Host Utica creates space to help launch new restaurateurs

Also includes venues for events, co-working

JAY DAVIS

Chef Michael Murabito has worked in a lot of di erent settings over the last 13 years. Now he is setting himself up to run his own restaurant.

Murabito is starting a two-month run at Host Utica, a restaurant, co-working and events space that opened in September at 7759 Auburn Road in the Macomb County city’s downtown. It’s the brainchild of 36-year-old entrepreneur and Realtor Michael Ivkov.

Ivkov’s goal is to give chefs and small business owners a setup to help push them to the next level.

Ivkov ran a food truck, Stockyard Detroit, for two years, hosting vecourse, 16-person pop-up dinners in various spots around downtown Detroit with a chef friend.

e opportunity those venues gave Ivkov is what led him to establish Host Utica.

“I had a lot of people take a chance on me and I know how much it meant to me and my future,” Ivkov said.

“ at’s what this is all about. A lot of the chefs who come through here are food truck chefs, private chefs, second line chefs at restaurants.

ey’re at the point where they want to start their own spot, or they’re an executive chef at a restaurant but they don’t own the restaurant themselves, and now they want to own their own spot.” e restaurant part of the business has a rotating roster of chefs who essentially serve a residency there with a goal of moving on to their own space.

Host is a great place to test one’s mettle as a chef, according to Murabito. Sitting chefs at Host hire their own kitchen sta , while Ivkov handles front of house management.

Each visiting chef keeps 70 percent of the money made from food sales. Along with hiring and paying sta , the chefs are also responsible for food costs.

“You really learn a lot from being here, even if it’s only for a little bit,” the 33-year-old Murabito said. “I’m nding my voice as a chef and manager right now. is helps you get much more comfortable with hiring and running a kitchen. You nd out what people like, too. I’m looking to use these next couple of months as a showcase to show people what I can do.”

Inviting space

What amounts to an internship for the chefs comes in a strong setting.

e ground- oor, wide-open, bright, 3,000-square-foot restaurant area o ers seating for 90, which includes spaces at a bar Ivkov believes rivals those at some downtown Detroit hot spots.

e 3,800-square-foot second lev- el is home to co-working and event spaces. Host Utica offers dedicated office space for small business owners at $800 a month while a larger corner office runs $1,100 a month. Dedicated desk space is available for $250 a month. Communal space, which includes about 25 high-top seats at a bar and seating in a space also used for events, is available for $150 a month. Daily drop-in access is offered for $29. A conference room in the 10,000-square-foot building’s mezzanine is available for $100 an hour. Photographers can hold photo shoots in the space for $50 an hour.

“We look at this similar to what WeWork does,” Ivkov said. “It’s a great way for small business owners to have a place to conduct business but not have to go out of their way to do it. It’s like the chef program; we’re all about giving people a chance to do something they’re passionate about.” e event space, on the south side of the second oor away from the co-working spaces, is available for wedding and baby showers and other happenings and can accommodate up to 120 guests. SamRose Entertainment, which puts on the Traverse City Comedy Fest, on April 19 will kick o a monthly comedy series at Host.

“I think this area is starved for something like this. It’s similar to what they o er at Mark Ridley’s (Comedy Castle),” Ivkov said.

See HOST UTICA on Page 14