Oh Marilyn - thank you so much for thinking of me!

D

deb-in-mi

Well-known member
I just received your very generous, beautiful, thoughtful and amazing cutters; I am so touched!! I will definitely put them to good use this spring! (I like BIG cookies).

So funny - I've spent the last 48 hours calling all around to see if I can rent a commercial kitchen (not so easy - so many things have to be put in place first.......and have to get licensed to do so) as well as to see if our lower level kitchen can be licensed. Head is spinning. Not sure if any of it is possible but the feedback from the cafes that I dropped samples off at has been great! What I didn't realize, however, was that the Michigan Cottage Laws do not apply to selling items in a retail store. (basically I can sell them out of my house to the end consumer).

Thank you thank you thank you!!

 
Happy & glad they have a purpose in life again. PA is different. My mom

can bake out of her licensed basement kitchen, but is NOT allowed to sell from there because then it is considered a "bakery." She has to deliver it to the vendor source.

 
Be sure to talk to some of the vendors at the Farmer's Market. Some are very generous

and will share or rent some commercial kitchen space. It is very difficult to find one, but it only takes talking to one person who will help you out. Especially if you are not competing with them. If you have a vendor that you have a relationship with, they might be able to help you out.

 
I called every church around - unfortunately all no goes. But I found 2 sites

I can use:)

Now if the cafe chain will just call me back:)

 
The Flint Farmers Market actually rents their commercial kitchen

very inexpensively. Lots of hoops to climb through first but it's a great option. Only neg. is that it is about a 30 minute drive.

 
Temple, synagogue, shul kitchen

25 years ago I was the marketing director for a start-up muffin manufacturer. During their transition from home to commercial kitchen - about a year - they were able to set up a baking schedule with their shul for use of the kitchen. It worked out to be a win/win situation (why they stayed so long). Colleen

 
Schools - private, public, pre-school?

There may be other schools with kitchens willing to share. I know school districts in our area are looking for ways to bring in additional income using resources they own - classes, seminars, conferences, conventions. The public junior high down the street from me has a very large kitchen - still running home-ec classes - and I've taken a cooking class there through their community ed. Colleen

 
Share with other baking businesses

Several businesses in our city share a commercial kitchen and retail sales space. Having multiple users has made the space viable for growth phase. Colleen

 
Share with restaurant serving only morning or evening menu,

and better yet, one that is interested in serving your baked goods!

Most restaurants can use the extra cash and this is a great time of year to set-up a trial run. Contact restaurants very local to you, with excellent reputations, and discuss very specific time and resource requests. Bring an "agreement" with you outlining what you are willing to provide to them - how they benefit working with you. Colleen

 
Develop "partners" with other MI Cottage manufacturers

and establish your own commercial kitchen (or share theirs smileys/wink.gif. Start looking to acquire a site with equipment in place - out-of-business? - where you can negotiate for a tiered payment schedule with "owners" of space and equipment. Commercial real estate agents may be helpful. A nearby "failed restaurant," in a "difficult" strip mall location and vacant for over a year, recently became the home of a local Weight Watchers franchise.

This approach is more involved but there are many opportunities to share space with other entrepreneurs - cooking classes, catering, event planning, banquet space, are just a few that come to mind. One you have the basics in place, you may be able to recruit "community partners" willing to participate/administer for the benefits of having this type of facility available. Colleen

 
Thank you for all of your ideas - they are great!

My goal, if this venture goes (and I don't know that it will) is to license our second kitchen and, in the short term, rent.

 
BTW Marilyn - I'm using the cutters with my neighbors for Easter

I'll bake them and put a cover of icing on them. And then giving them a set of edible colored markers to go crazy with. Thank you for letting me do this - they will be THRILLED (we are so fortunate to live next door to 'the best neighbors ever'!)

 
Great ideas, Colleen! Deb, you could also try caterers. Several

caterers here rent space to individuals doing exactly what you want to do. Generally, given the items they are preparing, not much time is needed to execute their product(s) and caterers are often willing to allocate space in their kitchen. And if you can be flexible with your baking times, it can really work in your favor, i.e. working around a caterer's busy kitchen schedule. Working in catering prep kitchens myself the past couple of years I've worked next to folks preparing products for sale at Farmer's Markets or vendors or food trucks or restaurants (both sweet and savory items). It's becoming a popular way here to "inexpensively" utilize commercial kitchen space.

It's helpful to know kitchen safety protocol for working and moving in a professional kitchen, for instance, announcing yourself when moving behind someone with hot or sharp or heavy items (i.e. "hot behind" or "sharp behind"), or opening oven doors, or spills on floors, etc. Also, kitchen sanitation. You may already know these things (or have taken a SafeServe class, which I highly recommend) but if not I'd be happy to help you with suggestions if/when the time comes. I believe you have my email address....feel free to contact me if I can answer any questions for you.

 
Americolor Gourmet Writers although I've barely used them

just to see if I can draw a "shopkins" face on a glazed cookie (www.shopkinsworld.com/). I'm making these for a friend's daughter who is allergic to peanuts (Americolor is made in a nut-free facility).

 
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