Many restauranteurs experience barriers to entry, which have only increased during the pandemic. Without the necessary capital, investing in a mortgage or lease, hiring staff, and paying for marketing and advertising becomes difficult, if not impossible. Pop-ups and incubators within food halls across the U.S.—with minimal start-up costs, along with training and mentoring—help get these new culinary concepts off the ground in a low-risk environment. By working as part of a team, the pressure to find a retail space and market to the public is no longer on their to-do list. Instead, they can focus on cooking and fine-tuning the concept.
Here are a few examples of businesses helping pop-ups and new concepts.
Mother Road Market
“I do expect them to be at the newer end of the pipeline, but I prefer them to have some commercial-kitchen experience,” says Karissa Smith, program manager at Mother Road Market’s Kitchen 66 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which also operates Takeover Café and a food truck for short-term concepts, plus a series of classes on how to run a restaurant.
Those classes function like “entrepreneurial boot camp,” says Smith, covering marketing, accounting, nailing a 90-second pitch, and being interviewed by media. Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation funds this effort. Smith’s job is to ask the right questions before offering them a space: “Is there a need? Is somebody already doing it? How are you going to do it differently?” They also must be open to coaching and feedback.
That said, “I don’t really reject anyone. If they need mentoring, we mentor,” says Smith. “A third to a half of vendors in the Mother Road Market started with Kitchen 66.”
“Every day there is a new business popping up there,” says Katy Hall, Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation’s chief communications officer, about Takeover Café. “They tend to be small and energizing.”
The AMP at 16 Tech
Within the 50-acre 16 Tech Innovation Center in downtown Indianapolis that was once a shipping garage for water tanks, The AMP at 16 Tech consists of 21 restaurants and retailers whose storefronts are salvaged shipping containers. About 50 percent are new concepts and thus far, 65% of vendors have been minority owned, or women-led or women-owned, says 16 Tech’s director of communications Jacqueline Eckhardt. Seven percent are owned and operated by neighbors. It opened during the spring of 2021.
“One of the added benefits is we have some tenants who have seen success here or in other environments,” says Eckhardt. “That’s really helpful from a collaboration perspective.” For example, a vendor might fold in ingredients prepared at a neighboring vendor to create a signature dish you can only find at The AMP.
“Community engagement has been at the forefront since the beginning,” says Eckhardt. “When you come to The AMP, there’s a feeling of community that’s super intentional.”
This attracted Monique and Kara Hawkins—mother-daughter owners and operators of Taste of Innova Wings + Greens, which serves globally inspired wings folding in heritage flavors, and who live nearby—to launch their concept as one of the first vendors. In a unique twist, Kara’s grandfather owned Indianapolis’ first Black-owned liquor store nearby and her cousin helped develop 16 Tech. They’ve been so successful at The AMP that they also operate another family business—Innova Artis, a design, marketing and education company—out of 16 Tech’s co-working space. “The restaurant was burst out of that,” explains Kara Hawkins. “We launched that in June of 2021.”
Leases include access to Chef Craig Baker, who keeps office hours and hosts monthly classes, eager to share his 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry. “He really was the brains behind The Amp project,” says Eckhardt.
At Melon Kitchens, run by venture capitalist Kelli Jones, six-week concepts rotate in and out. “It’s run as a ghost-kitchen model,” says Eckhardt. Burgeezy, a plant-based burger joint, is a recent concept. Thus far, 67 vendors have been people of color, says Eckhardt.
“Being diverse was really important for us,” says Kara Hawkins. “What does it look like for woman-owned and minority-owned businesses? It takes a village. How can we help the other restaurants? 16 Tech has now become a family to us.” The women also operate a stand at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the Indianapolis Pacers play home games.
By collaborating with other producers, they’ve helped elevate three other small businesses. The Popcorn Treasury’s popcorn is sold at Taste of Innova Wings & Greens and they also brew and sell Tea’s Me Café teas, founded by four-time Olympic gold-medalist for women’s basketball Tamika Catchings. A signature cocktail at their Gainbridge Fieldhouse stand features a whisky brand.
“As we continue forward, we’d like to bring them along with us,” says Monique Hawkins.
Rental rates at The AMP are subsidized and lease terms differ for each tenant, in an attempt to meet them where they’re at.
Vegas Test Kitchen
At Vegas Test Kitchen in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, every vendor is a pop-up operating on a short-term lease. In December of 2020, Jolene Mannina—experiencing a slowdown in her catering business—debuted Vegas Test Kitchen, creating space for 70 chefs in the first two years. “It was like launching a big event every day,” she says. “The only way I could make this work is to have a lot of chefs here at once, to cover the rent. I don’t let them sign on for more than a month and then we renew for a month.”
Mannina cites the pandemic for kickstarting her concept, which allows chefs to “do it without crazy overhead,” she says. Vacant for two years, the building’s owner was eager for a tenant. At the same time, “a lot of chefs were out of work and found more time to spend on themselves,” Mannina says. Many decided it was “now or never” for test-driving a new concept.
In addition to discussing a chef’s menu, equipment needs, and job history, Mannina is searching for a good fit. “It also comes down to personality and working together in a small space and being respectful,” says Mannina. Each chef is given a tablet to load a menu onto and also take orders and payment. Vegas Test Kitchen takes only a small percentage of profits. Mannina handles all the marketing, although she encourages the chefs to remain active in their branding, such as logo creation and social-media engagement.
Two chefs were so successful they later moved into brick-and-mortar locations of their own, including Bodega Bagel (moved out of Vegas Test Kitchen after eight months) and Yukon Pizza (spent two years at Vegas Test Kitchen).
Like The AMP at 16 Tech, collaboration among chefs is key. It’s also about sharing equipment. A sushi chef at Vegas Test Kitchen utilizes the kitchen sink at certain times, and Bodega Bagel has exclusive access to equipment at night. There is also a wood-fired grill. Other ways chefs can use Vegas Test Kitchen include previewing a restaurant opening or hosting a community-engagement event.
All of this makes it easier for chefs to test the market with their concepts—and not be burdened by high costs for rent, staff, and supplies.
“We know the restaurant industry is not an easy industry to break into,” says Eckhardt.
That’s precisely why these incubators are important, to ease that transition. “One of my biggest goals is to make the kickstart part of the business a little less intimidating,” says Smith, of Mother Road Market’s Kitchen 66.
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