NEON Collective Kitchens serves up a truly grand opening
A second-floor view of the food court at the NEON Collective Kitchens. There are five retail kitchens overlooking the food court that can seat up to 140. Photo by David Pierini
By David Pierini, Editor
Mercedes Stevenson built a respectable catering business out of a shared kitchen in Hopkins, but it left her feeling cut off from her own community in North Minneapolis.
That all changed in April, when she became the first tenant to rent a front-facing retail kitchen in the food hall of NEON Collective Kitchens, a lustrous, state-of-the-art facility built to jumpstart the careers of aspiring food entrepreneurs.
More of the public got a taste of Stevenson’s Sadie Mae’s Comfort Food menu, which includes salmon and ox tail, on May 21, when the Northside Economic Opportunity Network hosted an open house to show off its $22 million incubator on West Broadway Avenue.
“This is amazing,” said Stevenson, who grew up in Kansas City and moved to the Northside 15 years ago. “I’ve been a hidden gem for four years, and this space has given me the opportunity to be exposed to more customers.”
The facility opened debt-free and is one of the largest shared kitchen facilities in the country, according to NEON President Warren McLean. Dozens of people, including shared kitchen operators from other states, came to eat and tour the spotless kitchens with dream appliances.
The NEON kitchens are partially patterned after a large facility in Chicago, with one exception. The Hatchery in
Chicago is in a nondescript building where passersby may not know what goes on inside.
The Northside Economic Opportunity Network raised $22 million and opened the collective kitchens this spring, debt free. Photo by David Pierini
NEON leadership came away from a tour of the Hatchery wanting the Collective Kitchens to have the allure of potential wealth. It is a remarkable piece of architecture with floor-to-ceiling windows that deliver natural light onto a food court that seats more than 140.
“The structure was intended to be inviting,” McLean said. “We wanted people to come here. We wanted to be
a destination. One of our beliefs is that we want to change the Northside from a drive-through to a destination, and this is, we think, a component of that.”
In addition to the five retail kitchens on the first floor, the Collective Kitchens has 11 shared kitchens with enough cooking and prep room shelf space and cold storage to accommodate dozens of businesses at once, said Director of Operations Felipe Galvin.
Galvin said there are currently 30 food businesses operating out of the shared kitchens. Some prepare for catering jobs, others will rent a shelf or cold storage.
One pizza business uses a consumer-packaged-goods kitchen to vacuum-pack and freeze pizzas for sale in stores, while another cooks different recipes as it builds out its menu. The kitchens are also popular with a growing number of food trucks.
One NEON board member was irked by the $4,000 monthly cost of leasing one of the five retail kitchens. That board member, KB Brown, worried the price would be out of reach for Northsiders, the very people the kitchen was created to serve.
McClean defended the price based on a market study NEON conducted, which showed it was slightly below market for Minneapolis kitchen spaces.
Galvin said the facility offers a range of rental prices and membership options to fit food entrepreneurs’ budgets. Some rent only refrigeration space or use the kitchen occasionally.
NEON’s Patrick Wilson demonstrates a tipping fryer during an open house tour on May 21. Photo by David Pierini
The base rental prices average about $40 an hour with no charge for utilities or mundane yet costly items, such as soap for washing dishes, Galvin said.
State-of-the-art storage, mixers, a high-volume dishwasher, stoves, ovens, and a large tipping fryer are included in every membership level.
For those just getting started, NEON helps aspiring food professionals learn the steps needed to thrive in the space.
“It brings me joy just to know this is in our community,” said Caprice Wilson,
who used the NEON kitchens to prepare food as the caterer during the open
house. “It’s really important to be able to have entrepreneurs feel like they have an outlet that feels like their vision is coming to life. I started out small, and you can feel defeated when you don’t have that
support. There’s just a lot of thought and feeling behind this.”
Stevenson would serve food twice a week when she was in Hopkins. Now
she is developing a better feel for what a restaurant is like by operating from her new space, Wednesday through Sunday.
Business, she said, has been good.
Reporter Azhae’la Hanson contributed to this report.