Old North Culinary Incubator

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The Old North Culinary Incubator will be a shared-use commercial kitchen in which small businesses can produce food in compliance with FDA safety regulation. As a 501(c)(3), the Culinary Incubator’s timeshare organizational structure will act as a catalytic force to enable entrepreneurial opportunity within the neighborhood while simultaneously increasing access to healthy food and promoting sustainable lifestyles. The overarching goal of the project is to build community through innovation brick by brick, bite by bite.

When done right, an incubator weaves its incubatees into a space shared by an expanding network of supportive peers and business mentors. The exciting result is a structured business experience that maximizes on innovation and community development while softening the blow of venture failure. The need for jobs and an active community is apparent in Old North St. Louis. Recent data estimates that the median household income of the neighborhood borders $14,000 with a 50% poverty rate, and an unemployment rate upwards of 30%. New enterprises like the Old North Grocery Co-op, however, are outward suggestions that the community has come together to revitalize the neighborhood around a culture of food. The Old North Culinary Incubator promises to bolster existing businesses and foster new co-operative businesses while simultaneously creating a venue to realize the rich culinary heritage of the neighborhood.