BALTIMORE — A Baltimore commercial kitchen, founded by two women chefs, is helping up and coming food entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running.
When Catina "Chef Cat" Smith and Kiah Gibian created "Our Time" kitchen, they wanted to create a space for other minority food business owners. "Our Time" offers them a way to operate as a ghost kitchen, a pop-up window or even learn how to run a food truck. Smith and Gibian, together, have more than 30 years of experience in the food industry and their goal is to give budding business owners the best chance to succeed at the start of their careers; which they both agree is usually the toughest stage to get through.
"So many people that are coming into our kitchen were just working at home slinging dinners out of their home, but they have no idea [about] the business piece," Catina said. "Everybody can cook, but do you know how to run a business? People don't."
Catina and Kiah want "Our Time" to give business owners a step-by-step process on how to avoid the common pitfalls they could face and make sure they're pulling in a profit.
"This incubator is modeled in a way that equity can go into people's pockets rather than going into overhead leases," Gibian said.
When it comes to helping people learn, they definitely prefer the hands on approach. In the "Our Time" backyard kitchen members can even experiment with Kiah's Wild Thyme food truck.
"[It's] going to allow for a lot of people to see if food trucking is the way they want to step and grow," Kiah said.
Catina and Kiah formed a friendship through their bond for food and sharing opportunities with others, but another one of their main motivations is getting more women of color to own more businesses in the city of Baltimore.
"[We want] to essentially disrupt ownership in Baltimore City," Kiah said. "We believe that more land should be owned by black women in this city. The power is in land and so we need the people who have been actually doing the movement work to be holding that land."
In the mean time they're finding different ways to connect the community with their kitchen members. Friday May 5th, they're inviting people out for the grand opening of their back courtyard and market spaces. In the day of celebration, there will be music food and fun for the whole family.
"We want the neighborhood be introduced to Our Time So they can come here," Catina said. "People walk by like what is this place? Can we interact with it. Yes you can interact with it this place is for you."
The grand opening event kicks off at 5:00 p.m.
Location: 117 W. 24th Street Baltimore, MD 21218
Our Time Kitchen is currently looking for tenants. If you or someone you know is interested, click HERE if you're interested in becoming a member.
