La Cocina - Nonprofit Kitchen Incubator

Congratulations to Chef Nite Yun, a La Cocina graduate, on her feature in "Chef’s Table: Noodles" on Netflix! This beautifully tender and captivating episode speaks to Nite’s transformative journey to Cambodia to uncover family recipes and the stories of her parents, survivors of the genocide. Nite’s Kuy Teav Phnom Penh (Phnom Penh Pork Noodle Soup) is a recipe that was preserved in her mother’s heart and one that Nite spent years faithfully perfecting to honor its origins. The soup’s layers of flavors are artistic and complex — just as Nite’s search to find a way to connect with her heritage, transport diners to the golden era of Cambodia, and put her homeland’s cuisine on the Bay Area map. Enjoy Chef Nite's delicious noodles at Lunette in San Francisco. And watch here: https://lnkd.in/gUsw9XHm. Thanks to the many folks who saw the importance of bringing Nite’s story to life and doing so in such a poetic way, including: Rayka Zehtabchi, Brian McGinn, Sam Davis, Reem Assil, and Samin Nosrat.

We feel inspired and nourished after our Voices from the Kitchen® Summit with six incubator kitchen partners from across the U.S. and Auckland, New Zealand. 🌎 Together, we discussed how we can better support our communities and envisioned what a vibrant, equitable, and diverse economic food landscape looks like and the steps we can take to get there. Our guests also got to learn about and enjoy the delicious food from La Cocina-born businesses, including Besharam, Camucha's Kitchen, El Buen Comer, Estrellita's Snacks, Mixiote, Noodle Girl, and Peaches Patties.🍴 We're grateful to our incredible kitchen partners for their participation -- Alchemist Community Development Corporation, Hot Bread Kitchen, The Kitchen Project AKL, Spice Kitchen Incubator from International Rescue Committee, Stockton Community Kitchen, and Veggielution. Thank you to Wells Fargo for making this gathering possible. 🙏🏼 Shoutout to the talented Rio Holaday and Erin Ng for beautifully capturing our gathering!

La Cocina is seeking corporate sponsors for a series of impactful activities over the next year. This includes our gala (a celebration of 20 years of our organization's work), programming that highlights entrepreneurs in our program and provides them with educational opportunities to grow, and storytelling that inspires and engages our community. Consider this unique opportunity for your brand to expand your reach, strengthen your values and community support, and potentially entertain clients! Take a look at our offerings below and contact Grace Bon, La Cocina's Individual Giving Manager (grace@lacocinasf.org), if you're interested. Feel free to share this with your network or directly with anyone who might be interested! 🙏

Outside Lands is a wrap! Each year, La Cocina hosts an incubator booth at the 3-day festival that attracts a crowd of 80K+. Our booth features newer businesses in our program and is one of the most delicious places for folks to satisfy their hunger. It's also a reflection of weeks of hands-on training that businesses experience in our #incubator - from creating and costing out a menu to preparing dishes with amazing flavor, for efficiency and with scale. Congrats to the #entrepreneurs of Pacifico, Suyos Catering, and Tokachi Musubi as well as Program staff for their tireless work, commitment and collaboration on another successful #festival effort! Proud fact: 7 other food vendors at OSL are former program participants or graduates of La Cocina. Find your next delicious meal by visiting https://lnkd.in/degEA6Qk.

We're ending the week with exciting news! La Cocina is thrilled to announce the appointment of two new members to our board of directors and looks forward to their partnership and expert guidance: ➡ Cristina Arantes, La Cocina graduate and previous chef & owner of Kika’s Treats Cristina joined La Cocina’s program in July of 2006, creating Kika’s Treats, an award-winning and much-loved business selling chocolate-covered treats. She graduated from La Cocina’s program in January 2010 and sold her business in 2017. Since graduating from La Cocina, Kika has remained an active part of our community, mentoring new businesses, participating in interviews and at community events, and serving briefly on La Cocina’s Board of Directors. She’s very excited to be rejoining the board, particularly as La Cocina gets ready to celebrate its 20th anniversary. ➡ Leena R. Vice President, Community Affairs Manager, U.S. Bank Leena has been professionally connected to La Cocina since 2009 by facilitating grant opportunities for the organization. Throughout her career in philanthropy, Leena has stayed connected to La Cocina both as a funder, fan, and event attendee. She brings a deep commitment to La Cocina’s mission and in-depth knowledge of our programs. She has spearheaded the opportunity that La Cocina has had for three years of funding from U.S. Bank. We welcome Cristina and Leena with gratitude and look forward to working with them both, especially as we head into our 20th anniversary year! 🎉

Deliciousness was made (and consumed!) during a “Kitchen Day” with Salmon Going Nuggetz, Reculture Foods, and Just Like Home - businesses that recently joined our #incubator program. During a Kitchen Day, #entrepreneurs experience working in a shared kitchen, learn the pre-work needed to cost their recipes at scale, and give and receive feedback on their dishes from cohort peers and La Cocina #community. Shout out to Sharawn Laws and family of Salmon Going Nuggetz, Feby Boediarto and Melati Citrawireja of Reculture Foods, and Samia Sidhoum of Just Like Home for their work and energy in the kitchen and for sharing their talent through their amazing recipes. #wearelacocina

La Cocina is looking for a Catering & Event Sales Coordinator! As a Catering & Event Sales Coordinator, you would support 40+ food entrepreneurs with catering opportunities, and deliver hands-on technical assistance to help businesses develop their skills as they grow their businesses. The ideal candidate is skilled in coordinating proposals from start to finish and offering hospitable customer experiences. They are detail-oriented, energetic, resourceful, exceptional at multitasking, and experienced in sales and managing logistics and catering events onsite. The role is responsible for meeting La Cocina’s revenue goals and is committed to the success of La Cocina-born food entrepreneurs. If this sounds interesting to you or this role could be fit for someone you know, consider applying or sharing this with your network. Learn more and apply here: lacocinasf.org/careers.

We’re excited to share that our partners at California Migration Museum have launched their interactive storytelling project “Melting Spots.”🍽️ 🗺️ Consider this map your menu for some of SF’s best cuisine. This map illustrates and tells the story of chefs, restaurant, and dishes that have and continue to shape the way our city eats. Tune into 38 “bite-sized” audio stories of migration in SF - whether that be entrepreneurs who’ve immigrated to the U.S. or Chef Tiffany Carter honoring the Soul Food roots of her grandparents who arrived from the South during the Great Migration. We’re grateful to the California Migration Museum for working with us to include eight La Cocina-born businesses in this project including: Besharam, REEM'S CALIFORNIA, Minnie Bell's Soul Movement, Damansara, D'maize Catering, Estrellita's, BINIS KITCHEN LLC, and Boug Cali. 🙏🏽 Pick up a copy of the map at participating businesses and our listen online at https://lnkd.in/giXd2REb.

Thank you KQED for covering this exciting next chapter for La Cocina! We’re excited to share that we have officially transitioned our former food hall, the La Cocina Marketplace, into La Cocina on Hyde – our second shared-use commercial kitchen that will serve as a space for training, workshops and production for our greater entrepreneurial community of 80+ businesses. This second kitchen space will reduce expenses and help us execute our core mission of cultivating food businesses. 🙏🏽 We’ve supported transitioning the businesses previously operating in the space to different locations so they can continue growing their businesses. Please continue supporting them at their new homes! ⭐️ Bini’s Kitchen is at 1001 Howard St. and her kiosk at 1 Post St., as well as the Foodwise Ferry Plaza Farmers Market ⭐️ Boug Cali will be opening at the Ferry Building late spring ⭐️ Estrellita’s Snacks will open in the Tenderloin late spring and will continue serving at the @heartofthecityfm ⭐️ Kayma opened a kiosk at Saluhall on 945 Market St. ⭐️ Los Cilantros reopened their full-service restaurant in Berkeley at La Peña Cultural Center ⭐️ Mi Morena is vending at the UN Skate Plaza and will produce out of La Cocina on Hyde ⭐️ Teranga opened at 4 Embarcadero Center with SF New Deal’s Vacant to Vibrant program. Our staff and entrepreneurs are eager to continue our work together in this space and we’re grateful for our community’s support in embracing this change. To continue supporting the community of La Cocina-born businesses, dine with them, host an event at La Cocina on Hyde St. or cater with us, and become a La Cocina Insider to fuel our work. 🧡 --> lacocinasf.org. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gxypw5iG

Our first dinner pop-up of the year with La Cocina chefs was a success! 👏🏽 Thank you to our community of businesses, La Cocina-loving foodies, donors, our sponsor, CIBC US, staff, and volunteers for showing up for new La Cocina businesses and creating this experience. ❤️🔥 We love seeing our space filled with delicious food, smiles, and laughter. If you’re interested in hosting an event in our space, fill out the form here: lacocinasf.org/cater. We’re excited to continue this programming throughout the year as we accept new cohorts of ambitious food entrepreneurs. Stay updated on our programming and other ways to support La Cocina chefs by signing up for our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gaURwsXt For those who attended, we’re sure you’re eager to eat more delicious offerings from the newest La Cocina businesses. Visit our Instagram (@lacocinasf) for a variety of ways that you can support each of them. ⭐️ 🙏🏽 📸: Erin Ng