Thursday, November 27, 2008

On Culinary Incubators

In researching the failure of kitchen incubators, there are 2 reoccurring factors:

1) The high cost of utilities and liability insurance
2) Inexperienced members

The Krewe De Foudre's kitchen at Colton has both of these bases covered because:

1) Our rent and utilities are paid with our time volunteered in rebuilding the kitchen and teaching the after school culinary program "Family Meal"
2) Everyone in our kitchen is a food service professional

Thanks to a recent troop surge, it looks like the kitchen WILL be up and running by the new year (I was a bit sceptical of my overambitious goal, but critical mass has been attained).

Props to April Bellow and her team from Arnaud's for stepping up and taking ownership of the kitchen. Also for bringing in Glen and Joe who are interested in exchanging their kitchen building expertise for a spot to make their handmade pasta.
Also, Nat Carrier (from Bayona), Eric LaBouchere (from Martinique Bistro), and Marshall (from Katrina Corp).

Everyone has caught fire and seen the potential this kitchen has to offer. Thank God!

P.S. I gotta give ups to Elizabeth Pierce (curator of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum) for introducing April and I, Thanks!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008







What is the Kitchen at Colton?
Right now it looks like this...



But soon it will be New Orleans 1st culinary incubator. A place for local professional cooks to come and fine tune their personal recipes in exchange for helping to bring the kitchen up to code and volunteering in the after school culinary program "Family Meal".
Here's a little video (shot on opening day) explaining how the Studio at Colton came to be:
We hope to have the kitchen up and walking (not running) by the new year.