Coachella aims to open a ShareKitchen
Imari Kariotis started The Rise on Bakery from her Salton City home, baking bread and pastries for friends and neighbors.
“I love to bake. It’s nice to hand out love to people,” said Kariotis.
Luiz Lopez’s sister created Que Mami Organics salsa, mole and tamales.
“She had this idea to make these organic salsas. She started making organic food to help my father who had cancer. Through that she started her own recipes based on my mother’s tradition,” said Lopez.
It’s these special recipes some Coachella Valley entrepreneurs want everyone to get a taste of, that’s why the City of Coachella wants to open a ShareKitchen. The facility provides home-cooks a place to develop their product into a viable business, combining the community and our local agriculture.
Dozens of people showed up to Coachella City Hall Friday to learn more about the possibility of a ShareKitchen opening in the city. Similar to the ShareKitchen in Cathedral City, the non-profit would allow start-up businesses in its program to rent its commercial kitchen 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It also helps grow and mentor business owners and aims to create jobs.
“I’m looking forward to being able to bake bread and not have to stay up all night doing it,” said Kariotis.
“A share kitchen would be good because you don’t have to worry about the health department coming into your house. She has a oven where I can bake 30 loaves of bread, versus I can bake 2 to 3 in mine. I can do an entire order in 5 hours versus 12.”
It’ll cost an estimated $21 million. The city’s considered locations on Oates Lane or Enterprise Way, a space to cook, host pop-up markets, food trucks and outdoor dining.
“It’s part of our culture, the neighborhood dinner house. People tend to keep that alive. If we could bring people in compliance with health codes and it’s a win-win for everyone,” said Lopez.
A ShareKitchen can also create opportunity for entrepreneurs to experience retail for the first time and sell their product to the masses.
“I want a business. I want to be stable this year. I don’t want to have to worry about where the next amount of money will come from,” said Kariotis.
