Incubator Hatches Small Businesses

Cooks are shown working at one of the four bays inside the professional kitchen at the Queens Economic Development Corporation’s Entrepreneur Space in Long Island City. As the nation continues to look for solutions to the ongoing economic crisis, the Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) is trying to help aspiring entrepreneurs get off the ground by offering the tools they need at affordable rates to grow their small businesses.

The QEDC operates a business incubator in Long Island City known as “Entrepreneur Space,” offering a temporary base for fledgling small businesses to produce goods or offer services without having to spend a fortune on office or retail space and equipment.

Kathrine Gregory, founder of Entrepreneur Space and a consultant, guided the Times Newsweekly on a tour of the facility, which includes a state-of-the-art professional kitchen as well as several conference rooms and a computer classroom with 15 computer terminals.

The Entrepreneur Space is located at 36-46 37th St. in Long Island City. The kitchen is the centerpiece of the entire Long Island City facility. Up to four separate businesses can work eight-hour shifts at bays within the cooking space, which offers large-scale convection ovens, mixers and other kinds of equipment found at commercial kitchens or bakeries. There is also a separate, air conditioned cooking area for the production of chocolate and gluten-free products.

Businesses pay $189 for an eighthour kitchen shift from 4:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., $231 for a shift from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. and $154 for the overnight shift from 1 to 7:30 a.m. Gregory noted that the shifts are offered on a “pay-as-you-go” system, as each business is charged only for the shifts they work rather than a flat monthly rate.

Kathrine Gregory, founder of the Entrepreneur Space, stated that the Long Island City facility offers small businesses a venue to launch themselves without making major investments in equipment and production space. Most of the people who come to the Entrepreneur Space have other jobs and are in the process of developing their own small businesses on the side, Gregory stated. The facility allows them to operate their businesses without having to spend thousands of dollars each month on storefront spaces which they may only use sparingly.

“We’re giving them the opportunity to start a business without an intense financial outlay,” she told the Times Newsweekly in an interview. “We’ve got the basics; they have to get the rest.”

Citing one success story, she noted Bocce’s Bakery, a Manhattanbased dog treat business which founder Andrea Tovar created out of her home. She started by creating dog biscuits which were sold online, but could only create as many as 10 dozen biscuits at a time with her kitchen oven.

Gregory noted that the Entrepreneur Space kitchen enabled Tovar to expand her dog biscuit production exponentially, completing between 105 and 110 dozen treats per shift. Using other resources offered by the QEDC—including business counseling and networking with larger businesses— Bocce’s Bakery was able to secure contracts with retailers to sell their products.

“Eventually, she’ll get big enough that she’s going to leave here and get a larger manufacturer” to produce dog treats, Gregory stated. She went on to noted that the incubator allows for a “symbiotic relationship” between small businesses and the QEDC to help them grow from parttime producers into full-time manufacturers.

“It’s a relationship that assists everybody at every stage,” she said. “If there’s something that we can’t do, we find someone who can.”

The Entrepreneur Space was launched in May 2010 and QEDC became its official partner the fol- lowing September. Businesses must form a legal entity, acquire insurance and sign a six-month contract (which can be renewed as needed) in order to use the facility.

By using the Entrepreneur Space, Gregory estimated, a small food business could get itself started with as little as $10,000 in capital. Though the facility has helped businesses get themselves on solid economic footing, she acknowledged that others have not been as lucky.

“Somebody who fails here is also going to get an understanding of how to do it again in a better manner,” she said, noting that the QEDC has business counselors to advise fledgling entrepreneurs on how to change their concept and make another attempt at launching their business in the future.

For more information on the Entrepreneur Space, visit www.queensny.org/entrepreneur_ space or call 1-718-392-0025.