Tale of the Tape: Center for Culinary Enterprises
The Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises, the new food incubator from the Enterprise Center, was ceremonially opened just last week at 48th and Spruce Streets. As Philly.com and HiddenCity are reporting, the large property will be home to multiple commercial kitchens for food entrepreneurs and small business to use in order to launch or accelerate their businesses. State of the art equipment and high tech facilities mean Philly has a breeding ground for its next generation of food industry leaders.
The Team
- Della Clark: president of the Enterprise Center which created the Center for Culinary Enterprises (CCE)
- Dorrance Hamilton: philanthropist and Campbell’s Soup heiress, contributed a grant to the center which is named after her
- Delilah Winder: CCE Director, chef, and former owner of Delilah’s in the Reading Terminal
The Space
- 13,000 square foot LEED Certified building
- Four full commercial kitchens, two traditional and two baking, with:
- Stainless steel counters
- Top quality gas stoves
- Walk in refrigerators
- Cold, dry, and freezer storage
- Commercial stand mixers
- Locker rooms and showers
- Loading spaces
- Space for business meetings
- eKitchen Multimedia Center with:
- Camera-ready kitchen for demonstrations and photo shoots
- Space for community workshops
- Ability to air workshops and other public programming
The Services
- 13 full-time, and 32 part-time, culinary professionals, administrative and janitorial staff
- Retail Resource Network for developing business plans
- Business coaching services
- Hourly kitchen rentals available 24/7 to members
- The CCE hopes to annually:
- Launch or accelerate at least 10 small businesses
- Train 100 high school students in restaurant and hospitality management
- Place 50 people in local culinary jobs
The Food
The CCE also houses three independent retail spaces for restaurants, two of which are already leased to:
- Lahori Cuisine, a Pakistani restaurant
- Café Injera, Ethiopian cuisine
The Center for Culinary Enterprises will be open for business this month and will be opening its kitchen rental service via philafood.net shortly.
The Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises
310 S. 48th Street
Philadelphia PA 19143
215-895-4014
