Food entrepreneurs will soon have a new resource in north Minneapolis: a more conveniently located commercial kitchen.
Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON) broke ground on the site of its collective kitchen space last week. For entrepreneurs including food truck owners and caterers, the upcoming commercial kitchen space means closer, more affordable space to prepare food.
Forty percent of NEON’s clients are food entrepreneurs, said Warren McClean, NEON’s chief executive officer.
“Our clients will no longer have to drive three hours one way to Wisconsin for commercial kitchen space, as Michael Feng currently does,” McLean added.
Feng and his wife, Michelle Wang, run BianDang, a food truck serving Taiwanese bian dang, which are boxed meals of meat and vegetables, served over a bed of rice. Bian dang are a staple of the Taiwanese railroad, which was further developed and expanded under the 50-year Japanese occupation of the island from 1895 to 1945. Bian dang, or bento, as the Japanese referred to them, were sold in train stations all over Taiwan as a convenient meal option, Feng said.
The truck also serves wheel cakes, a Taiwanese dessert made of pancake-like batter over various fillings.
“Every time we (left) school (in Taiwan), there (was) a small vendor outside the school. So we (would) ask our mom or our parents, ‘Can we get some wheel cake for dessert?’” Wang said. The cakes, Wang added, have led to repeat customers at the Minnesota Farmer’s Market, who ask whether the treats will be at the Minnesota State Fair in the future.
Feng’s own goal for BianDang is to eventually grow into a fast casual chain restaurant along the lines of Chipotle or Panda Express. A crucial part of growing the business, however, is having the space to prepare ingredients for the food truck, like crispy popcorn chicken, pickled radish and sweet-and-savory Taiwanese grilled sausage.
Commercial kitchen space was already scarce before the pandemic and the 2020 uprising following George Floyd’s murder. The Kindred Kitchen, run by Appetite for Change, had been a space for food entrepreneurs, McClean said, including NEON clients, to prepare food for their businesses in North Minneapolis. But the events of 2020 led to Appetite for Change pivoting its business model, resulting in a lack of kitchen space, he said.
Related: North Minneapolis nonprofit Appetite for Change publishes cookbook
“(NEON’s commercial kitchen incubator is) going to provide a closer proximity commercial kitchen (that is) hopefully, more easily accessible and budget friendly,” said Feng, who added that traveling to Wisconsin for kitchen space had been the lowest-cost option.
Another business ready to utilize NEON’s space is K’s Revolutionary Catering and More, which offers catering services with a variety of options, along with locally brewed “Stay Well” tonic with antioxidants and antiviral properties.
Chef K Taylor and Mariam Omari, the co-founders of K’s, said they have focused their operations on “real food” instead of “manufactured or processed food.” For example, Chef Taylor uses whole potatoes instead of potato powder. Taylor and Omari worked in the food industry for many years, but were unsatisfied with the use of what Omari calls “fluff” – preservatives and filler ingredients. Their menu is inclusive and wide-ranging, with gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian options, along with foods from various cultures. The most popular item, however, is a staple of Omari’s childhood: maharagwe, an East African dish of red beans simmered in ginger and coconut milk, along with various spices.
“Meat eaters and plant based people alike love it,” Taylor said.
“It really adheres to a lot of cultures,” Omari added. “Everybody has red beans and rice no matter where you come from. And the coconut milk really infuses Asian, East Indian (and) African cultures and then the beans (and) some of those spices really adhere to our Latin and African American friends. This meal is a gatherer.”
While Taylor and Omari do not want to make K’s a restaurant, they are eager to utilize the commercial kitchen as a means to expand their ventures and also have a space to teach and help other food business owners “avoid the bumps in the road.”
“This will be an opportunity for us to be a little closer to our supporters and people that we support,” Omari said.
Once the commercial kitchen space is fully operational, it will support 265 jobs in north Minneapolis, along with space for K’s Revolutionary Catering and BianDang to expand in the ways they want to. At the core of both businesses, however, is the same desire – to give their customers good, delicious food.
“I wanna stay true to authentic Taiwanese food because that’s the food that I ate growing up. And I want people to be able to try and enjoy the same authentic (food) that I had,” Feng said.
“When we have our guests (or) any of our clients, regardless of whoever’s in their party, we wanna really make sure that everybody feels like they’re breaking bread together,” Omari said.
Deanna Pistono
Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.
