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Recap of May 2014 Kitchen Success Stories Program

  • 09 May 2014 11:19 AM
    Message # 1551032
    Deleted user
    Women in the Kitchen: La Cocina Success Stories

    The work of La Cocina was featured on the speakers program for the May luncheon. Caleb Zigas, the nonprofit’s executive director, described how this program evolved in the Mission District to mentor, train and advise low-income and/or immigrant women to become entrepreneurs in the food business.

    Many of the women got their start informally by cooking specialty food products in their homes and selling them to neighbors and local workers. La Cocina takes them the next step by offering affordable commercial kitchen space and a program which helps them analyze product viability and create a business plan.

    After going through the incubator stage, the participants get help with branding, marketing, risk assessment, cost analysis and pricing. Currently, there are 31 incubator businesses and 20 graduates out on their own with successful businesses.

    Two graduates spoke enthusiastically about what La Cocina enabled them to do. Binita Pradham of Bini’s Kitchen in San Francisco specializes in Nepalese momos, or dumplings, available for delivery or pickup. Guisell Osorio started with a catering company specializing in South American dishes (especially empanadas and cookies) and has recently opened a restaurant in Walnut Creek, Sabores del Sur. 

    Click Here to see photos of speakers

    To learn more about La Cocina, visit their web page at www.lacocinasf.org.

    Last modified: 20 May 2014 4:27 PM | Maurine Killough (Administrator)
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