New East Harlem community kitchen a sweet opportunity, city says

A shared kitchen space for culinary entrepreneurs has opened inside La Marqueta, an East Harlem marketplace located on Park Avenue between 111th and 116th streets, city officials announced today. The 3,000-square-foot kitchen incubator, known as HBK Incubates, is designed to help small cooking businesses transition from working in home kitchens to professional facilities. “This kitchen incubator will provide the ingredients to help our local food entrepreneurs turn their passion for cooking into thriving businesses,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who attended the incubator’s unveiling today. A statement from the New York City Economic Development Corporation — which supported the installation of the incubator — did not indicate how much the installation of the kitchen cost. In addition to traditional cooking spaces, the incubator includes a chocolate kitchen, a dough room and cold storage facilities. TRD