Calling all Cooks, Caterers, Chefs, and Food Manufacturers

Food Business Incubator Coming Soon to West Broadway Avenue – Summer 2010!

Calling all cooks, caterers, chefs, food manufacturers or producers!  If you’ve been looking for a licensed commercial kitchen to use to produce your product, look no further…    Catalyst, along with many partners is opening the Northside Community Kitchens & Café to serve food entrepreneurs in both North Minneapolis and the broader Twin Cities area.   The Kitchens will operate as a Food Business Incubator which will provide access to affordable, rentable commercial kitchen space as well as a one-stop-shop suite of services to enable food entrepreneurs to launch and grow their businesses.   Services that will be provided include:

· Rentable commercial kitchen space by the hour
· Small business planning support services
· Culinary arts and business related training and workshops
· Product development and distribution support
· Networking & Mentorship Opportunities

Our Incubator Kitchens and Café have a strong social mission to enable North Minneapolis “hidden food entrepreneurs” to launch and grow their businesses.  The goal here is to spur economic activity in North Minneapolis by creating jobs and opportunities for business ownership.  Accordingly, we will offer all of our services at significantly reduced rates to qualifying residents.  We will also offer job training in related food service industry positions to North Minneapolis residents via the Incubator Kitchens & Cafe.

Stay tuned for more details or call 612-877-4000 with questions.

2010

A new year is finally upon us, and believe it or not, we’re close to hitting the ground running!  That’s the wonderful thing here at Catalyst; we just move and don’t wait around for the grass to grow too long.  Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew, but for the most part, running ahead at the speed of light has proved to be more beneficial than not.

So as we start the new year, we have have had to become leaner and meaner than in the past due to the financial world around us.  Our plans are immense and our budget is tight, but prayerfully we can meet the needs of North Minneapolis.

Our commercial kitchen and cafe plans are moving forward again after a making some changes to the original design, and Camille is going to be sharing more on the progress of those programs in the near future.  5 Points, (the former Delisi’s Building), is also moving forward and the upstairs build-out for KMOJ-FM is going smoothly.  We would like an upscale hair salon to go upstairs as well!  Wouldn’t that be GREAT for the community!  If you know of anyone that may be looking to expand their current salon, tell them about West Broadway and the plans for this building.

Happy new year to all of you, and from the Catalyst team, we pray for a prosperous and healthy 2010.

Construction Update for 5 Points

While the weather outside is getting colder and colder, the temperature inside the new 5 Points building is just beginning to heat up.  The last couple of weeks have been “one step forward, two steps back”, but finally we’re on the right road.  SJ Morgan and the team from Norman Construction are so proud of their progress that they wanted me to share some great photos with all of you.  I can’t wait until we get to show this building off to each and every one of you!

A Week to Remember

It has been an amazing week at Catalyst Community Partners!  The team has been putting many hours in planning for the future, and we’re so excited to get 5 Points, (Delisi’s), constructed, leases signed, and doors open. If you haven’t seen, here’s what this beautiful building will look like:

The Future of Penn and West Broadway

To add to the week’s beauty, I was blessed to have met Jariland Spence from The Prayer Center.  I had heard she was a beautiful and amazing woman, however the words said about her didn’t do justice to the passion, beauty, and spirit that emanate from her.  She has worked on the Avenue since 1993 and has remained steadfast in her pursuit of goodness despite the day-to-day struggles of the environment.  She told me of a time when bullet holes penetrated the ceilings in her sewing shop and when the fighting of drug dealers next door frightened her to the point where she was ready to hit the floor in fear.

What makes her stay?  The same thing that drives all of us: HOPE.  Hope that one day in the not too distant future, West Broadway Avenue will be flourishing with businesses and that light will overtake darkness.  All it takes is determination of people like Jariland who presses on fighting for what is right and what is good.  Her goodness, like a pebble tossed in the pond, creates a ripple that stretches far beyond her store on the 800 block of West Broadway.  It touches the suburban housewife who stops to pray at The Prayer Center and the former crack addict who now is a volunteer at her thrift store, a productive and responsible member of society, not to mention a new husband and a reclaimed father.

Jariland’s pebble has created a ripple effect throughout NoMi, the greater Twin Cities area, and possibly beyond.  Who knows how many lives she has positively affected and how many of those have paid it forward as well?  What an amazing thought!

How can I be more like Jariland?  How can I keep dropping my pebble making ripples of change?  What about you?  What can you do today to drop your pebble and “be a Jariland?”

5 Points Update, (Delisi’s)

Construction is moving ahead as planned at the old Delisi’s Restaurant in North Minneapolis.  A TON of demolition has been done already and structural modifications are starting.  Here’s a glimpse inside…

Check back here every week for more updates on 5 Points!  We’re looking so forward to sharing the building’s progress with all of you!