Union Kitchen is an American

business incubator A business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services, starting with management training and office space, and ending with venture ...

based in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Union Kitchen merges the concepts of a shared kitchen and a business incubator, catering primarily to small food businesses.

History

Union Kitchen was founded as Black Strap Bakery in 2012 by Jonas Singer and Cullen Gilchrist in Washington, D.C. It originated from Singer and Gilchrist's search for a kitchen space for their Blind Dog Cafe and Bakery. They repurposed a 7,300-square-foot vacant kitchen near the U.S. Capitol into Union Kitchen, starting with a few members. The first food incubator was opened by Union Kitchen in 2012 in NoMa. In February 2013, Washington D.C.'s government established a partnership with Union Kitchen aimed at supporting district residents in initiating culinary careers. The initiative provided entrepreneurs at Union Kitchen's Northeast Washington facility a platform for starting their businesses with reduced costs and risks. In May 2013, Union Kitchen acquired empty lots in

NoMa Noma, NoMa, or NOMA may refer to: Places * NoMa, the area North of Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C., US ** NoMa–Gallaudet U station, on Washington Metro * Noma, Florida, US * NOMA, Manchester, a redevelopment in England * Noma District, ...

, launching weekend open-air

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

s for

food truck A food truck is a large motorized vehicle (such as a van or multi-stop truck) or trailer equipped to store, transport, cook, prepare, serve and/or sell food. Some food trucks, such as ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food, but m ...

s and

vendor In a supply chain, a vendor, supplier, provider or a seller, is an enterprise that contributes goods or services. Generally, a supply chain vendor manufactures inventory/stock items and sells them to the next link in the chain. Today, these term ...

s to sell prepared foods. They also planned to host food events and

acoustic music Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the a ...

Thursday Thursday is the day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fifth day of the week. Name Th ...

s and

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO 8601-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth ...

s, and to collaborate with Relay Foods for a weekly grocery pick-up spot. In March 2014, Union Kitchen opened a market and cafe in

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

. In November 2014, the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

formed a partnership with Union Kitchen to manage the museum's Mezzanine Cafe. This collaboration involved a rotation of pop-up cafes operated by Union Kitchen's members. In the same year, Union Kitchen was named as one of the finalists for ''USA Todays Entrepreneur of the Year award. In 2015, Union Kitchen expanded its operations by opening a second location in Ivy City. It also invested $2 million in a 15,000-square-foot

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

, increasing the capacity for new members. In 2016, Jonas Singer stepped down as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) of Union Kitchen. In January 2018, Union Kitchen opened a 2,500-square-foot grocery store in the One Franklin Square building in Washington, D.C., and another 3,000-square-foot store in the redeveloped Ballston Quarter mall in Ballston.

Business model

Union Kitchen provides small food enterprises with six-month memberships to a regulated community kitchen at a reduced cost. Additionally, Union Kitchen provides services in branding and distribution, as well as

catering Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

and distribution for member products. Union Kitchen also provides a distribution company managed by the incubator itself. The membership also includes a

coworking Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...

space situated near one of the kitchens.

References

{{reflist 2012 establishments in Washington, D.C. Business incubators of the United States Organizations based in Washington, D.C.

History

Business model

See also

References