Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 08/09/2018

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Local restaurant incubators The restaurant incubators and shared commercial kitchens in the Twin Cities have been compiled from Minnesota's Department of Agriculture website. This information encompasses a wide range of establishments that may vary in terms of the support they offer tenants. Detailed information about these Minnesota food incubators have been compiled in an Excel document as reference. Many of the local food incubators include the following assets: • Access to major highways • Access to storage, walk-in freezers, and miscellaneous commercial equipment • Free on -site parking • Business training and business development opportunities • Financing, licensing and legal support • Shared -kitchen space with 24-hour card access with video surveillance • Online scheduling • The flexibility of paying through credit cards/PayPal • Gluten -free cooking areas • Event space These services offer valuable strengths to their operations. Flexibility will attract more tenants, allowing those with daytime jobs to still utilize their services. Secure and limited -access shared kitchen space with online scheduling and flexible payment options mean reduced administration cost of the incubator's operation. The pricing models vary among these incubators depending on the scale of operations. Incubators like Kindred Kitchen use different rates depending on the time of the day. They also have different rates for storage space. However, the majority of the kitchen rentals are around $20/hr. Many incubators also offer event space rentals for meetings or weddings. If Ramsey were to consider making event space part of their model it would open up attractive options for tenants to cater. Economic Benefit Analysis of Food Incubators The economic benefits of incubators are difficult to measure. Food incubators serve as a pathway for successful food ventures. Many incubators provide help with licensure and certificates. This would help new restaurant entrepreneurs understand and comply with food safety and production requirements. As shown below in Figure 6, food incubators help food businesses with several other types of business counseling. 9