Kitchen Nation brings together entrepreneurs, service providers, authorities, knowledge and experience with the aim of helping food startups get going. It is an environment that provides support to help get your idea to fruition and into the market place.
Dubai is a buzzing metropolis with over 200 different nationalities. With so much heritage and culture carried over by the expatriate community, Dubai has untapped culinary potential in its residents, just waiting to be discovered. Kitchen Nation gives food prenuers that extra nudge to take the first step into the culinary world.
As the first culinary incubator in Dubai, Kitchen Nation aims to give any great culinary idea a chance to materialize and grow. The model works when the space is shared by different food prenuers, giving each of them a chance to work in a professional environment accessing a fully-specced commercial kitchen, without having to start one of their own. Without the overheads and fixed costs associated with opening one’s own restaurant or shop, Kitchen Nation offers start-ups the chance to navigate the marketplace with minimal risks and small initial investments.
What or who is the inspiration behind your start-up?
A dream of owning a small food truck. After the dream became a reality and we got our truck, we realized the additional costs that entails it (mainly having to rent a separate prep kitchen just to operate the food truck) will make it unattainable to other people. Being stern believers in the sharing economy, the idea developed organically until it became what it is today, a Kitchen Incubator that helps people in their crucial first steps of their culinary journey.
Tell us why your business is the “best thing since sliced bread’
There is nothing more rewarding than helping other people make their dreams come true, is there?
What is your favourite dish in the menu? Why?
We’re not exactly a restaurant, so we don’t cook our own dishes. Yet our members come up with special things all the time, and its hard to mention them all. Last one that made an impression? A braised short-rib taco with Korean sesame vinaigrette and cilantro sour cream wrapped in a beet-infused tortilla. A new member that will reveal him or herself very soon
Who is your hero in the restaurant business – the one that you aspire to be?
Harry Snyder (founder of In-N-Out)– he broke all the rules yet created something much bigger than just a burger. When food becomes part of your identity, this is when you realize its more than just fuel for your body.
What (lessons) have you learnt along the way that you would like to share with another foodpreneur?
If you truly believe in an idea you’re going to have to fight for it.. …so take a deep breath and prepare to go the distance.
Kitchen Nation
- Instagram & Twitter & Facebook ~ KitchenNationAE
- Find them at Lakeshore tower, Cluster Y, JLT
[Images provided by Kitchen Nation]