Tenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Community kitchens have received much attention in the literature yet their use for commercial purposes by small scale food producers/ processors are under-reported. The purpose of this project is to understand the role played by Commercial Community Kitchens (CCK) in Manitoba. CCK are a type of innovation space where small-scale food business owners develop product ideas and process raw materials into finished products. Primary data collection was undertaken using semi-structured interviews with ten small-scale food business owners who produce and/or process a variety of food products (e.g. kombucha drinks, hummus, almond butter spreads, and gluten-free perogies). Results indicated that the frequency of CCK use for these food products ranges from seasonal yearly use to periodic year-round use. Some business owners stopped using particular CCK, combine the use of CCK with other facilities, or use more than one CCK. Some have stopped using CCK because space, storage, tools, equipment, or resources were not adequate to their needs or the rental cost was too high. The main reason for using a CCK was due to the need for a government certified CCK, which meets the health standards and regulations of Manitoba, to commercialize food products. Based on business owner interviews the research suggests that CCK can improve their services by increasing storage space, providing relevant tools and equipment for their users, and implementing programs to build user capacity of the kitchen facilities and equipment.