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This article is being prepared as an assignment for Megan Lyster’s Fall 2012 Social Entrepreneurship class.

Hot Bread Kitchen is a Harlem-based non-profit bakery established by Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez, a United Nations immigration-policy expert. Hot Bread Kitchen uses its commercial kitchen at La Marqueta, Hot Bread Almacen, to house its bakery and social programs targeting immigrant and low-income women and those looking to create new local businesses. It is for this work and other specialized programs that Hot Bread Kitchen and Waldman have been commended.

= History =

Hot Bread Kitchen was founded in 2007 by Jessamyn W. Rodriguez, starting out of her apartment. In late 2010, Hot Bread Kitchen was moved to La Marqueta in East Harlem, New York. At the time it was still only a production kitchen, selling bread to restaurants and other markets. Hot Bread Kitchen opened its Incubator program for food service start-ups in January 2011. In July 23, 2012 Hot Bread Kitchen opened its first retail location, Hot Bread Almacen under the supervision of baker Ben Hershberger.

= Objectives and Impact = Hot Bread Kitchen is based around an employment model in which it works towards benefiting its employees (how? via incubator) but also effectively uses its employees' past experiences and backgrounds to make a very wide range of products. This model helps HBK in its kitchen as well as its other programs. As a non-profit, HBK invests its financial gains back into the company. Hot Bread Kitchen has also incorporated an entrepreneurial support model through the use of its many support programs.

Hot Bread Kitchen runs multiple programs to support its mission to "[increase] economic security for foreign-born and low-income women and men by opening access to the billion dollar specialty food industry." . Hot Bread Kitchen achieves its mission to increase the economic stability of foreign-born immigrants by offering employment and teaching important skills. Hot Bread Kitchen benefits from its employees' former experience with baking and thus offers a large variety of products. It aims to "br-educate" consumers about the importance of an immigrant community through the sales of ethnic products. Hot Bread Kitchen runs culinary workforce and business incubation programs to further help their employees gain vital skills and experiences.

=Programs=

Hot Bread Kitchen Bakery
Hot Bread Kitchen's initial program, created in 2007, teaches women the skills that they need to bake and sell their own products in addition to what they may have come into the program with; this may include learning how to produce a larger yield or proper food handling procedures. The bread that the women produce is then sold in the storefront, Hot Bread Almacen. After graduating from the program, alumni have been known to move on to work in the baking sections of other restaurants. As of 2011, the program has had a total of 22 people from 11 different countries.

HBK Incubates
In 2011, Hot Bread Kitchen introduced "HBK Incubates!," a program that gives start-ups a chance to grow into self-sustainable businesses. For the first 2-3 years of involvement, Hot Bread Kitchen provides new businesses with:
 * Commercial kitchen training and efficient use of kitchen time
 * Recipe scale-up
 * Business and culinary workshops focused on financial preparedness, accounting, sales and marketing, and packaging
 * Marketing opportunities
 * Exposure to a vibrant and dynamic entrepreneurial and culinary environment
 * Partnership opportunities with other incubator businesses
 * Facilities affordable for small businesses

A 2,300 square foot kitchen is shared between the incubator members and houses most of the tools needed to expand the businesses. This kitchen includes four stations that are equipped with convection ovens, six-burner ranges, a steamer, a grill, a deep fryer, tilting braising pan, and Hobart dough mixers. In addition to this space, there are three private preparation rooms that range from 100-250 square feet, one of which is temperature controlled. There are also cold and dry storage made available to members.

In addition to Incubator members, the space and storage are available to established businesses at a low rental price.

Support may also be given in the form of classes held often on how to run a food enterprise, with recent topics including logo design.

LIFE Program
As of May 2012, HBK has started the recruitment for a new program under its model. The LIFE (Low-Income Food Entrepreneurs) Program, has been aimed at minority business owners who have an annual income less than the regional median income of $33,700. The emphasis will be on owners from Upper Manhattan. Hot Bread Kitchen have an idea and plan for a business, but have not gone through the process to make their business a reality for whatever reason. It helps to cover the start-up costs (including those for incorporation, insurance, and licensing without which the business could not run legally) for businesses. It provides substantially cheaper kitchen rates to allow businesses to scale up more easily. In addition to these services, the program also provides English classes, business development and personal finance workshops, information on how to use restaurant equipment (with emphasis on those used in the HBK Kitchens) and instructions on how to scale up recipes.

= Recognition = Write-Ups:
 * Received a write-up in Food and Wine Magazine, which credits the founder's dedication and perseverance over the time and varied steps of its creation. The article tipped its hat to HBK by including recipes for items such as Sephardic challah and spinach pie.  “The term life-changing gets thrown around a little too casually these days, but that was the reason Jessamyn Waldman created the bakery in the first place.”  -Food and Wine
 * Followed by the New York Times blog Diner's Journal, that documented the birth of its direct retail branch as a benchmark in the project's evolution and noted HBK Incubates as well as the hours and location of Hot Bread Kitchen Almacen.
 * Twice profiled in the Good Breads section of the popular New York Website Serious Eats, first for their bialys, then for their superior tortillas and challah.

Awards:
 * Selected as a finalist in the Changemakers Powering Economic Opportunity: Create a World that Works competition in 2011 for achievements in innovation, social impact, and sustainability.
 * Jessamyn Waldman, the founder of Hot Bread Kitchen, was awarded an Eileen Fisher Grant for Women Entrepreneurs in 2007.
 * Taste of Ethiopia, one of HBK Incubates start-up businesses, was selected by the New York City Economic Development Corporation to represent New York at the National Association of Specialty Food Trade's Summer Fancy Food Show in the summer of 2012.

=References=