food storage and equipment, a shared office for the tenants with a computer
and fax, and a woman who can do our accounting for six dollars an hour.
She plans to sell the cheesecakes wholesale in both Minneapolis and La Crosse to restaurants and coffee
shops, businesses for meetings and executive gifts, fundraisers, weddings, graduations and birthday
parties.
HOURLY RATES
Kitchen tenants pay an hourly rate based on the time of day. Davenport leases the kitchen for 30
hours/week during prime time, from 6:00 a.m. to noon, and pays the highest rate of $13.50/hour.
Tenants pay $12.50/hour to use the kitchen between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. and $12/hour after 9 p.m. and on
weekends. The kitchen can also be rented for $20/hour for catering events or class reunions.
Davenport gets to the kitchen by 6:30 or 7 a.m. and leaves by 10:45 a.m. to serve the first employees
their lunches at 11 a.m. in the companies lunchrooms. Davenport takes her own warming unit, chafing
dishes, insulated carriers and catering equipment, which she purchased for about $3,500. She serves
lunch until 1:15 p.m. and then goes back to the kitchen to clean up. Davenport describes the food she
prepares as fairly simple Americana, although she does make Italian and Mexican dishes. A recent
lunch included Salisbury steak, baked potato, vegetable, salad and a cookie for $4.
Up to seven businesses can lease the kitchen, depending on the hours they need it, says Loomis. Tami
will only be making cheesecakes on Sundays, so someone who catered weddings could use it on
Saturdays, he notes. However, there comes a saturation point where theyre bumping into one
another, so we have to be knowledgeable about who the tenants are and what they do.
The kitchen can also be used as a back-up by city restaurants. We want to serve the community as well
as private businesses, says Loomis. Our kitchen is bigger than the kitchens in 90 percent of the
restaurants so if their ovens went down, they could rent space and keep operational.
COMMITTEE APPROVAL
All kitchen tenants must be approved by a selection committee composed of members of the centers
board. The committee usually includes a lawyer, banker and business owners. Loomis meets with the
potential tenant first. Sometimes they only have an idea about what they want to do, he notes. Potential
tenants are required to submit business, financial and marketing plans. It doesnt mean that their
business will develop in the same exact way, but it gives them a road map of how to get there, says

Loomis.
The selection committee reviews the three plans before meeting with the prospective tenant. Loomis
attends the meeting as an ally of the tenant. The committee looks for problems like whether there could
be a potential cash shortfall, he says. In reality, customers try to stretch payments to the limit and there
may be three or four months when nothing is coming in even though the tenant has been supplying
product every month.
In Wisconsin, 87 percent of businesses that start out in incubator programs are still operating after five
years, higher than the nationwide success rate, says Loomis. There are more than 600 incubators in the
U.S, including 30 in Wisconsin. Loomis has been president of the Wisconsin Incubator Association
since 1994.
The Coulee Center first opened in 1987 in half of a 20,000-square-foot building, but had to move into
the basement when the rest of that building was leased. Trane Co., a large manufacturer of HVAC
equipment, donated its original plant to the center. We had to sell that building because it wasnt
handicap accessible, had asbestos problems, steep stairs and no elevator between the first and second
floors, remembers Loomis. Northern State Electric Power Co. then donated a piece of land for the
center to build on. That parcel didnt fit what we needed, so the City of La Crosse took it in exchange
for a former railroad right of way, notes Loomis. We got the better end of the deal.
CENTER OPERATIONS
A new one-story, 20,000-square-foot building was constructed on the right of way with the proceeds
from the sale of the Trane Co. building as well as a $377,000 federal grant from HUDs Office of
Community Services, a $100,000 state Community-based Economic Development grant, and a $40,000
grant and $90,000 low-interest community block grant loan from the City of La Crosse. The city has
been very generous in helping us, says Loomis.
The Coulee Center opened in March 1993 and was fully occupied within 14 months. The first incubator
tenant, RiverFront Industries, employed developmentally disabled people. A 15,000-square-foot
addition was put on the building in 1997 and the kitchen was constructed in that addition in 1999.
Of the 28 incubator businesses that started at the Coulee Center, 12 have moved into their own spaces.
The average tenancy has been two years and eight months, says Loomis.
Davenport hopes to work full-time at her catering business, but holds a part-time job at APAC in the
meantime to receive health insurance benefits. My focus is the employee at businesses, but Im trying
to build up executive lunches, business parties and other catering jobs, she says. Private parties are
more profitable but sporadic. She gets most of her business through word of mouth referrals. Theres
a lot of support in the area for small businesses, notes Davenport. The Small Business Development
Center at La Crosse has been very helpful with financial issues and marketing and has also thrown some
business my way. The La Crosse Area Development Corporation has also been very helpful with leads.
Its nice to know that there are organizations out there that want to help.
For additional information, contact David Loomis, Coulee Region Business Center, 1100 Kane St., La
Crosse, Wisconsin 54603; (608) 782-8022.

GETTING STARTED December 17, 2007, 8:21AM EST

Kitchen Incubators Get Food Businesses Cooking

While shared kitchens are a steal for entrepreneurs starting food businesses, incubators are
unwieldy, expensive projects that don't always survive
by Kerry Miller

Many aspiring entrepreneurs dream of turning their grandmother's cookie recipe into the next Mrs. Fields. Yet because
stringent food-safety regulations make it illegal to sell many types of food products from home, starting a food
business legally (BusinessWeek, 9/26/07) typically requires working out of a fully licensed commercial kitchen. Enter
the kitchen incubator.
The culinary translation of the traditional business incubator, kitchen incubators offer shared workspace, equipment,
and business advice for small catering companies, pushcart vendors, bakers, and specialty-food makers. Many of the
latter are recent immigrants, struggling farmers, or low-income workers who can't afford to invest a large amount of
startup capital. At a kitchen incubator, entrepreneurs pay only for the kitchen time they need, typically at
below-market-rate prices of about $10 to $40 per hour, plus storage fees.
The kitchen incubator is a still relatively new concept, but it has proved to be a seductive idea for dozens of
municipalities, universities, and not-for-profit and for-profit companies. The Association for Enterprise Opportunity
(AEO), a microenterprise development organization, estimates there were about 20 incubators in operation in 2001.
Spokeswoman Sara Ignas says AEO estimates there are closer to 150 today and expects that number to continue to
grow.

HIGH UTILITY BILLS ARE A PROBLEM

Yet despite the promise of sustainability and economies of scale, a food incubator is hardly a guaranteed recipe.
Dinah Adkins, president of the National Business Incubation Assn., says anecdotal evidence shows that bringing a
steady stream of revenue into kitchen incubators is notoriously difficult. Utility bills for kitchens are much higher than
for standard office space. And even though food businesses do create jobs, the high risk and small scale of most
food startups make them unattractive to investors, she says.
When Nuestra Culinary Ventures (BusinessWeek, Winter, 2005) opened its doors to Boston-area entrepreneurs in
2002, its nonprofit parent organization, Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp., expected the facility would be
self-sustaining within three years. But after five years. Executive Director Evelyn Friedman says the incubator was
still hemorrhaging cash, draining more than $300,000 from Nuestra's annual $6 million operating budget. Nuestra's
kitchen was set to close last year until the city of Boston intervened with a last-minute grant to cover some of the
shortfall. Now, Friedman says the kitchen will stay open. But her advice to those considering starting a shared-use
kitchen of their own? "Don't do it."
Although a kitchen incubator is often a godsend for an aspiring entrepreneur, running the operation can be downright
hellish from an administrative standpoint. Renting blocks of time on an hourly or daily basis is more time-consuming
than dealing with regular monthly tenants, and finding a qualified kitchen manager with the right combination of

food-industry experience, management acumen, and entrepreneurial savvy to do it can be a tall order on a limited
budget.

INSPECTIONS EAT UP PRECIOUS TIME

In Boston, the city's Health Dept. requires an in-depth inspection of the kitchen facilities for each new tenant, and
Friedman says the frequent inspectionsas often as one a weekwere eating up precious hours of the kitchen
manager's time that could have otherwise been spent on technical assistance or outreach activities.
Still, Friedman seconds others when she hastens to add that the kitchen incubator has been enormously successful
for the clients involved. "It's just the economics of it," she says. "If you look at the other kitchen incubators, they're
all struggling to make it work financially."
Friedman is right. Kathrine Gregory's consultancy, Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen, has helped start four kitchen incubation
programs at existing kitchens around New York City. Two have since closed, and one exists as a shared kitchen
space but no longer offers real incubator-style services for startups.

GAUGING DEMAND IS DIFFICULT

Gregory says the remaining incubatorArtisan Baking Center Kitchen Innovations, a program of the Consortium for
Worker Education in Queens, [Link] not only breaking even after two and half years but is turning a small profit,
thanks to 45 active clients at the 5,000-square-foot kitchen. (The secret, Gregory says, is the same advice edict she
gives to the startups using the kitchen: Keep overhead low.) But Gregory admits such successes are the exception
rather than the rule. She estimates that at least 10 similar facilities across the country have closed their doors within
the past year or so, having failed to make their numbers.
Cameron Wold, a consultant who has done kitchen-incubator feasibility studies for about 25 nonprofits and
municipalities over the past 10 years, says part of the problem is that gauging demand is difficult to do. "Many
communities have people without any business or [food industry] experience, saying, 'Everyone loves my Grandma's
cookie recipe. I'm going to use the incubator 40 hours a week' without having any basis for understanding what that
meant," says Wold.
At the same time, most incubators say it's exactly those inexperienced people who stand to gain the most from their
services. Rebecca Soon, director of economic development for Pacific Gateway Center (PGC) in Honolulu, says for
social services organizations such as PGC, even businesses that fizzle aren't complete failures. "A lot of people want
to get into the food business, and it's really not for them," she says. "If they find that out here, it's a lot easier for
them to get back on their feet. They haven't invested thousands of dollars and aren't now struggling to meet their
loans."
Wold says as the cost of starting a commercial kitchen has risen (in part because of rising steel prices), communities
today seem to be taking a more cautious approach toward incubator investment than they were during the late-'90s
bubble. Still, he says: "Someone always feels they have a bigger, better mousetrap."
Click here for a slide show of kitchen incubators across the country.
Miller is a reporter with [Link] in New York .

YVONNE ABRAHAM

Nurturing a dream city

By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Columnist | July 25, 2007
If you want to see what this state could be, head down to the former Haffenreffer Brewery complex in
Jamaica Plain and knock on the door at Nuestra Culinary Ventures.
Depending on when you stop by, you might come upon Carlene O'Garro mixing muffins for her baked
goods business. Or Kenny Perry chopping collard greens for his catering clients. Or you might find
Mohamud Abdirahman, a stately chemist from Mogadishu, overseeing workers frying up sambusas,
pastries filled with meat and spices, and laying the golden brown triangles neatly in trays. His food ends
up at Logan Airport, as hot meals at $7 apiece for cabdrivers. He sells out within 90 minutes every night.
With him, you'd find Saida Joseph, a Moroccan immigrant who is his right-hand woman. And Dorchester's
own Lemmie Horton, an African-American man in a hairnet and a hurry, who helps to keep the operation
moving.
Abdirahman, O'Garro, and Perry pay $35 an hour to use the huge, airy, stainless steel kitchens, space
they share with about 30 other entrepreneurs. Without the site, they'd be cooking in church basements or
in their homes. Or nowhere.
What happens inside this place isn't important just to them. It's a model for our future, too.
The people who sign up for kitchen time here are immigrants and locals. They are Latino,
African-American, and white. They are men and women. They are middle class and low income.
Outside this red brick building, Boston -- in fact, the whole state -- remains remarkably balkanized. Even in
this majority-minority city, there are few places that bring a true cross-section of the population together:
Wally's Cafe in the South End, maybe two or three others.
The fact that we're not around each other more often isn't just unhealthy. It's dead boring.
Which is why the sight of all of these people working side by side at Culinary Ventures is such a beautiful
thing.
"This is a unique situation right here," Horton says, with some pride.
But late last year, the kitchen facility -- begun by Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp. in 2002 -- almost
closed. Rental fees weren't meeting the considerable operating costs. One fan of the place, Mayor
Thomas M. Menino, bailed out the group with a $75,000 Boston Redevelopment Authority grant. Local
companies gave $50,000 more.
That paid debts, but Evelyn Friedman, executive director of the development corporation, says it will be
two years before the kitchen breaks even. And that's only if it starts doing better now.
The kitchen is now charging its tenants $50 monthly membership fees. It's seeking corporate
sponsorships. And Friedman's troops are increasingly focused on teaching those who rent space here
how to grow their businesses.
J. D. Walker, a gregarious veteran of umpteen restaurants in North Carolina, is Nuestra Culinary Ventures'
new director. On the job only a few weeks, he has already steered catering contracts to his clients. He
dreams of jobs that would require cooks here to band together and feed thousands at a time.
kitchen is bursting with activity day and night.
The only problem Walker wants to have in a couple of years is overcrowding, his tenants so busy that the
"We're ready to take off," Walker says. "A lot of our entrepreneurs are really hungry. We have to get them
to the next level."
His success would help take all of us to the next level. Keeping Nuestra Culinary Ventures alive isn't just
about a Somali immigrant's sambusas. It's about helping to create a city, and a state, where everybody
can feel comfortable, neighborhoods are more mixed, and residents are less suspicious of one another.
There are plenty of corporate titans in Boston and beyond who care deeply about making this whole
place look more like Walker's kitchens. Any of them with employees to feed should call Nuestra Culinary
Ventures.
Yvonne Abraham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at abraham@[Link].
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

BRA, developer step up to keep incubator cooking

Menino seeks more backers
By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Staff | November 16, 2006
Nuestra Culinary Ventures lives on.
The nonprofit Jamaica Plain kitchen incubator, which rents cooking workspace to food-service
entrepreneurs, was saved yesterday from the brink of closure by a $75,000 grant from the Boston
Redevelopment Authority and $25,000 from developer Steve Samuels.
In disclosing the rescue plan at the Germania Street facility, Mayor Thomas M. Menino urged other private
businesses to collectively contribute at least another $50,000 to the program, which gives culinary
entrepreneurs a chance to start catering companies and specialty food businesses without having to build
expensive commercial kitchens. Citizens Bank has already committed at least $10,000.
The city stepped in with financial backing after the kitchen said it would close at year's end due to
continuing operating losses.
The contributions by the BRA and Samuels, founder of Samuels & Associates, will help cover the
kitchen's immediate $150,000 funding shortage.
The kitchen has bled money every year since it opened in June 2002, racking up about $700,000 in total
losses. It charges for hourly workspace rentals and receives some corporate grants, but that income has
not kept pace with expenses.
To help the kitchen become self-supporting, Menino said, the city will start a new program that teaches
entrepreneurs business management skills.
The city also will try to locate city-owned properties where Nuestra entrepreneurs can store their supplies
and products, since the kitchen lacks sufficient storage space.
BRA-owned Marine Industrial Park in South Boston is one possible site, city officials said.
Saying that "small businesses are the backbone of a strong economy," Menino called Nuestra Culinary
Ventures, which is home to nearly 70 entrepreneurs, a "fantastic organization."
"It's really an investment in the spirit of entrepreneurship," he added, "because Nuestra serves as a
springboard for so many people looking to start their own businesses."
Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@[Link].
(Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in yesterday's about the city's plan to help a Jamaica
Plain kitchen incubator remain open gave an incorrect first name for Boston Redevelopment Authority
director Mark Maloney.)
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

doubled sales annually. He laments that other entrepreneurs wont have the same
opportunity. (Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe)

Food start-ups losing their kitchen incubator

Firms grew; host's funds fell short
By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Staff | November 14, 2006
They often began with only a recipe and a dream.
Now they create gourmet cookies and home-brined pickles, Southern-fried catfish and spiced pecans,
cinnamon buns and handcrafted mozzarella. Some have grown into thriving businesses that sell their
products to restaurants and national markets such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.
In nearly five years, about 70 entrepreneurs, many of them minorities, have built specialty food
businesses and catering companies at Nuestra Culinary Ventures, a shared commercial kitchen in
Jamaica Plain that rents workspace equipped with ovens, fryers, walk-in freezers, and other cooking tools.
But just as the busy holiday season begins, the kitchen incubator on Germania Street has announced it
will close at the end of the year, a victim of years of red ink and meager state and private funding for
small-business development. That has left scores of food-service entrepreneurs scrambling to find new
workspace -- and some wondering if they can survive.
"It's such a sad situation," said Deborah Taylor, whose company, Deborah's Kitchen, started at Nuestra
Culinary Ventures and now has three salespeople who sell her low-sugar, spreadable fruits and relishes
at local grocers, farmers markets, and online. She will work out of a kitchen incubator in western
Massachusetts while she searches for new space.
"I wouldn't even have considered doing a food business if Nuestra hadn't opened," said Taylor, who with
the program's help wrote a business plan, became licensed and insured, took a food safety course, and
learned about small-scale financing. "The biggest loss is there won't be an opportunity like I had for
anyone in the Boston area to even conceive of having a business like this."
In some of the city's poorest neighborhoods, especially its immigrant communities, the kitchen incubator
offered aspiring food-service entrepreneurs a chance to start a catering company or launch a specialty
food business without having to build an expensive commercial kitchen. But while incubators can pave
the way to commercial success, they are costly to run and often face insurmountable hurdles.
Unless they attract major grant funding or generate income in addition to workspace rentals, many kitchen
incubators "just don't bring in enough revenue to be able to support the program," said Meredith Erlewine
of the National Business Incubation Association in Athens, Ohio, which estimates between 50 and 60
kitchen incubators operate or are in development nationwide. Incubators are also used to kick-start other
types of small businesses, from auto repair shops to high-tech start-ups.
Nuestra Culinary Ventures has housed or given birth to numerous local businesses: MoonBrine pickles,
Fiore di Nonno cheese, Lizzy's Homemade fudge sauces, Perry's Gourmet Services, Specialty BBQ.
Kenton Jacobs, owner of Jake's Boss BBQ, a Jamaica Plain restaurant that closed last year, has
maintained a catering business at the kitchen. And Nobel Garcia used it to continue catering after his
popular Hyde Square eatery, El Oriental de Cuba, was firebombed in July 2005; the restaurant reopened
this month.
The kitchen, in the former Haffenreffer brewery building, is run by Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp.,
a Roxbury community development organization. A kitchen incubator was a new type of venture for
NCDC, which anticipated the program would lose a "substantial amount of money" initially but would break
even by its fifth year, according to executive director Evelyn Friedman.
It produces income by charging about $30 an hour for workspace, supplemented by corporate grants. But
that revenue could not offset its $6,000 monthly lease, as well as costs for equipment, utilities, taxes, and
maintenance, Friedman said. Raising rates would have made the program too expensive for many
entrepreneurs, she said. The kitchen typically rents 400 to 500 workspace hours a month and would need
800 hours monthly to survive.
"I don't think anybody felt the kitchen was a failure in terms of what it's done for the entrepreneurs. Quite
the opposite," Friedman said. "And that's why the decision was so difficult, because it was doing so well
for them. It was just a financial question of how an organization like ours can sustain this."
On a recent weekday morning, the kitchen -- outfitted with eight-top burners, convection ovens, prep
tables, three-bowl sinks, and other tools of the trade -- played host to a handful of entrepreneurs bottling
pickles, labeling spice jars, basting turkeys, and assembling boxed lunches for a catering gig. The facility
is open round-the-clock, with bakers there before dawn and caterers working on weekends.
Some entrepreneurs will move to a kitchen incubator in Greenfield, but for many the 100-mile commute is

"I don't think anybody felt the kitchen was a failure in terms of what it's done for the entrepreneurs. Quite
the opposite," Friedman said. "And that's why the decision was so difficult, because it was doing so well
for them. It was just a financial question of how an organization like ours can sustain this."
On a recent weekday morning, the kitchen -- outfitted with eight-top burners, convection ovens, prep
tables, three-bowl sinks, and other tools of the trade -- played host to a handful of entrepreneurs bottling
pickles, labeling spice jars, basting turkeys, and assembling boxed lunches for a catering gig. The facility
is open round-the-clock, with bakers there before dawn and caterers working on weekends.
Some entrepreneurs will move to a kitchen incubator in Greenfield, but for many the 100-mile commute is
impractical. NCDC is trying to find church kitchens they could use. But several entrepreneurs said they are
concerned churches would not offer the 24-hour access their businesses require .
"There are a lot of small businesses in there that will probably shut down, and people who live in the area
who are employed by those vendors could lose their jobs," said Laura Courtemanche, who has
quadrupled sales and hired four employees since launching her baking company, A Dozen Eggs, at the
kitchen three years ago. She plans to relocate to Vermont.
Many successful kitchen incubators keep costs down by owning their buildings, operating in rural areas, or
renting sub prime properties. Others launch secondary businesses, such as cafes or in-house catering, to
generate additional income. Even so, "kitchen incubators quite often need subsidies, and some can
break even and some can't," said Glen E. Weisbrod, president of the Economic Development Research
Group, a Boston consulting firm. "But their purpose is not to make a profit; their purpose is to spin off
businesses."
More than a half-dozen entrepreneurs interviewed by the Globe said stronger management might have
improved the kitchen's chances of survival. The program has gone through at least four directors, who
sometimes had little time to teach business fundamentals critical to long-term success, such as financing
and human resources management. Several entrepreneurs said the kitchen might have booked more
hours if it had cultivated more entrepreneurs, and that it relied too much on rentals by caterers, whose
work can be sporadic, rather than specialty businesses that make more stable tenants.
The donors who supported the program included Bank of America and State Street Corp., but critics said
it wasn't marketed widely enough to prospective investors and other entrepreneurs. And because the
kitchen has no night or weekend supervision, its scheduling honor system -- in which entrepreneurs mark
on a chart what hours they plan to work and are trusted to pay for that time -- is sometimes abused,
according to some entrepreneurs.
"It was often unsupervised, so they couldn't track people on weekends, and it could have been structured
better and more promoted," said Jacobs, of Jake's Boss BBQ. "But this is such a great concept that I'm
really surprised investors haven't come up."
Friedman, of NCDC, defended the kitchen's management but acknowledged the honor system has been
a "big problem." Because NCDC rented the building, lease payments have been a constant burden, she
said. And although NCDC considered other ways to make money, including starting a specialty food
business, "our business was running the kitchen, and any of those things would have taken us away from
that," she said.
In the end, "we couldn't raise more money. We tried and we couldn't," Friedman added. "And we
marketed it very heavily, but you can always market more and more and more."
"Something like this is what the city of Boston needs," said Greg Woodworth of Stony Brook Cookie Co.,
which started at Nuestra Culinary Ventures and has doubled its sales every year. It now counts the Park
Plaza Hotel among its clients.
"It provides access to facilities for people who can't afford it," said Woodworth, who plans to relocate to
upstate New York, "and it provides opportunity and momentum to build on a microeconomy in areas like
Jamaica Plain and Allston-Brighton."
Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@[Link].
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company