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industry16,17 These two studies provide an overview of the industry, its needs, and <br />current challenges. <br />The reports highlighted several major challenges for food incubators to become <br />successful. For example, while a shared kitchen space is helpful, entrepreneurs may be <br />ill-equipped to successfully run a business within the incubator space. There are <br />additional challenges, such as design and flow of the facility, how reservations are <br />made, ease of payments, and attracting high -quality entrepreneurs. Local food <br />regulations related to sanitation also pose challenges to food incubators. Another <br />challenge that was noted is that little data have been collected to measure the <br />performance and economic impact of incubators. Metrics that are usually collected are <br />related to sales volume, gross revenue, and jobs created. It is also important to note <br />that the majority of businesses make use of incubators are run by women, <br />ethnic/minority and/or low-income populations. It is thus important to consider the <br />societal effect of a food incubator. <br />Financial Viability of Incubators <br />For the shared kitchen survey conducted in 2013, of the 135 incubators <br />surveyed, 41 responded with details about nonprofit or for -profit status. Table 2 shows <br />the distribution of incubators that are making money, breaking even, or losing money. <br />Note that all survey respondents regardless of nonprofit or for -profit status are included <br />in the combined statistics. <br />Both nonprofit and for -profit Nonprofit For -profit <br />Making money 31% 15% 39% <br />Breaking even 53% 54% 57% <br />Losing money 16% 31 % 4% <br />Table 2: Profitability of Incubators in 2013. <br />The same survey conducted in 2015 is shown in Table 3. The updated survey <br />did not differentiate between nonprofit or for -profit status. The authors did mention that <br />more incubators are losing money and more are making a profit in 2015 than they were <br />in 2013. This tells us the sample size increased in 2015 than in 2013. The updated <br />table for the year 2015 is presented below. <br />Both nonprofit and for -profit <br />Making money 39% <br />16 Econsult Solutions "U.S. Kitchen Incubators: An Industry Snapshot." August 2013. <br />http://www.econsultsolutions.com/experience/our-projects/food-incubator-study/. <br />17Econsult Solutions "U.S. Kitchen Incubators: An Industry Update." March 2016. <br />http://www.econsultsolutions.com/report/us-kitchen-incubators-industry-update/. <br />6 <br />