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Kitchens-for-hire take a home recipe to the big time

BY JOE BEL BRUNO | The Associated Press

April 20, 2008

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What pushed Priscilla Maddox was the relentless smell of vanilla.

Maddox was toying with launching a cookie line after retiring from her 36-year hospital care job but was overwhelmed by the vanilla smell in her apartment. When she couldn't find a kitchen to rent, she started a rent-a-kitchen that has become a small-business incubator for everyone from a fudge maker to a twosome baking gourmet dog food.

"Now we call ourselves missionaries because we're helping people following their dreams," Maddox said.

Kitchen For Hire, the Brooklyn-based business she opened in 2000 with partner Joan Reid, put Maddox's cookie line dream on hold. The women set up in a cramped storefront that was previously home to a number of restaurants that never seemed able to stay in business.

And for eight years, the 10-burner stove, refrigerators, freezers and mixers they inherited from the previous tenant have been put to good use.

Across the country, from Austin, Texas, to Los Angeles to Chicago, renting commercial kitchens by the hour has become a cottage industry. And as the nation's economy has begun to weaken, many newly unemployed home cooks are looking to those kitchens for a new line of work.

The kitchen rental companies are a for-profit spin on a well-tested idea. Food-business incubators, many affiliated with universities and nonprofits, help farmers and entrepreneurs with business development plans, market research and in some cases manufacturing.

For those who come to Kitchen For Hire, be prepared to get a big serving of advice before you're allowed to turn on the oven.

Maddox is not shy about telling potential customers that their business strategy isn't right, labels aren't catchy enough, or the food just isn't marketable.

At least that's what happened to Amanda Jones, who first approached Kitchen For Hire about two years ago with the idea of starting a fudge company.

"They refused to rent to me at first because they thought I wasn't ready," Jones said. "Turns out they were dead on. They gave me advice and helped me develop the product."

Year of preparation

After about a year of perfecting everything from product packaging to a business plan, Jones now operates Brooklyn Fudge - which is sold in stores in Brooklyn and elsewhere around New York City. The business is now enough to sustain her after spending what she calls "11 years in the corporate world."

But that doesn't mean running your own business is easy. Jones comes into the kitchen a few times a week during slower periods -- and most every day around the holidays -- spending about five hours putting together some 420 pieces of fudge with flavors like "Wasabi Pecan" and "Orange Almond."

Jones is probably among the more successful of Maddox and Reid's customers, who have ranged from bottlers of Jamaican hot sauce to aspiring makers of beef jerky.

"Priscilla and Joan didn't have it easy coming up the way they did, and they are really all about giving back," she said.

Maddox and Reid spent $60,000 of their own savings to open their business, which is also open to families who want to cook for events such as weddings or family reunions, along with fledgling entrepreneurs. They have a few dozen regular customers, and even more before holidays.

$20-an-hour rental

Customers at most kitchens spend about $20 per hour to rent the space, and in many cases need to purchase insurance that could run a few hundred dollars per year. Jones spends about $25 an hour for the kitchen rental, and product and kitchen insurance is about $600 a year.

Another thing the shared-use kitchens have in common is their hours.