For Tamara Burman, building event space and incubator the 40 South Main St. Kitchen was just as much a venture benefitting its home base (Woonsocket) as it was for food-focused entrepreneurs.
“There’s definitely a need for something reignited in downtown Woonsocket, to get people to the city to see the beautiful things we have going on here,” said Burman, the health, business, and cultural activator for NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley. “What’s happened over so many years is that people have left the city; there’s lots of vacant retail spaces on Main Street.”
It was this need to repopulate downtown Woonsocket that inspired NW BRV and the Community Development Corporation to pursue something new. After researching growing trends in the region, it became clear that entrepreneurs needed help with their food businesses.
The 40 South Main St. Kitchen was born.
While Burman acknowledged that a kitchen incubator model was nothing new, big picture (she name-checked the Warren, Rhode Island-based business, Hope & Main, which has a similar concept), developers felt that for Woonsocket, the combination could be particularly powerful.
“By putting this kitchen here, we’d reignite economic development,” Burman said. It would be a sort of chain-reaction from there. “People establish their businesses; they’d stay here in northern Rhode Island; continue to scale; [get their] own production space … ” The benefits go on and on.
The space itself is sort of an apartment complex/coworking/kitchen/event spot hybrid. “It was purchased by my organization, completely gutted and redeveloped,” Burman said. “It was formally a hardware store, and an office was here at one point.”
Ultimately, however, “it’s an event space that really connects to the kitchen if people want to do different events or what have you, and get the community engaged as well.”
The 40 South Main St. Kitchen doesn’t just want to be a shell, but also a resource so budding entrepreneurs can have assistance growing their businesses. And while the 40 South Main St. Kitchen hasn’t been aggressively marketing for participants, it’s already gotten quite a bunch, and is working to onboard a few more.
Those interested must have a certain level of establishment before they can work through the on-boarding process, Burman said. That means coming ready with an approved business and financial plan, along with the appropriate certifications and insurance. While there’s no “type” of entrepreneur the kitchen has in mind for its ideal member, a certain amount of grit doesn’t hurt.
Indeed, current members are tough. “They have to be internally driven, really motivated,” Burman said. After all, without an official launch acknowledging its presence, the entrepreneurs had to proactively reach out to Burman herself. “They have found me and worked so hard to get to this point to work out of a commercial kitchen,” she added.
Collaborative spirit is also key. “Generally, incubators and accelerators [are about giving] opportunity for everyone to benefit,” Burman said. In the food industry, that’s even more important, she continued. “You can’t have one type of food that dominates the community; people like the variety. … You can’t just be dessert — you need somebody who makes meals.”
That attitude has inspired innovators within the kitchen and Rhode Islanders outside it. “It’s fun to watch people connect and share resources,” Burman said, adding that currently, a handful of different dessert-focused foodie entrepreneurs have been taking up the space.
As for the community? “I think there’s been a lot of curiosity, to be honest with you,” Burman said. Woonsocket is “really receptive, really interested in what’s happening; the kitchen has been well-received,” she added.
Keeping that up into the future, Burman said, is dependent on those who engage with the 40 South Main St Kitchen. “It’s really driven on the members — if it’s not relevant for our members, it’s not going to work,” she continued. “We’re not just a stand-alone kitchen; [we’re also] helping small businesses." With the 40 South Main St. Kitchen, "you’re part of something bigger, and we want people to get excited about it.”
And that's not all. At the end of the day? “[We’re] doing good things for our city,” Burman said.
