UK first kitchen incubator gets cooking in London
7 Apr 2014 04:26 PM
Following an award of £71,000 from the Big
Lottery Fund, Kitchenette, the UKs first kitchen incubator scheme is set to run
a pilot project helping London’s most promising and original low income
food entrepreneurs to get started.
Kitchenette aims to help talented, naturally
entrepreneurial cooks to start viable, ethical food businesses. Now they are
starting a programme for low-income food entrepreneurs, to help them lift
themselves out of poverty and create economic regeneration opportunities in
their local economy.
The
project is based on successful culinary incubators in the US, such as La Cocina
in San Francisco, and will seek to develop this concept in London. It will
specifically focus on working with potential entrepreneurs from BAME groups,
low-income backgrounds and women.
The
funding from the Big Lottery Fund will help test and develop the model for the
Kitchenette programme for low-income entrepreneurs, with a thorough evaluation
of the results of the pilot.
As
part of the pilot, Kitchenette will work with 12 candidates offering them
access to kitchen preparation spaces; mentoring and workshop sessions on
sourcing, sustainability and economics of a food business; real life training,
including working in successful kitchens and access to trading opportunities at
London street markets.
Cynthia Shanmugalingam, Chief Executive and founder of
Kitchenette said: “This funding will enable us to focus on supporting
low-income entrepreneurs into the food industry, giving them mentoring as well
as access to great markets that make food so remarkably open to an incredibly
diverse range of people.
“A revolution in the economics of food
entrepreneurship is happening. There are new cheap ways to start; street food
and supper clubs; crowdfunding instead of traditional investment; social media
instead of traditional critics and marketing channels, all changing the
landscape and opening up access to a new generation. We'll work with people
across London, particularly women, to help them get started, so they can serve
up delicious food and become their own boss."
Dharmendra Kanani, Big Lottery Fund England Director
added: “This project fuses the passion of food with enterprise and speaks
to an emerging market witnessed by us in a fast changing street food landscape.
Community life is often built around food and thriving street markets support
thriving communities around them. Food can also be one of the most open routes
for disadvantaged people into entrepreneurship. However, since food businesses
have quite high failure rates, obtaining backing for someone without previous
experience in food start ups can be tricky.
“The type of support that Kitchenette is planning
to offer is invaluable in not only encouraging those who might not necessarily
have the confidence to strike out on their own but also in helping them to
obtain skills that would make their projects a success.”
Kitchenette was launched by the founder of top London
restaurants the Cinnamon Club and Roast (Iqbal Wahhab, Chair); top tech
start-up Songkick (Pete Smith, Advisor); and the former head of social ventures
at the Young Foundation (Cynthia Shanmugalingam, CEO).
The
organisation assembled an impressive network of mentors and advisors who
comprise some of the best food industry experts in London including Sinclair
Beecham (a founder of Prêt a Manger); Vivek Singh (head chef at the
Cinnamon Club and founder of Cinnamon Kitchen) and Shamil Thakrar (founder of
Dishoom Restaurants).
The
project has secured free or very cheap under-utilised equipment and market
access opportunities, from organisations including Real Food Market, Feast
London (dub be done of the UK’s top food markets) and KERB. It has also
developed a curriculum for the incubator in partnership with the leading US
kitchen incubator, La Cocina; and have received backing from several leading
organisations including NESTA, the Sustainable Restaurants Association, Bethnal
Green Ventures and The Shoreditch Trust.
Big
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Notes to
editors
- The Big Lottery Fund is
responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the
National Lottery.
- The
Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of
people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education,
environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004
BIG has awarded close to £6bn.
- The
Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December
2006.
- In
the year ending 31 March 2013, 28% of total National Lottery revenue was
returned to the Good Causes.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £31
billion has been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded across arts,
sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the
environment.