FOOD INCUBATOR
INCUBATOR KITCHENS
THE INCUBATION PROCESS
KITCHEN INCUBATOR
HOW TO START A FOOD BUSINESS
BUSINESS EHOW RESOURCES
WHAT IS A KITCHEN INCUBATOR?
COMMUNITY KITCHENS
KITCHEN INCUBATOR LINKS
KITCHEN INCUBATOR RESOURCES
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SECTION 1
THE
INCUBATION
PROCESS
Most common incubator services:
Help with business basics
Networking activities
Marketing assistance
High-speed Internet access
Help with accounting/financial
management
Access to bank loans, loan funds
and guarantee programs
Help with presentation skills
Links to higher education
resources
Links to strategic partners
Access to angel investors or
venture capital
Comprehensive business training
programs
Advisory boards and mentors
Management team identification
Help with business etiquette
Technology commercialization
assistance
Help with regulatory compliance
Intellectual property management
BUSINESS INCUBATOR
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_incubator
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SECTION 2
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.
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.
KITCHEN INCUBATOR
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_incubator
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SECTION 3
HOW TO
START
A
FOOD
BUSINESS
How to Start a Food Business
for Profit at a Kitchen Incubator.
Do you make delicious
homemade food?
Have your friends told you
that you should sell your
food for profit?
Are you not able to make
food in your home because
of FDA regulations, or
local rules?
Look into a Kitchen Incubator in your local area.
They are gaining popularity and you may find one
to help your small business grown.
1. YOUR SPECIALTY
Decide what is your specialty.
If you're "Really Great" at pound cakes and
"Pretty Good" at German Chocolate Cake - start
with marketing the item you are "really great"
at.
Call your local kitchen incubator and find out
what you need to do to set up to make your
specialty in their kitchen.
On your first visit - have a set amount of food
you want to prepare, have all of your ingredients
and time yourself to see what you can accomplish.
2. YOUR PLACE
THE COSTS
Each incubator is different.
*Most will charge you a flat hourly rate.
Lowest prices researched is $20 - the
highest was $60.
These fees may include your storage space in a
walk in cooler and freezer, or you may have to
pay extra.
Some incubators offer you a "space" to put your
dry goods.
Ask the facilitator what they will offer so that
you can prepare your food just like you do at home.
3. KITCHEN INCUBATORS
What they do
*Most kitchen incubators will have you schedule
your time - you should get a clean kitchen to
prepare your food.
*They should make sure the food prepared there
is FDA approved and you should be able to
re-sale items prepared there.
*Local community colleges may be involved and
able to provide you information on how to
market your products.
4. KITCHEN INCUBATORS
Your Step to a Small Business
*You will be responsible for a business license
and liability insurance on your products.
*You will be able to market and sell your food
if it is packaged and labeled properly.
*You will NOT have to prepare your home for a
health inspection, or have an increase in
untility bills. The expense should be worth the
opportunity.
*You will NEED to be a good neighbor - and clean
up after yourself, follow ALL RULES, no matter
how tedious they seem - there are reasons.
*Take advantage of the knowledge from other
tennants.
Read more:
How to Start a Food Business for Profit
at a Kitchen Incubator | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/how_4503716_food-business-profit-kitchen-incubator.html#ixzz0wqgVYqgR
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SECTION 4
BUSINESS
EHOW
RESOURCES
Business
http://www.ehow.com/business/
"Small Businesses
http://www.ehow.com/information_1214-small-businesses.html
Catering Small Business
http://www.ehow.com/articles_3130-catering-small-business-.html
How to Start a Food Business for Profit at a Kitchen Incubator
http://www.ehow.com/how_4503716_food-business-profit-kitchen-incubator.html
How to Design a Food Manufacturing Kitchen
http://www.ehow.com/how_6655792_design-food-manufacturing-kitchen.html
How to Evaluate the Success of Business Incubators
http://www.ehow.com/how_5891913_evaluate-success-business-incubators.html
How to Find a Business Incubator to Join
http://www.ehow.com/how_7489_find-business-incubator.html
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SECTION 5
WHAT
IS
A
KITCHEN
INCUBATOR?
Kitchen incubators have been developed in the USA
to help new start businesses in the food processing
industry. As there are very successful examples in
the USA, important lessons can be learnt from this
experience.
Kitchen incubators service
two distinct types of market:
1. Specialty food producers
-adding value to regionally
grown produce.
2. Caterers and other service providers
A kitchen incubator
provides the following
services:
Rents fully equipped shared commercial kitchen
space to clients on an hourly basis.
Rents storage space (dry, cool and freezer)
to clients on a monthly basis.
Provides on site food technology advice.
Typically advice is required to adapt the
stovetop domestic recipe to commercial
production and batch processing.
Provides advice and assistance accessing
boutique and specialty food markets.
On top of this a kitchen incubator
provides all the usual business
incubator services including:
Office services (phone answering, fax,
photocopying, secretarial, bookkeeping etc);
Personal support;
General business advice and coaching;
Office accommodation (for the kitchen ventures);
Access to local business networks and contacts
Access to finance.
As with other business incubators clients graduate
when their business is profitable and established.
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SECTION 6
COMMUNITY
KITCHENS
These are variants being developed in rural USA
where the economies of scale are limited and the
standard Kitchen Incubator Model has had trouble
being financially viable.
These kitchens are small, rural, and do not have
the staff or funding to develop business training
and technical assistance support to any great
degree.
They help small local food entrepreneurs into the
domestic (often local) market and assist with
catering, which in America must be done out of
an inspected facility.
Smartlink - Kitchen Incubators
http://www.smartlink.net.au/library/wold/kitchenIncubatorsCREEDA.htm
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SECTION 7
FOOD INCUBATOR
INCUBATOR KITCHENS
LINKS
ACEnet Food Center: Ohio, USA
http://www.acenetworks.org/
Chef's Kitchens: Los Angeles, CA, USA
http://www.ChefsKitchens.com
Culinary Incubator
http://www.CulinaryIncubator.com
Elixir Kitchen Space: Fort Worth, TX, USA
http://www.elixirkitchenspace.com
Food Centre Wales: Horeb, WALES
http://www.foodcentrewales.org.uk/
Food Entrepreneur eZine
http://www.specialtyfoodresource.com/page/page/2350037.htm
Food Entrepreneur Resource Center
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/necfe/basics/basics.html
The Food Processing Center
http://fpc.unl.edu/Entrepreneur/
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The Food Processing Center
http://www.nebraskaentrepreneur.com / local / food-processing-center-u /
Foodshare Kitchen
http://www.foodshare.net/kitchen05.htm
How to Start a Food Business for Profit at a Kitchen Incubator
http://www.ehow.com/how_4503716_food-business-profit-kitchen-incubator.html
INCUBATORS AND COMMERCIAL KITCHENS
http://www.specialtyfoodresource.com/page/page/4205621.htm
Incubator Kitchen
http://www.jastechdevelopment.com/kitchen.asp
Kitchen Incubator: Houston, Tx, USA
http://www.kitchenincubator.com
Kitchen Incubators And Other Food Related Small Businesses
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/incubator/
La Cocina San Francisco Incubator Kitchen for Women
http://www.lacocinasf.org/
Mama's Small Business Kitchen Incubator: Pasadena, CA, USA
http://www.mamashottamales.com/pasadena/MamasPasadenaIndex.html
National Center for Home Food Preservation | NCHFP Publications
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/business/starting_business.html
Shoals Entrepreneurial Center
http://www.shoalsec.com / ccc / become_client / new_docs / Kitchen%20Incubators%20-...
The Starting Block: Hart, MI, USA
http://www.startingblock.biz/
Toronto Food Business Incubator: Toronto, ON, Canada
http://www.tfbi.ca
Western Mass Food Center: Greenfield, MA, USA
http://www.fccdc.org/
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SECTION 8
FOOD
INCUBATOR
RESOURCES
Entrepreneurship education
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurship_education
Factors of production
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factors_of_production
FOOD INDUSTRY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Food_industry
FOOD RELATED ORGANIZATION
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Food-related_organizations
Leadership
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership
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