Spice Happenings - Enrolling a New Cohort

Twice a year, Spice Kitchen Incubator staff interview and enroll a new cohort of food entrepreneurs who aspire to share their culinary traditions with the community. One year ago, the team was preparing orientation with their first COVID-19 cohort - of which most entrepreneurs have experienced only a few in-person meetings and trainings over the past 12 months. In October, a smaller-than-normal cohort was enrolled. Now, with many applications, we're excited to enroll what we hope will be a full cohort of entrepreneurs!

Spice Happenings - Entrepreneurs Prepare for Greater Reach of Products

Due to the ever-changing COVID-19 regulations, many food entrepreneurs are exploring new avenues to reach customers. Several entrepreneurs in the Spice Kitchen Incubator program are developing packaged products to pitch to retailers, restaurants, and e-commerce sites.

Spice Happenings - Virtual Round Table Wraps Up

Saturday, February 27th marked the fifth annual (and first virtual) Food Entrepreneur Round Table hosted by Spice Kitchen Incubator. With nearly 100 individuals registered across 12 U.S. states, Europe, and Canada, and presented in 5 different languages, this was by far our largest Round Table yet!

Spice Happenings - Spice Kitchen Incubator Receives Blue Plate Award

This year [Spice Kitchen Incubator’s Spice To Go], already an essential resource for refugees, became, well, even more essential. When coming to this country, refugees often have nothing but a few clothes and their cooking skills; Spice helps these displaced people find their financial feet again by sharing their culture and food. With COVID restrictions limiting dine-in service and the incubator’s event catering program, Spice-to-Go became the focus, allowing the kitchen to keep sharing international food experiences serving Utah’s vulnerable refugee community.

Each year, Salt Lake Magazine editors honor growers, food evangelists, grocers, servers, bakers, chefs, bartenders and restaurateurs with the Blue Plate Awards. A Blue Plate Award is given to an establishment or an individual who has done more than put good food on the table. They’ve created culture, made acts of kindness and education and are paragons of service that goes beyond.

Spice Happenings - Entrepreneurs Learn Tax Processes

Spice Kitchen Incubator hosted a 2-part virtual sales & use tax workshop with business owners last month. Many entrepreneurs hoped to learn more so they could do their own filing in the future, and one entrepreneur even asked if there would be more financial workshops in the future to continue to develop and understand the complexities behind the US tax system.

Spice Happenings - Workshop Series Supports Independent Entrepreneurs

Over the course of late December, Spice Kitchen Incubator ran a 5-session workshop series entitled “How to Sell Your Own Food Box," covering topics such as permitting, social media marketing, and food photography.

Spice Happenings - Wrapping Up A Tumultuous Year

Spice Kitchen Incubator provides incredibly important services to entrepreneurs in our community, helping them grow their businesses while increasing the diversity of cuisines available to foodies across the Wasatch Front. Our efforts every day are only made possible through generous donations in support of our work.

Officially Enrolling Cohort 11

The Spice Kitchen Incubator team has recently completed orientation for the enrollment of our eleventh cohort, and we couldn't be more excited to get these entrepreneurs' cuisines out to you!

Some of the upcoming businesses include: tamales, savory Syrian treats, Afghani desserts, Moroccan dinners, and traditional tea parties!