A Network of Kitchen Incubators

Growing Detroit’s Local Food Economy

Welcome to Detroit Kitchen Connect! Good food businesses are a labor of love.

Detroit Kitchen Connect aims to increase entrepreneur-

ial success by providing a supportive, diverse,

inclusive community along with access to commercial,

licensed kitchen facilities and equipment in a

reduced risk environment. Our fully equipped kitchens

are located in the Southwest & Osborn communities in

Detroit, Michigan.

Who We Are?

Detroit Kitchen Connect is a joint project between

Eastern Market Corporation, FoodLab Detroit, and two

kitchen partners to offer low-cost commercial kitchen

space, equipment, and technical assistance to good

food entrepreneurs and community members near

where they live.

Mission Statement:

To provide reliable, accessible space for local

entrepreneurs, community members and organizations

to process high-quality food products in a diverse and

collaborative learning environment.

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The Incubation Model

Michigan Business Association defines a business incubator

as a supportive entrepreneurial environment that stimulates

the growth of businesses to ensure economic vitality and

encourage job creation. Incubators share a commitment to

helping their tenants succeed.

In Michigan business incubators have increased the

longevity and diversity of local jobs and economies for

over 30 years.

The vision of Detroit Kitchen Connect is that

entrepreneurs become economically self sufficient,

contribute to a vibrant economy doing what they love

to do, foster collaboration and share knowledge and

ideas that capitalize on both the strengths and crises of

the City of Detroit. The cycle of the incubator model as

applied here looks something like this:

Michigan Business Incubator Association

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1

Application and

Enrollment

Pre-Incubation Graduation Incubation

Qualified

Applicants

Program

participants receive

technical assistance

to establish the

foundations of their

business (assistance

with regulatory

agencies)

Program

participants receive

technical assistance

in the areas of

Marketing,

Finance and

Operations

Program partici-

pants expands their

business out of

DKC kitchen while

remaining part of

the community

Big Things Have Small Beginning Serving as a matchmaker between entrepreneurs and sales venues In a city like Detroit with more and more young people but a lot of empty spaces, it’s the pop-up shops that are the perfect oppor-

tunity to test out a business and potentially to help revitalize a

city in dire need of a boost. Detroit has attracted pop-up art galleries, food and beverage cafes, coffee shops, bakeries,

clothing boutiques, tea houses, vegan restaurants, yoga work-

shops, antique stores, bike stores, and mercantile-type retailers.

Pop-ups are a temporary arrangement, often with a defined start and end time for business operations. Detroit is the perfect place

for these temporary pop-up businesses and Detroit Kitchen Con-

nect is working to provide our kitchen entrepreneurs access to these types of retailing opportunities.

Examples of places where our kitchen tenants have opened pop-up shops or permanent retail locations:

June on Jefferson pop-up block

Revolve Detroit East English Village

Restaurant of the Century

Art + Retail on the Avenue

Holiday Food Bazaar

MOCAD Museum Family Day

Campus Martius Summer Market

Palmer Park Log Cabin Day

Detroit Kitchen Connect’s Kitchen Partner

Facility: Ss. Peter & Paul Orthodox Church (Southwest)

Ss. Peter & Paul is a 634 square foot, shared-use commercial kitchen. There are four stainless steel worktables/ prep stations (3 at 2’6 x 8’ & 1 at 2’6 x 9’), a double-stack

convection oven, a 6 burner stove, a 3-door side-by-side refrigerator, along with a full range of commercial kitchen equipment. Other amenities include a 20qt Hobart, commercial

grade dishwasher, dry storage cases: lockable wire cages, and rolling pan racks. Tenants will have access to hourly rental of the facilities and the equipment once accepted into the program.

Detroit Kitchen Connect’s Kitchen Partner

Facility: Matrix Human Services (Osborn)

Matrix Human Services is a 820 square foot, shared-use commercial kitchen. There are two stainless steel worktables/ prep stations ( 9’8 x 2’6”), a convection oven, a 12 burner stove,

a walk-in refrigerator, along with a full range of commercial kitchen equipment. Other amenities include a 20qt Hobart, commercial grade dishwasher, dry storage cases: lockable wire

cages, and rolling pan racks. Tenants will have access to hourly rental of the facilities and the equipment once accepted into the program.

In Partnership with FoodLab Detroit The vision of Detroit Kitchen Connect is that

entrepreneurs become economically self sufficient,

contribute to a vibrant economy doing what they love

to do, foster collaboration and share knowledge and

ideas that capitalize on both the strengths and crises of

the City of Detroit.

The programming at Detroit Kitchen Connect, designed

by FoodLab Detroit is being developed to provide a

menu of low-cost business development and technical

assistance services.

Workshops/Annual Bootcamp: FoodLab Detroit offers a

annual workshop series, called Building Your Good

Food Business Bootcamp, where around 20 good food

entrepreneurs who care about community and environ-

mental impact connect with one another and with a

broader network of food/business experts and strengthen

their vision and plans for their enterprise.

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Devita Davison, the newly hired Community Kitchen

Coordinator at Eastern Market Corp., and Jess Daniel,

Founder of FoodLab Detroit, are helping the next wave

of food entrepreneurs tackle one of the biggest obstacles

to growth in their industry: finding affordable, reliable

commercial kitchen space. Even though Eastern Market is installing a community

commercial kitchen as part of the redevelopment of

Shed 5 -- for which the Michigan Economic Develop-

ment Corp. recently provided a $1 million grant -- that

project isn't scheduled to open until late 2013. So Dan

Carmody , President of EMC, sought a more immediate

solution. He used part of an existing grant to hire Daniel

and FoodLab Detroit to develop a plan for a kitchen-

connection service.

“Eastern Market is pleased to help launch another

transformative collaboration to increase the number of

businesses making food products in Detroit. We believe

locally and within Michigan we have the opportunity to

create hundreds of new food businesses that can

strengthen the local economy. This project helps us

build the management capacity for kitchens across De-

troit and allows our kitchen to hit the ground running

when Shed 5 opens later in 2013.” - Dan Carmody

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Qualification Criteria Detroit Kitchen Connect carefully screens applicants in

order to find indicators that suggest an entrepreneur’s

business readiness level. A formal assessment process

will look at the following criteria to select its tenants:

Business Stage: Ready-to-Start businesses, that is,

qualified applicants who show evidence that they are

business and personally ready, and whose business

shows potential to succeed will be the highest priority.

Readiness is a personal and business stage where

people have already taken action to advance in their

business venture, have researched and tested a feasible

business, have developed some entrepreneurial skills

and have achieved a threshold of personal circumstance

favorable to successful management of the business.

Skills and Competencies: Detroit Kitchen Connect

assesses the applicant’s professional experience,

entrepreneurial spirit and completion of business

training/mentorship programs.

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Application and Enrollment

Process: Access to the Detroit Kitchen Connect

kitchens is limited to businesses that are identified as

qualified after completing the application process.

The application process goes as follows:

1. Fill out an application form and provide all of the

information requested, such as: ServSafe food

certificate, general business license, security deposit

and liability insurance.

2. After turning in the application, qualified applicants

will be invited to attend a orientation with The Detroit

Kitchen Connect team and the kitchen partners.

3. Upon enrollment, the prospective kitchen tenant will

receive a tenant start-up checklist that will include

working with the DKC team to schedule licensing and

application (MDARD or IPH)

4. The formal agreement will begin by signing a Rental

Operating Agreement.

5. After all benchmarks have been reached, the kitchen

tenant will begin official production at the kitchen

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Cost:

Our hourly rates mean you only pay for what you use,

removing the burden of a long-term lease, utilities, ad-

ministration and additional insurance. These rates were

made possible by a generous grant from the McGregor

Fund, in-kind donations from our kitchen partners and

ongoing contributions from our supporters, friends and

allies.

Subsidized Rate: Detroit Kitchen Connect provides its

target population with a subsidized commercial kitchen

rental rate in an effort to expand these endeavors into

viable micro-enterprises. Detroit Kitchen Connect’s

target population can be described as a food entre-

preneur who lives in the City of Detroit and/or a

FoodLab Member and/or a Detroit Community

Markets vendor.

Scholarship opportunities: Detroit Kitchen Connect is

committed to creating paths to entrepreneurship for low

-income individuals. Following Michigan guidelines,

we offer subsidized rates to individuals and families

based on household income before taxes and other crite-

ria. Your scholarship eligibility depends on you receiv-

ing some form of social assistance.

If you have questions please contact:

Detroit Eastern Market

Devita Davison at 313-833-9300,

(ddavison@detroiteasternmarket.com )

or Food Lab Detroit

visit Office hours on Fridays 8-10am

at the Green Garage, 4444 Second Ave, Detroit, 48208.

Contact FoodLab Detroit to RSVP at: info@foodlabdetroit.com