New shared kitchen in Columbus opens with hundreds of local entrepreneurs on the waitlist
Around 200 food entrepreneurs are on a waiting list for the Food Mill Shared Kitchen as Columbus organization celebrated its opening Friday.
The Food Mill, a nonprofit organization aimed at combating food insecurity, partnered with the Community Reinvestment Department, Open Door Community House, Columbus Parks and Recreation and other organizations to create the shared commercial kitchen.
It’s located at the Fox Community Center next to Fox Elementary School.
The Food Mill Shared Kitchen will serve as an incubation station for restaurateurs and people entering the culinary industry, Robert Scott, director of the Community Reinvestment Department, told the Ledger-Enquirer. It can also serve as a base for food trucks, Scott said, which are required to have a base location by the Department of Public Health.
“We have about 200 people on the waiting list who are operating food-based businesses already out of their homes or interested in starting (a business),” said Olivia Amos, executive director of the Food Mill.
The shared kitchen has space to accommodate about 35-40 members, she said, and it will be open from 4 a.m. to midnight. They are still waiting on some equipment to come in, Amos said, but they expect to begin getting members on-boarded to use the kitchen by the end of November.
“People should know that this space is for them,” Amos said. “We want people to grow here, and to start establishing their businesses.”
Inside the kitchen
Inside the shared kitchen, people will have access to a main commercial kitchen that can fit around four people working, she said.
There are also two commercial baking kitchens inside, a design change that came after asking focus groups what the project could use.
“Without a doubt, hands down, baking was the number one thing that came back,” Amos said.
There are also three walk-in coolers. One of the coolers is designated for the Food Mill’s Mobile Market, which takes produce to areas with high food insecurity. The Mobile Market accepts benefits from the supplemental nutrition assistance program, allowing customers to purchase more produce for a much lower price than they’d pay in a traditional grocery store.
Along with being a resource for food entrepreneurs, the Food Mill Shared Kitchen will have classroom space for cooking classes and a food pantry to serve low-income and elderly citizens in the community.
“There’s definitely a need for this activity,” Scott said. “And definitely a need for this type of services. And because we centralize it in one location, that allows us a unique opportunity to impact many things with one silver bullet.”
Importance of partnerships
Amos first approached Scott with her idea of the shared kitchen about three-and-a-half years ago, she said.
“We’re passionate, inspired and on a mission to help our community rely less on emergency food assistance and more on systems offering long-term, sustainable solutions for accessing nourishing food,” Amos said
Access to healthy food and education about healthy eating are critical to preventing diet-related illnesses, she said. To address these issues they’ve worked to not only educate individuals on how to shop for groceries and eat better on a budget, but also teach students in the food trade by supporting several different programs.
The Food Mill’s partnership with Open Door means students who graduate from the Open Door Community Culinary Program will have access to the shared kitchen along with the general public.
This program provides training in life skills and culinary arts for participants providing them with a greater chance of earning a living wage along with starting their own businesses after they complete the program.
“Today, we’re witnessing the activation of phase one of the Food Mill’s economic development approach to supporting small, food-based entrepreneurs,” Amos said.
The second phase of the shared kitchen project includes a food truck park, urban farm and an outdoor classroom.
A clear demand for more resources like the shared kitchen is evident by the long waiting list, Amos said. And she’s already in talks with Scott about how the Food Mill and Community Reinvestment Department can work to replicate the project once this first shared kitchen is off the ground.
“This is exactly what it’s supposed to look like when public and private partnerships come together to make impact on our community,” Scott said. “It’s not politics. It’s not perception. It’s people.”
