The Connected Kitchen Project has a new home in downtown Edmonton where it aims to create a landing pad for entrepreneurs in the gruelling hospitality industry by providing access to commercial kitchen space, and even mental health support.
"This space is holding the door open for those that are coming behind us," Michelle Frechette, the founder of The Connected Kitchen Project Foundation, told Taproot. "It is for micro- to (medium-sized) food producers — anybody that needs (a kitchen for) more than about 30 hours a week. We're helping find other space, pairing them with people, and finding other kitchens, too. This is for the newcomer. This is for the people building their food business."
The Connected Kitchen opens on Nov. 1 in its basic form at 10344 105 Street NW. The location was once called the 5th Street Food Hall that eventually rebranded to EPIC Market. Its four commercial kitchens, one specifically for plant-based food production, are already open to members. Memberships start at $50 per month, with a minimum three-month commitment, or $400 per year. The first members are King of Tarts, Wealthy Juice, and On The Edge Coffee, with others in the works, Frechette said.
Frechette is the owner and CEO of Connected Kitchen Management, the company that operates the space. She has big ambitions for the business. Frechette aims to eventually sell food at a retail counter, offer hot lunch service, create a co-working space, host events, produce workshops, provide resources for members, and more. For now, though, Connected Kitchen is exclusively operating the commercial kitchens but is open during the day to allow the public to take a look, or even just to offer people a washroom if they need one.
She knows the goals are large but is not deterred. "Not everybody understands an entrepreneur," she said. "Since the beginning, people have been telling me that this dream is too big, there's too many components, I'm making it too complicated … (But) you can't fail if you never stop."
Frechette is paraphrasing advice here from Jennifer Keith, the co-founder and CEO of EPIC. Keith and other EPIC team members guided Frechette as she navigated the former food hall.
"When Michelle approached us about taking over the downtown space and shared her story and vision for it, I thought immediately that this could be a great opportunity for someone new to come in and bring a renewed energy and a different, positive direction for the space," Keith told Taproot in an email.
Keith added that EPIC left the 105 Street spot because its new location at Station Park in Old Strathcona was purpose-built for operational efficiency and to EPIC's aesthetic sensibilities. "With the downtown location, we had to retrofit and we inherited a lot that didn't quite work for what we wanted the space to be," she said.
Frechette has operated Veg Head Killer Food — the plant-based, Latin-inspired food truck where she said she works as "head taco slinger" — for about six years. The Connected Kitchen has been a going concern for about seven years. Frechette hails from Prince George, British Columbia, where the Connected Kitchen began to take shape but never reached a full form. Frechette brought the idea with her to Edmonton when she moved here for a second time last fall. She said the journey has taught her, firsthand, how prevalent stress, mental health difficulties, and addictions are in the hospitality industry.
"I myself am five-and-a-half years sober, and it is woven into the way I operate everything," Frechette said. "We want our membership to apply to not just up-and-coming food producers, but the membership will also provide restaurant owners (with) services and support that they wouldn't have access to otherwise. It is extremely isolating if all you do is get up in the morning, go to work, work, go to bed, think about work, dream about work, wake up, and work, work, work. That's what owner-operators do."
Michelle Frechette of The Connected Kitchen Project Foundation, Connected Kitchen Management, and Veg Head Killer Food, says her new operation at the old 5th Street Food Hall aims to help make life better for food producers and hospitality professionals. (Colin Gallant)
To add support, Frechette is partnering with England-based non-profit The Burnt Chef to provide free mental health tools to members. Eventually, she also plans to add discount graphic design services, a business centre for things like printing, and professional development opportunities.
Jeff Funston, the owner of plant-based bakery King of Tarts, has already signed up as a Connected Kitchen member and has been using the plant-based commercial kitchen over the past month to produce baking that he sells at cafes and markets. Funston said he's happy to have a new home after losing his old space at Revolution Square following a disastrous flood earlier this year (that flood also displaced Variant Edition, a business that has also found a new home.)
"The last 10 months have been pretty rough on myself and my family, so I feel like it's a much better environment for us (at The Connected Kitchen)," Funston said. "My wife works full-time. If she didn't, we would have had to bankrupt the business, and I would have had to go to work … For me, right now, I do five days a week, and I'm typically up at two in the morning."
Funston works from 2am to 7am each day, then spends the rest of his time caring for his three children, attending markets, and occasionally sleeping. The Connected Kitchen is something of a landing pad for his business after leaving Revolution Square and trying out two other spaces to bake in, including a seniors' home.
"I think this will be a really good foundation for us to kind of level out and see where we're at," he said. "I do have a very supportive group of customers, so we know that the sales will be there as long as we keep putting out good product. I'm pretty positive about it. It's the first time in a very long time that I feel like I've been positive about it."
Funston's ongoing headaches include negotiating with utility and telecommunication providers, plus a still-unsettled insurance claim for damages to the business caused by the flood. He added that his insurance contract was up for renewal post-flood, and the unnamed provider decided to "jack the rates up."
He said both the cost and general vibe of The Connected Kitchen is what has enticed him to join. And after the year he's had, he said he's interested in the mental health component of the business, too. He plans to participate in The Connected Kitchen's retail program when it launches, but probably won't operate as part of lunch service.
King of Tarts has a new line of croissant cups. They are shaped like muffins and hollow, allowing Funston to fill them with sandwich-like ingredients from suppliers that include Die Pie, For The Love Of Cheese - Vegan Cheezery, Fifth Gen Gardens, and even Frechette's Veg Head. King of Tarts retails at the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market, Felice Cafe, and Good Stock Foods in Edmonton, plus at Gratitude Coffee and Roasti Coffee Co. in Sherwood Park.