La Cocina

La Cocina

A community space for chefs to learn and grow

by: Cary Wong

La Cocina is an organization born to support a community of talented, natural entrepreneurs. They aim to provide hopeful chefs/owners an affordable commercial kitchen space, industry-specific technical assistance, and access to market opportunities. It is both the space—a modern building and commercial kitchen—and the program—an innovative business incubator—that supports a growing roster of small businesses.

In particular, a lot of their focus is on helping immigrants and low-income women entrepreneurs achieve their culinary goals. Even though many of them are skilled cooks for their families or have had exposure to professional kitchens, they still suffer from a lack of opportunities in the formal foodservice industry.

La Cocina started in 2005 and has helped launch the careers of nationally-known chefs such as Reem Assil of Reem’s and Nite Yun of Nyum Bai. They also have multiple initiatives, including the publication of We Are La Cocina, a cookbook that features a collection of recipes from its participants.

Their new venture is La Cocina Municipal Marketplace food hall, which opened in the spring of 2021. Located in the Tenderloin neighborhood, it blends in with the other small informal businesses that serve the community.

This 7,000 square-foot establishment houses seven partners, serving Creole (Boug Cali), El Salvadorean (Estrellita’s Snacks), Algerian (Kayma), Mexican (Los Cilantros and Mi Morena), and Senegalese (Teranga) cuisines, as well as an artisan coffee shop (Fluid Cooperative Cafe).

People are going to see this space and hope it’s not another gentrifying establishment,” says its manager, Jay Foster. “We are here to be part of this community. This corner, more than most in this city, needs as much help as it can get from a community standpoint.

Read more at https://issuu.com/rareluxuryliving/docs/troora_san_francisco_2021_pages/162