Kitchen incubator

A kitchen incubator is a business incubator dedicated to early-stage catering, retail and wholesale food businesses. Kitchen incubators are mostly found in those countries with significant levels of food safety regulation where capital investment in commercial kitchen equipment can be prohibitive for a new business. By covering the capital cost of shared kitchen facilities which are lent on a timeslot basis to incubatees, the kitchen incubator enables a business to develop to the stage where it can invest in its own kitchen facilities.cite web
url=http://chefskitchens.com/frequently_asked_questions.php
title=Chef's Kitchens: Frequently Asked Questions about Shared Rentals
accessdate=2008-05-23
publisher=Chef's Kitchens]

Kitchen incubators share the wider business ideals operated within business incubators and will usually assist their tenants with business planning, access to finance, mentoring, and other business facilities.

Chef's Kitchens - Los Angeles, CA

Chef's Kitchens is the original commercial kitchen incubator and was founded in 1984.cite web
url=http://chefskitchens.com/index.php
title=Chef's Kitchens: Shared Commercial Kitchen Rental & Incubator
accessdate=2008-06-27
publisher=Chef's Kitchens] Their building comprises five health department licensed individual commercial kitchens that are rented out by the hour, and also used for cooking classes and film shoots.cite web
url=http://chefskitchens.com/getting_started.php
title=Chef's Kitchens: Learn what you need to work in our Kitchens
accessdate=2008-06-27
publisher=Chef's Kitchens] All the kitchens were built from scratch and housed in a single building connected by a hallway. Since 1984 the company has changed it's name from a well-known catering company to a business that supports culinary incubators, or start-up food businesses. In the last couple of years, Chef's Kitchens has gone digital, making all of their information freely available online at [http://www.chefskitchens.com www.ChefsKitchens.com] .cite web
url=http://www.chefskitchens.com/real-time-scheduling.php
title=Chef's Kitchens: Find free hours and book them Immediately!
accessdate=2008-06-27
publisher=Chef's Kitchens] They have included a "virtual tour" which has pictures of all the kitchens they rent out.cite web
url=http://www.chefskitchens.com/kitchen_photos.php
title=Chef's Kitchens: Photos and descriptions of our five kitchens
accessdate=2008-06-27
publisher=Chef's Kitchens] Their automated telephone system even reminds you to view the website before asking common questions.cite web
url=http://www.chefskitchens.com/contact_us.php
title=Chef's Kitchens: Contact Us - Phone: [phone], Email & Tours
accessdate=2008-06-27
publisher=Chef's Kitchens]

Many companies have used the policies and regulations that they have established over decades in business, such as a security deposit, liability insurance, food handler's certificate (such as ServSafe), and pricing. While their prices are now the standard in the commercial kitchen rental industry, many other small kitchens find it hard to rent out their single kitchens for such low rates ($16/hour as of 6-27-08).cite web
url=http://www.chefskitchens.com/prices.php
title=Chef's Kitchens: Shared Kitchen Rental Prices and Breakdown
accessdate=2008-06-27
publisher=Chef's Kitchens] Because of the demand, Chef's Kitchens lets tenants use the kitchens 24/7.

External links

Examples of kitchen incubators include:
* [http://www.ChefsKitchens.com The Original Kitchen Incubator: Chef's Kitchens in Los Angeles, CA, USA]
* [http://www.kitchenincubator.com Kitchen Incubator in Houston, Tx]
* [http://www.acenetworks.org/foodventures/index.php?page=44 ACEnet Food Center, Ohio, USA]
* [http://www.foodcentrewales.org.uk/English/index1.htm Food Centre Wales, Horeb, Wales.]
* [http://www.fccdc.org/foodprocess/foodprocess.html Western Mass Food Center: Greenfield, MA, USA]
* [http://www.startingblock.biz/index.html The Starting Block Kitchen Incubator: Hart, MI, USA]

References

*cite web|url=http://www.chefskitchens.com|title=Part-Time Commercial Kitchen Rental by the Hour - Chef's Kitchens|accessdate=2008-05-23

Notes