Abundance Kitchen & Market to help food startups launch in York

Abundance Kitchen & Market to help food startups launch in York

A new type of kitchen is taking shape inside a former catering business in York.

Abundance Kitchen & Market will give startup entrepreneurs a commercial kitchen to whip up their food creations. It will also offer a grocery store to sell locally made goods to the public.

"There's nothing like this in a pretty far range, which is kind of why we saw the need for it and wanted to fill that gap," said Bryan Busch, one of the owners.

Busch also owns the Bearded Egg, which sells handcrafted food, such as sourdough loaves, biscotti and beef tallow. He was given access to the kitchen and equipment in the same building, which was the reason the business scaled so quickly early on.

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The new business, located at 350 Rockdale Avenue in York, is expected to open toward the end of July.

When he and his wife, Bria, along with their partners, Devin and Chandler Gohn, purchased the 4,600-square-foot building, they wanted to revitalize it and offer the same opportunity they had been given. The name comes from the abundance of space they have to share.

Few shared kitchen incubators exist in the region. Yorkitchen is available to vendors at Central Market York, but it is maxed out and intends to send individuals to Abundance Kitchen, Busch said. Others are located near Lititz, Lancaster County, and Baltimore.

Makers can rent the commercial kitchen to produce goods

The commercial kitchen, which will be available round the clock, offers preparation tables, dry and cold storage, an 80-quart mixer, a 10-burner range, a 72-inch griddle, an oversized three-basket fryer, a traditional convection oven, and a combination steam-injection and convection oven.

Other items in the kitchen include a bread slicer, a pasta extruder, a dehydrator and a proofing box.

It will give makers access to equipment that may not be available to them, Busch said.

Abundance Kitchen offers a variety of monthly pricing options for makers getting started or building their business. Memberships provide benefits, such as a discounted hourly rate, priority scheduling, access to storage and onboarding support, which includes forming a limited liability company or obtaining a food license, Busch said.

For instance, individuals looking to bake holiday cookies for their family can rent the kitchen for $35 an hour as non-members.

Abundance Kitchen will ensure that makers receive their ServSafe certification. It is partnering with a local proctor who will offer the classes at the business, he said. Local restaurant employees could come to the place to undergo the certification as well.

Busch expects that many of the clients will be startups. Others will be looking to grow their businesses. Owners of food trucks who want to gain access to the city can use the kitchen as their preparation facility to meet the requirements.

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Micro grocery store to feature York County-made products

A specialty food store will be incorporated in a 400-square-foot space in the building.

Kitchen vendors will be able to sell their products in the market. It will also carry some staples to serve as a neighborhood grocery store, Busch said.

The market will be open six days a week. It will be closed on Sundays.

One of the ideas under consideration for the market is a family meal series on Thursday evenings, he said. The takeout specialty dinner would focus on a different theme each week. For instance, it could be pizza with salads.

For more information about the kitchen and market, visit abundancekitchenyork.com.

Teresa Boeckel is a reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Contact her at tboeckel@ydr.com.