Detroit Kitchen Connect

Detroit Kitchen Connect, an Eastern Market Partnership program, supports a diverse group of entrepreneurs doing what they love and contributing to Detroit’s growing good food system. In collaboration with local partners, we seek to make kitchens more accessible and turn neighborhoods into food entrepreneurship hubs. We make this possible through technical assistance, workshops, and other startup services.

INTERESTED IN APPLYING TO DETROIT KITCHEN CONNECT?
REGISTER FOR OUR INFORMATIONAL CLASS HERE!

Apply Now

Budding food entrepreneurs need love and support. Happily, Detroit Kitchen Connect provides shared use licensed commercial kitchen spaces in Wayne, Oakland, and Washtenaw counties where food entrepreneurs can manifest their dreams of owning and operating a food business. Eastern Market, in partnership with Tech Town Detroit, Build Institute, ProsperUS Detroit, Accounting Aid Society, Michigan Good Food Fund, SCORE, SBDC, DEGC, ACCESS, AAWC, MSU Product Center have joined forces to facilitate the technical support of a new food business needs to be successful. Together, we provide support in the following forms: 

  • Sharing connections to licensed commercial kitchens
  • Offering resources for increasing production volumes with growing customer demand
  • Retail Readiness
  • Offering Quickbooks and bookkeeping support
  • Business Planning
  • Nutrition Facts
  • Product Testing
  • Access to Capital
  • And more!

Interested in applying to Detroit Kitchen Connect? Register for our informational class here!

Interested in renting the kitchen for a one-off event? Learn more here.

Start Your Food Business

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING STARTING A FOOD BUSINESS AND ARE INTERESTED IN RENTING SPACE IN ONE OF THE DETROIT KITCHEN CONNECT LICENSED KITCHENS, HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

Register for and attend one of the DKC Getting Started in a Commercial Kitchen Workshops held at Eastern Market. The workshops are currently held in person in the Shed 5 Commons Room or on Zoom. Classes are offered every month with the exception of December. The workshop is $15 to attend. You cannot apply for any DKC kitchen spaces until you have completed the workshop.

AFTER COMPLETEING THE CLASS, NEXT STEPS TO GETTING INTO A KITCHEN:

  • You must complete ALL of the following BEFORE applying for kitchen space:  
    • Complete a ServSafe Food safety course and receive a ServSafe Certificate (register at PIC Food Safety for the 1 day course; cost is $195.00); you will need to attach your ServSafe Certificate to you application. PICFoodSafety.com
    • Register your business (cost varies depending on what type of business you establish; application can be found at LARA https://www.michigan.gov/lara/); this process will provide you with the necessary EIN/Tax ID Number you will need for your business; you will need to attach a copy of your registration (i.e. LLC, DBA, etc.) to your application.
  • After being ACCEPTED into a Detroit Kitchen Connect kitchen:
    • First, you will fill out the DKC Intake Form and pay the $300-$500 deposit Depending on which kitchen you are accepted in, you will pay this AFTER your application is accepted but before you begin working in a DKC kitchen.
    • Second, Purchase insurance (DKC requires a $1 Million general liability policy that names whichever DKC kitchen you work out of as co-insured); such insurance policies generally run between $300-$500 per year and will be required by many events, retailers, vendors, and businesses you work with; you will need to attach a copy of your insurance policy to your application.
    • Third, apply for and be inspected for your Food License through Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development or your local health department; you cannot utilize any DKC kitchen space until you have been inspected and approved by MDARD.
    • Fourth, create Standard Operating Procedures, Process Flow Diagram and Product Lists for making your product; you will need these for your MDARD inspection/licensing.

ADDITIONAL THINGS TO CONSIDER:

  • You will need an email account
  • You will need a business bank account
  • You will need packaging
  • You will need MDARD approved labels on your packaging
  • You may need nutrition facts on your packaging
  • You may need an allergen certificate. Your inspector will tell you if this is required.
  • You will need to know:
    • Who will make the product?
    • What is the shelf life of your product?
    • What is the cost of your product(s)?
    • What is retail or wholesale asking price?
    • Who is your target market? (Retail or Wholesale)
    • How will you distribute your product?
    • How are you planning on sourcing the ingredients?
    • You will need NFS approved equipment for making/storing products.
    • You will need a clear, scalable recipe.
    • You will need a list of and source for any specialized equipment you require (all equipment must be PRE-APPROVED by PIC Food Safety, Eastern Market’s kitchen management entity).

Affiliate Kitchens

Mission 

Detroit Kitchen Connect exists to provide reliable, accessible spaces for local entrepreneurs to process high-quality food products or provide high-quality food services in a diverse and collaborative community environment.

We are committed to:

Providing pathways to good food entrepreneurship: by working to connect entrepreneurs to additional financial and technical assistance support to ensure that starting and growing a food business is accessible to entrepreneurs of all various economic levels, educational levels, and business backgrounds.

Access: to quality food from “dirt-to-table & dirt-to-store” so that all community members have access to healthy quality foods grown and made in Detroit and the Metro Area.

Food Entrepreneurship: growing sustainable businesses that have the resources, knowledge & expertise to scale businesses in the food sector.