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Real Life Stories
 Profile: La Cocina helps women entrepreneurs launch food-related businesses.
Product: AHEAD Program, a recoverable grant program that covers predevelopment and other costs associated with economic development and affordable housing.
Partners: Women's Foundation of California, Citibank (West)
La Cocina, a nonprofit community kitchen located in San Francisco’s Mission District, is part of a growing movement to launch small food businesses around the country.
La Cocina provides commercial kitchen space, food industry training, and technical assistance to low-income women who operate informal food-related and catering businesses out of their homes. Many of the low-income entrepreneurs that use La Cocina were in desperate need of affordable professional kitchen space.
“We are a small business incubator,” says La Cocina Executive Director Valeria Perez-Ferreiro. “We offer the resources necessary to help women forge their own economic futures.”
La Cocina is a 4,400-square-foot facility that offers the full range of industrial cooking equipment necessary for large-scale food and catering production—mixers, ovens, professional ranges, slicers, and commercial-size freezers. Unlike commercial kitchens, rents range from just $10 to $15 an hour on a sliding scale.
As part of the program, participants must submit an idea for a viable food product, along with a solid business plan. In addition, each participant meets with advisors every month. Every six months, goals are reevaluated to make sure that every business in the program is on track for graduation. After about three months, participants must apply for a business license and insurance. Under the guidance of advisors, participants also learn to mass produce their goods and market their product.
La Cocina is supported by the Women’s Foundation of California and by foundation grants. In addition, La Cocina received a $25,000 grant in 2005 from the Bank’s Access to Housing and Economic Assistance for Development (AHEAD) Program through member financial institution Citibank (West). The AHEAD Program is a recoverable grant program that covers predevelopment and other costs associated with economic development and affordable housing. The $25,000 AHEAD Program grant supported the expansion of the kitchen capacity to 20 business tenants.
November 2006
Back to Real Life Stories
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Real Life Stories
Profile: La Cocina helps women entrepreneurs launch food-related businesses.
Product: AHEAD Program, a recoverable grant program that covers predevelopment and other costs associated with economic development and affordable housing.
Partners: Women's Foundation of California, Citibank (West)
La Cocina, a nonprofit community kitchen located in San Francisco’s Mission District, is part of a growing movement to launch small food businesses around the country.
La Cocina provides commercial kitchen space, food industry training, and technical assistance to low-income women who operate informal food-related and catering businesses out of their homes. Many of the low-income entrepreneurs that use La Cocina were in desperate need of affordable professional kitchen space.
“We are a small business incubator,” says La Cocina Executive Director Valeria Perez-Ferreiro. “We offer the resources necessary to help women forge their own economic futures.”
La Cocina is a 4,400-square-foot facility that offers the full range of industrial cooking equipment necessary for large-scale food and catering production—mixers, ovens, professional ranges, slicers, and commercial-size freezers. Unlike commercial kitchens, rents range from just $10 to $15 an hour on a sliding scale.
As part of the program, participants must submit an idea for a viable food product, along with a solid business plan. In addition, each participant meets with advisors every month. Every six months, goals are reevaluated to make sure that every business in the program is on track for graduation. After about three months, participants must apply for a business license and insurance. Under the guidance of advisors, participants also learn to mass produce their goods and market their product.
La Cocina is supported by the Women’s Foundation of California and by foundation grants. In addition, La Cocina received a $25,000 grant in 2005 from the Bank’s Access to Housing and Economic Assistance for Development (AHEAD) Program through member financial institution Citibank (West). The AHEAD Program is a recoverable grant program that covers predevelopment and other costs associated with economic development and affordable housing. The $25,000 AHEAD Program grant supported the expansion of the kitchen capacity to 20 business tenants.
November 2006
Back to Real Life Stories
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