 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Business incubator |
| Founded | 2012 in Washington, D.C. |
| Founders | Jonas Singer Cullen Gilchrist |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Cullen Gilchrist (CEO) |
| Website | www |
Union Kitchen is an American business incubator based in Washington, D.C. [1] [2] [3]
Union Kitchen merges the concepts of a shared kitchen and a business incubator, catering primarily to small food businesses. [4]
Union Kitchen was founded as Black Strap Bakery [5] in 2012 by Jonas Singer and Cullen Gilchrist in Washington, D.C. [6] [7] [8] It originated from Singer and Gilchrist's search for a kitchen space for their Blind Dog Cafe and Bakery. [4] [1] They repurposed a 7,300-square-foot vacant kitchen near the U.S. Capitol into Union Kitchen, starting with a few members. [4] [1] [9] The first food incubator was opened by Union Kitchen in 2012 in NoMa. [10] [11]
In February 2013, Washington D.C.'s government established a partnership with Union Kitchen aimed at supporting district residents in initiating culinary careers. [12] The initiative provided entrepreneurs at Union Kitchen's Northeast Washington facility a platform for starting their businesses with reduced costs and risks. [12]
In May 2013, Union Kitchen acquired empty lots in NoMa, launching weekend open-air bazaars for food trucks and vendors to sell prepared foods. [13] [14] They also planned to host food events and acoustic music on Thursdays and Fridays, and to collaborate with Relay Foods for a weekly grocery pick-up spot. [13]
In March 2014, Union Kitchen opened a market and cafe in Capitol Hill. [15] [16]
In November 2014, the National Museum of Women in the Arts formed a partnership with Union Kitchen to manage the museum's Mezzanine Cafe. [17] This collaboration involved a rotation of pop-up cafes operated by Union Kitchen's members. [17] In the same year, Union Kitchen was named as one of the finalists for USA Today's Entrepreneur of the Year award. [4]
In 2015, Union Kitchen expanded its operations by opening a second location in Ivy City. [18] It also invested $2 million in a 15,000-square-foot warehouse, increasing the capacity for new members. [19] [3] [20]
In 2016, Jonas Singer stepped down as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Union Kitchen. [20] [21]
In January 2018, Union Kitchen opened a 2,500-square-foot grocery store in the One Franklin Square building in Washington, D.C., and another 3,000-square-foot store in the redeveloped Ballston Quarter mall in Ballston. [22]
Union Kitchen provides small food enterprises with six-month memberships to a regulated community kitchen at a reduced cost. [4] Additionally, Union Kitchen provides services in branding and distribution, as well as catering and distribution for member products. [4]
Union Kitchen also provides a distribution company managed by the incubator itself. [3] The membership also includes a coworking space situated near one of the kitchens. [3] [11]
The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its main campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singapore. The college, which was the first to teach culinary arts in the United States, offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees, and has the largest staff of American Culinary Federation Certified Master Chefs. The CIA also offers continuing education for professionals in the hospitality industry as well as conferences and consulting services. The college additionally offers recreational classes for non-professionals. The college operates student-run restaurants on its four U.S. campuses.
A business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services, starting with management training and office space, and ending with venture capital financing. The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) defines business incubators as a catalyst tool for either regional or national economic development. NBIA categorizes its members' incubators by the following five incubator types: academic institutions; non-profit development corporations; for-profit property development ventures; venture capital firms, and a combination of the above.
Kramers is an independent bookstore and cafe in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Since its founding in 1976 by Bill Kramer, Henry Posner, and David Tenney, Kramer's has become a local institution and meeting place for neighborhood residents, authors, and politicians. It was one of the first bookstores in the country to feature a cafe which influenced similar business models nationwide. Notable people that have visited Kramer's include Barack Obama, Andy Warhol, Maya Angelou, and Monica Lewinsky, whose purchases at the bookstore attracted national attention during the Lewinsky scandal investigation and led to a high-profile legal battle. Kramer's was sold in 2016 to Steve Salis.
A shared-use kitchen is a licensed commercial space that is certified for food production. Renters or members can use the kitchen by the hour or day to produce food while fulfilling regulatory compliance. Food entrepreneurs, ranging from chefs, caterers, food trucks proprietors, bakers, to value-added producers, can benefit from the shared kitchen instead of spending capital to build or lease their own facility. A commissary kitchen is an example of a shared-use kitchen that provides kitchen rentals. Kitchen incubators, also known as culinary incubators, also provide kitchen rental but can provide additional services like business development training, and access to services such as legal aid, packaging, label printing, and distribution.
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The Washington City Paper is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area since 1981. The City Paper is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial mix is focused on local news and arts. It is owned by Mark Ein, who bought it in 2017.
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Cava, also referred to as Cava Grill, is a Mediterranean fast casual restaurant chain with locations across the United States. Cava is owned by the publicly traded Cava Group, which purchased Zoës Kitchen in August 2018. The combined company is the largest restaurant operator in the Mediterranean category in the U.S. restaurant industry. Cava also produces a line of Mediterranean dips, spreads, and dressings that are sold in grocery stores across the US. As of May 2023, all Zoe's Kitchen restaurants have been closed, with Cava restaurants replacing many of them.
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Cullen Gilchrist is an American restaurateur, economist and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Union Kitchen, an accelerator of food businesses.