Kyle
The first food industry startup incubator the “Startup Kitchen” is the brainchild of Washington DC restauranteur Kera Carpenter. She opened Domku an East European influenced restaurant in the revitalizing neighborhood of Pentworth in the district in 2005. It was overcoming the difficulties of not only starting here own business, but a restaurant at that, that inspired Carpenter to team up with Think Local First DC to create the “Startup Kitchen”.
Now we’re not talking a show you would see on the food network, we are talking about full on restaurant idea businesses. The food startup founders were narrowed down to three finalists which will pitch on July 18th. The winner selected out of the finalists will have six weeks to work on their concept with the help of mentors, and then Carpenter will donate space for the winner to open up a “Pop up restaurant” once a week in Domku’s space at 821 Upshur Street NW in Pentworth.
Hopefully after the six week period and then the pop up restaurant period that entrepreneur will be able to transition their startup to their own space in the district.
The three finalists, as reported by the Washington Business Journal are:
Worthwhile Meats and Provisions founded by Julien Shapiro. Her business idea is a specialty butcher shop showcasing the whole animal.
Chaya, a restaurant concept focused on cuisines featuring plants, legumes and whole grains. This is the idea of Bettina Stern and Zusanne Simon.
DC Dosa, a restaurant idea that would serve Dosa’s which are south Indian pancake snacks. Their plan is to serve them late night and at lunchtime. Think along the lines of crepe stands.
The three semi-finalists will pitch next Wednesday and the winners will be announced on Friday the 20th. That’s a big week for startups in DC as the 20th is also pitch day for TechStars Patriot Bootcamp.
Linkage:
Here’s the Startup Kitchen blog
Source: Washington Business Journal 1 2
Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” here are more stories from “everywhere else”
We’re sneaker-strapping our nationwide startup roadtrip, care to help us out?
