GRANT PARTNER IMPACT STORY
La Cocina CULTIVATING FOOD ENTREPRENEURS CIRCLE: GLOBAL ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
THE ISSUE There are many obstacles that prevent entrepreneurs from creating successful and sustainable small businesses. In particular, the food industry has a notoriously high cost of entry which includes fees for licensed and insured commercial kitchen space, start-up costs to open a restaurant, and competition for shelf space at specialty stores and large retailers. Such restrictive barriers to entry often discourage burgeoning food entrepreneurs from launching businesses.
THE MISSION La Cocina is a ground-breaking business incubator that provides commercial kitchen space and technical assistance to lowincome entrepreneurs who are launching, growing, and formalizing food businesses.
SNAPSHOT GRANT TERM:
2009-10
LA COCINA HAS 30
BUSINESSES IN THE PROGRAM AND
82 FORMAL
EMPLOYMENT POSITIONS AT THOSE BUSINESSES
318 LOW-INCOME ENTREPRENEURS
HAVE
BENEFITED FROM ORIENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS
SINCE FULL CIRCLE FUND INVESTED IN 2009, LA COCINA
$800K ORGANIZATION TO $2M GREW FROM AN
The organization provides a platform for motivated entrepreneurs, many who are low-income women of color, to hone their skills and successfully transition into the highly regulated and competitive food industry.
THE PROJECT La Cocina sought Full Circle Fund’s assistance in scaling its existing program and positioning itself as a model incubator for replication.
THE WORK Full Circle Fund team members conducted a strategic analysis of La Cocina’s structure and helped the organization reconsider many fundamental aspects of its programs. The team uncovered ways to strengthen the graduation curriculum and the program overall by addressing barriers and disincentives to success.
“Through Full Circle Fund’s partnership, we implemented changes that made our programming better and our delivery stronger.”
Members helped identify innovative microfinance resources to increase entrepreneurs’ access to capital. They also evaluated how La Cocina could further its growth while protecting its unique niche and intellectual property. The team’s recommendations are helping La Cocina launch more successfullygraduated businesses, enabling them to move through program more quickly and allowing the organization to handle more businesses in the program overall. The team’s findings have also resulted in better allocation of staff and volunteer resources and ensured that La Cocina will have more reliable partnerships moving forward.
“Full Circle Fund gave us a unique opportunity to brainstorm and execute in a way that we never had before. The results were significant, and the changes are evident in our program today.” - Caleb Zigas Executive Director La Cocina
Full Circle Fund is an engaged philanthropy organization cultivating the next generation of community leaders and driving lasting social change in the Bay Area. We recruit top leaders from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, and empower them to leverage their experience, connections, and financial resources to benefit innovative social entrepreneurs and organizations. www.fullcirclefund.org