The key to the heart is food, right? Always! What’s even better are homemade recipes. We know there’s so many people out there with great recipes but no one to share them with outside of their families. If you have a killer recipe that you think could be a great product to sell, but don’t have the resources to jumpstart this new venture we can help with that.
The hardest part of becoming an entrepreneur is having the resources to do so. Enter Republic Food Enterprise Center. We want to help anyone who has the dream of sharing their great recipes with others by making it a reality. We have a full commercial kitchen available to rent out for whoever wants or needs it at our center, located in Republic, Pennsylvania.
Our full sized commercial kitchen is open 24/7 and you can cook any recipe your heart desires. The initial fee is $550 which includes 10 hours of kitchen time and then it is $25 each hour after that. We provide all of the big equipment like ovens, stoves, mixers and even a commercial dehydrator. You just need to bring the utensils you need to execute your masterpiece.
I’m no entrepreneur, but I am quite the chef. How do I handle the whole business aspect of this if I do want to start my own business?
While Republic Food Enterprise Center does in fact have the kitchen we also have the connections. We want to help you in any way we can, so we have resources to turn to if you need help with filling out your recipes, planning your business or even financial advice. We will help you in each aspect of your business, including sales. At Republic Food Enterprise Center, we can also provide you with help in the kitchen or the packaging of your products. It costs $15 an hour for the extra labor.
We have a partnership with Dana Kendrick who will be able to help you with all of your business planning and one with Bridgeway Capital that can help with anything financial including lending you money to jumpstart your new venture. Both of these services are included in your initial fee. Our full time chef is also available to help you with that recipe you may have to that;s missing an ingredient or two to really make it complete. No venture is too big or small for our kitchen.
Not only can we help with all of that, but we can also find you fresh ingredients for your recipes. We work with a number of local farms that produce just about anything you might need. We can work to get you fresh ingredients from these farms or even a wholesaler so you don’t have to. We want to create a successful space for you to cook anything you might want.
That all sounds great. What should I expect when walking into the kitchen?
Well the first step is making sure you receive a health inspection through the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, who will then issue your business license. You need to have your inspection done prior to using the kitchen, but it is a quick and easy process. Once you have that done, you can come in at any time. We actually mean any time because the kitchen is open 24/7. We recommend calling ahead to make sure the kitchen is available, but there is plenty of room there that more than one person can use it at once.
Once you’re there, we do have a list of rules and regulations for you to take a look at, but otherwise the kitchen is yours. We have a variety of commercial equipment for you to use like:
Rotating Revent Rack Ovens
30 and 60 gallon Kettles
Commercial Dehydrator
30 quart Mixer
Commercial Vacuum Sealer
Fryers
Urschel High Capacity Dicer
Walk-in Cooler and Freezer
Double Deck Convection Oven
Six Burner Ranges
Secure Cold and Dry Storage
Access to Multiple Loading Docks
12,000 square feet Cold Storage
Aging Room
Bottling Machine
Flash Freezer
Commercial Peelers
Any of these are free for you to use, we just ask you to clean up once you’re done! If you’re still unsure whether or not you would want to use our kitchen, come on over to the Republic Food Enterprise Center for a tour. If you need some extra inspiration check out Peppi’s Greek Gourmet. Michael Smalis makes his homemade hummus and GreekFreeze in our kitchen.
We work to not only bridge the gap from farms to tables, we want to help local businesses or new ventures be successful. We understand that finding a commercial kitchen can be a challenge so we wanted to provide this opportunity to those who may need it to get started with crafting their favorite recipes!
What will you be cooking?