Five food entrepreneurs, one kitchen: Andrew Coppolino

A broth-maker, a specialty tea company, two bakers and a farmer make up a quintet of Waterloo Region-based businesses that, over the past few months, have started sharing kitchen facilities.

The collaboration between the  five young female entrepreneurs was largely driven by pandemic conditions. The arrangement exemplifies a new orientation in the food landscape: independent entrepreneurs who connect and exchange inspiration in a kitchen where cross-pollination can take place among unique and diverse businesses.  

While he still uses the space and equipment for his own food-processing business – Nuoc Cham Fine Vietnamese Foods – chef and entrepreneur Thompson Tran has opened his Wooden Boat kitchen to the businesses.

Tran charges for the space, of course, but he says that as a son of immigrants, he believes strongly in "paying it forward."

"Throughout my life and career, there have been countless opportunities for me because someone wanted to just help out," he said. "I want to make sure there are more people doing great things."

His commercial space off of Courtland Avenue is about 1,200 square feet with stoves, ovens, fridges, shelves of equipment, a commercial dishwasher, a walk-in cooler, some office space, and stations where bakers and cooks can work.

At a recent "round-table" discussion in the space, it was apparent that the collaboration is about time, flexibility, improved equipment and cost savings — but peace of mind, too.

Shared spaces and ideas

Alex Muirhead left a career in biomedical engineering to start a business that focused on healthy and sustainable teas three years ago; a new mother, she started working in the space about five months ago.

"Being here allowed my tea company to go from one tea to four, and I'm coming out with five more new teas in the next few months," said Muirhead.

She researches and tests organic herbs, creates the ratios and mixes the blends before packaging them, which has to be done in a certified kitchen.

"It's allowed me to scale and grow my business and given me accessibility and resources. The collaboration, all of it has made my business possible."

Having access to better, more efficient and precise equipment has meant similar scaling up for Beckie Prime of Beck's Broth — and given her the chance to expand.

"Before, I was intimidated to take that challenge on. Thompson has helped me in that capacity, but I've also been able to increase the quality measures on the product too," Prime said.

It's meant Prime has saved time and travel costs when urban commercial space can be hard to come by, especially in comparison to outlying areas.

"This is three minutes from my home and three minutes from the Kitchener Farmers' Market where I sell," she said. "I've gained more time that allows me to think about how to grow the business."

Farmers work with the seasonality of the Canadian climate, and many have created products from their fields that they sell in the off-season — Barrie's Asparagus in Cambridge is one example.

It's also the case with Aliyah Fraser who operates Lucky Bug Farm, a Community Supported Agriculture venture based in Baden.

Fraser says she loves cooking and preparing the food from her harvests just as much as the farming itself. 

"There's always a want on the part of the farmer to extend the harvest, whether that's through storage crops or making value-added products. That's what I'm now planning on doing this coming season, later in 2023," said Fraser.

She's been experimenting with some larger scale equipment that she will use for food preparation, anticipating using the Wooden Boat space to prepare jams, relishes and pickles.

"That will include pickled garlic scapes and whatever I have in abundance. I want to do an onion jam and a sweet carrot jam, which I think is really exciting."

Hayley Turnbull started Palmer's Baked Goods (named for a grandmother) in Collingwood in 2017 but eventually ended up in a bakery in downtown Toronto.

"When the pandemic hit, I decided to leave the bakery and start up Palmer's again as a way to continue baking for others while staying safe during the pandemic," she said.

Having worked out of Wooden Boat for nearly two years, she says she has been able to grow her business, adding that the space and collaboration are unique.

"It's a group of people who have all been through something similar, whatever industry they've been in. Women's experiences are different than men's experiences. Many of them have been in the food industry, which is very male dominated, and we've been able to support each other and connect in a way that is special," said Turnbull.

For the other baker in the group, Rochelle Williams, the support identified by Turnbull has meant giving her business "a chance" to see how far she can take it — a quest of all young businesses — but also what she is capable of achieving.

For years, Williams says she had to work in borrowed space deferring, rightly so, to the owner of the kitchen and where she often had to head out to a supplier for equipment and ingredients that she needed.

"I used to think I was slow, but no, I had to work around other people," said Williams adding that a space of her own has boosted her confidence.

"I realized I was really good at my job and now I have the space to prove to myself that I'm a bomb-ass pastry chef and I can do this."