Jewel of a Resource for a Start-Up Food Business in New York City

Elliott Prag, Instructor

Once in a great while, you see an important business idea come to fruition and you get excited. That happened to me today when I toured The Entrepreneur Space in Long Island City. “E-Space” is what they call a kitchen “incubator,” that is, a series of affordable rental kitchens available to start-up or newer food businesses operating on limited budgets. Current NGI students and graduates who aspire to have a food business in the New York area, take note!

The Entrepreneur Space is located in Queens, just over the Queensborough Bridge. It’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Run by Kathrine Gregory (who is also an NGI board member) and the Queens Economic Development Corporation, the space offers an array of affordable spaces for rent by the shift or the month, including four well-equipped commercial kitchens, dry and cold food storage, private offices and work stations, classrooms, a computer lab, and conference rooms.

Kathrine Gregory, Director of The Entrepreneur Space

A kitchen shift ranges from $154-$231 for 8 hours, depending on the time of day. The kitchen is impressively equipped with all the tools and machinery to do large-scale production work: pots, pans, hearth and revolving rack ovens, dough dividers, proofers, industrial-sized mixers, Robot coupes, tilt kettles, a chocolate tempering machine, you name it. There’s even a specific temperature-controlled kitchen dedicated to chocolate and gluten-free production.

If you’re a client of E-Space, you’re entitled to business counseling from the Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) on such matters as finance, marketing, and human resources. There are also classes sponsored by QEDC coming up in April and May on setting up your business, pricing, knowing your product and customer, and marketing.

There are two requirements for working out of The Entrepreneur Space: your business must be registered as a legal entity, and you must have liability insurance. If you want to know more about this unique space and its services, call 718-392-0025, x116 or email entrepreneursp@aol.com.

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