Thick and heavy in colours

Kate Djupe loves to cook and entertain, and she's also passionate about supporting like-minded entrepreneurial spirits. Her new project, The Commissary, is set to open in Columbus, Ohio, by October, and aims to make starting a food business less risky and stressful hong kong company registration.
The Commissary boasts a 2,000-square-foot certified commercial kitchen, and you can rent space and equipment by the day, says Djupe. Hourly rentals are also available, and cooks can even try out professional kitchen equipment to see if they like it before buying their own.
Other services include food truck space, rental classrooms, storage for food businesses, and financial and legal assistance.

We asked Djupe about the inspiration for The Commissary. Would you believe it stemmed from demands for baby food and a craving for fried chicken. Confused?! Read on.
So, what inspired you to set up The Commissary?
Inspiration first struck thanks to, of all things, baby food. When my first son was born seven years ago, I made all of his baby food with ingredients from my favorite farms. When other people showed an interest in buying it, I looked into selling the food at farmer's markets.
However, I quickly learned that regulations require all frozen foods to be prepared and stored in a commercial kitchen. I reached out to local restaurants, and couldn't find any that were willing to let me rent space in the off-hours. A light bulb flickered on, and the plans for The Commissary started to form.
There's so much risk involved in starting a restaurant or a food truck or any food business. The cost of entry is very high. I'm hoping I can help people find out if it's what they actually want to do before they make that leap, and give them a safe place to keep trying new things and growing <University Fellow.
What's your own background?
My story is long and winding, but a common thread is an understanding for and appreciation of how food can bring people together. When I got my first apartment in college, I established a tradition of hosting Monday Night Dinners with friends. We would split the cost of groceries, and I would cook. There were new and familiar faces gathering around that table once a week for several years.
Much later, after restaurant kitchen stints and culinary school and a graduate degree and a husband and two kids, I returned to that idea of bringing people together over food. My husband and I continued variations of the Monday Night Dinners from my college years: friends would regularly come over for Family Meal and then there was CMH Dinner Club.
How that community supper club group came together is a funny story. One day I tweeted out that I was craving Thomas Keller's fried chicken, but it was a lot of work for something my vegetarian husband wouldn't eat -- did anyone want to join me? Twenty-four people I had not ever met in real life showed up at my house with lots of great food on hand, and that was the start of CMH Dinner Club. We had the best themes and people coming together for those dinners -- it was hard to set aside when it got too big for all of our homes. Hopefully we can bring it back at The Commissary.
Did you wish there was a Commissary when you were starting out?
Well, of course having access to a commercial kitchen space would've made things easier. When I was in culinary school, I had dreams of opening a butcher shop that would make stocks, sausages, and basic mise en place out of local ingredients. I wanted chefs and farmers and produce companies to be able to experiment in that space. Life got in the way of that particular dream, but having access to a place like The Commissary may have made it achievable .
However, everything I've learned along the way, everyone I've met along the way has influenced what The Commissary will be, and the various voids it should fill. I'm excited for the opportunity to bring this incarnation of my vision to life for my community.
Is Columbus a foodie city?
It's an exciting time to be a foodie in Columbus. We have a rapidly growing local restaurant scene, and incredible access to local meats, cheeses, and produce. I believe The Commissary will give some of our most talented chefs the support they need to bring our city's next generation of restaurant concepts to life.
Columbus is a very entrepreneurial city, both in terms of our people supporting local startup businesses as well as small business owners supporting each other and collaborating rather than competing. Having a space like The Commissary, where we'll encourage playing around in the kitchen and bouncing ideas off each other, is just going to amplify that spirit of camaraderie.
Do you already have local entrepreneurs interested?
Absolutely. We have a long list of local entrepreneurs who have expressed interest even before we've opened our doors. We generally see one of two situations: People who are sticking a toe in the water to see if this idea they have can be successful, or businesses that already exist but are looking to scale up. We will be able to help during those transition times.
We have food trucks who will use The Commissary for storage and as a base camp for operations. We have caterers who want to use the space for cooking, and restaurants who want to use the space so they can begin to offer catering services.
We have chefs who will use our space for cooking classes and as a test kitchen, a place to try out new menu items or experiment with new methods. We have farmers who will be able to extend their own seasons by using our facility to process fruits and vegetables into products they can sell the whole year round.
Why do you think more people want to set up their own food or drink businesses these days?
I don't necessarily know that there's more interest than before, but I do know that the best food makers out there should be encouraged to pursue their ideas with much less risk than there is now.
People who have the most potential to launch great food businesses are often the people who are least prepared for the business end. We don't want that business end to kill their drive to create something wonderful. There are so many ways to fail before you get that first bite into someone's mouth.
After you're up and running, any other plans in the works?
We see so many ways for The Commissary to continue to evolve! We recognize there are a lot of opportunities to improve the food pipeline in Ohio, to begin to put in place the infrastructure needed to create a true sustainable local food system.
We also have plans to continue to find ways to help our entrepreneurs grow beyond The Commissary. We don't foresee any business using this space forever. The goal is to help them grow up and grow out.