Dive Summary:
- In the 77-year-old city-owned market La Marqueta, HBK Incubates has gathered 32 food start-ups aiming to bring the primarily immigrant East Harlem neighborhood's tastes to upscale gourmet markets.
- Operated by nonprofit bakery Hot Bread Kitchen, the incubator provides the start-ups with business training, advice and low-cost access to professional equipment.
- The start-ups pay the Hot Bread Kitchen $17 an hour for kitchen space, though subsidized rates are available for low-income entrepreneurs, and while Hot Bread Kitchen does raise revenue from bread sales, 30% of its budget is from grants and donations--though it hopes to be self-sufficient by 2015.
From the article:
... Hiyaw Gebreyohannes is one of the incubator’s successful alumni. He moved in two years ago to sell packaged Ethiopian food, based on recipes from his family’s restaurant in Michigan. Rodriguez describes Gebreyohannes as the “mayor” of the incubator because he’s so encouraging to the cohort. “It feels homey and very entrepreneurial,” Gebreyohannes says. His company, Taste of Ethiopia, sells such pre-made dishes as spicy red lentils, peanut chicken stew, and the cuisine’s famous injera flatbread. ...
