Shared Kitchens
Often referred to as shared or incubator kitchens are shared-use, commerical kitchens, provide food entrepreneurs with the space and equipment they need for lease. Kansas Department of Agriculture food business regulations prevent many food products from being sold commercially when produced in a private home kitchen. A shared kitchen allows users to obtain the appropriate license to produce products on-site for sale elsewhere.
This community resource helps entrepreneurs to focus on properly developing their recipes, market, and business model without the upfront capital costs of expensive commercial kitchen equipment.
The Food Corridor
This is a management tool for shared kitchens. They offer their free on-line Shared Kitchen Toolkit, which gives an overview of how to set-up and manage a incubator kitchen.
Foods Sold Directly to Consumers in Kansas
Regulations and Food Safety Best Practices: This guide helps food/farm businesses to determine their licensed requirements if they are selling directly to consumers.
Starting a Food Business
The Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) provides you the resources to set-up a kitchen whether it is for a food establishment, a mobile food establishment or a food processor space.
- Incubator Kitchen Resource Guide - Kansas guide to find nearest incubator kitchen. If you know of a kitchen that is not listed please share with that kitchen to be listed.
- KDA License Information for Food Safety - This explains the differences and further details about food business license.
- Application for Food Establishment License - For food businesses that are selling direct to consumer, includes restaurants and food trucks.
- Application for Food Processor License and Storage License - For food businesses that are not selling direct to consumer, this also includes licensing for food storage.
- Video Tour of K-State Olathe Innovation Kitchen - This is a 27-minute video to give you an overview of the Olathe kitchen.
Resources
- Shared Kitchens and Food Startups (Local Food Economics) - Information about the shared kitchens and the food business owners operating out of shared kitchens to understand their role in communities across the US.
- Definition of Shared-Use Kitchen (New Venture Advisors)
- Kansas Incubator Kitchen Resource Guide and Registry (KDA) - critical information about incubator resources throughout the state of Kansas.
- Kansas Incubator Kitchen List (doc, KDA)
- Kitchen Incubators: Is there a recipe for success? (New Venture Advisors)
Food Business Insurance
Check with your current insurance agent to see if they have options available to you. Other national food business insurance companies available include: Food Liability Insurance Program (FLIP), NEXT Insurance, The Hartford and Nationwide.
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