From stewed chicken to mayonnaise sandwiches, and from Italian pastries to potato kugel. If you have an old family Brooklyn recipe now is the time to perfect and market it.
That after Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and the City’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) announced today the grand opening of Brooklyn FoodWorks, a shared kitchen and culinary incubator in Central Brooklyn designed to provide affordable space to help burgeoning local food entrepreneurs as they prototype, launch, and develop their businesses.
The old Pfizer manufacturing plant at 630 Flushing Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant will house the 10,000 square-foot facility, which will feature ample commercial-grade cooking equipment to meet the needs of a wide variety of food production businesses along with a co-working and classroom space where entrepreneurs can collaborate and learn new skills to enhance their businesses on a 24/7 basis.
At full capacity, Brooklyn FoodWorks will accommodate approximately 100 businesses. Of the entrepreneurs currently registered, 88 percent are minority or woman owned.
“Brooklyn FoodWorks offers a unique opportunity for aspiring chefs, many of them from the community of Bedford-Stuyvesant, to cook the dishes that will draw diners to restaurants and food trucks in Brooklyn and to prepare the artisanal foods that stock pantries around the world,” said Adams, who contributed $1.3 million in capital dollars through his office to help build out the facility and develop programs in the next several years.
“These are the leaders of the ‘foodie’ renaissance that continues to create jobs and build the economy of our borough,” he added.
Brooklyn FoodWorks will also provide various personalized business mentorship and programming offerings designed to address crucial aspects of creating sustainable businesses, including branding and marketing, product liability and insurance, early stage financing, and distribution.
Additionally, the facility will host a variety of regularly scheduled networking events, tastings and social gatherings that will be open to the public.
“New York City’s food manufacturing sector employs over 16,000 people and counting, and Brooklyn FoodWorks provides an environment for dozens of emerging businesses to create and sustain these jobs locally,” said EDC President Maria Torres-Springer. “By providing these diverse businesses with affordable access to the tools and skills they need to operate successfully, we are helping to ensure this diverse sector continues to expand across all five boroughs.”
Bedford-Stuyvesant City Councilman Robert E. Cornegy, Jr., in whose district Brooklyn FoodWorks is located, said when it comes to food entrepreneurship, Brooklyn is in the dream making business.
“Our residents already have global palates and driving ambition. Now, the presence of Brooklyn FoodWorks will give dozens more small food businesses access to the commercial equipment and advice needed to make their food business dreams a reality. As Chair of the City Council’s Committee on Small Business, I’m absolutely thrilled to have this culinary incubator in my district and I’m looking forward to seeing the businesses that begin here make it big,” he said.
Entrepreneurs in need of additional financial support can apply for a $100,000 scholarship program that will be available to subsidize the cost of facility usage, classes and training workshops. At various times during the year, Brooklyn FoodWorks will also host job fairs, workshops and programming for those interested in new careers in the culinary world.
Those interested in applying for membership or seeking more information on Brooklyn FoodWorks can visitthebrooklynfoodworks.com or contact info@thebrooklynfoodworks.com.
