Question: what does cheesecake, passion fruit cake and lemon-dill chicken have in common? Answer: It’s all prepared in the same spot: Creative Kitchen Works LLC.
Owner Sandra Veich says the two-month-old commercial kitchen on Southwest 41st Street in Renton started as “a little joke” between she and her daughter Brandi Robinson.
Veich was helping Robinson, 25, cook in the basement space she was renting in a Seattle commercial kitchen.
“Fourteen catering companies were working out of a space almost this small,” Veich says, outstretching her arms.
Robinson couldn’t find anything larger, so she and her mom decided to build their own kitchen. That was about a year and a half ago. Robinson is the manager for Creative Kitchen.
“Now here we are,” Veich says on a recent day in the kitchen. “We still have to pinch ourselves.”
It took two months to turn the former Washington Department of Agriculture food-testing kitchen into something workable.
“We pretty much redid everything,” Veich says. “We painted, scraped, took out the flooring, redid everything. The only thing we didn’t do is the plumbing and electrical.”
The result: a three-compartment industrial sink, four industrial ovens, a walk-in industrial freezer, refrigerators, cabinets and storage space for each resident chef, plus a sales room for the chefs to promote their products.
“It’s a wonderful place; clean and bright. It’s such a great concept. Such a great idea,” says Shaw Sander Dixon.
On this recent day in the kitchen, Dixon is mixing cheesecake batter in a big metal bowl. Nearby sits a plastic tub stuck with a piece of masking tape that reads “graham cracker crust.”
Dixon makes cheesecakes, cakes and pies for Baked In Seattle, her wholesale artisan bakery. Her desserts are named for Seattle areas, such as Capitol Hill Cheesecake and Crown Hill Chocolate Cake.
Before finding Creative Kitchen on Craigslist, Dixon worked with Robinson at the Seattle commercial kitchen. The former FedEx carrier plans to keep her company small for its first two years.
Creative Kitchen is a good place to grow.
“We call this thing an incubator,” Veich says. “It’s where catering companies and businesses can grow their business until they have their own kitchen.”
Veich says it can cost $75,000 just to build a kitchen, let alone get it certified.
Two other businesses are working alongside Dixon on this recent day in Creative Kitchen.
Gregory Callier of Cakes of Paradise stops by the kitchen before making a delivery. He and his business partner Mosi Sims make Hawaiian cakes from recipes passed down by Sim’s mother.
Before starting Cakes of Paradise, Sims ran Kauai Desserts in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. Sims does most cooking for Cakes of Paradise, and the administrative tasks are managed by Callier, a Benson Hill resident.
Callier’s favorite Cakes of Paradise product is rainbow cake, which is three layers of strawberry, lime and orange cake frosted with whipped topping. Guava, lime and passion fruit fills the layers and tops the cake.
Before coming to Creative Kitchen, Callier and Sims were considering buying Morfey’s Cake Shoppe in Seattle.
Robinson and her husband Tobie, 27, are also in Creative Kitchen on this recent day, grill-marking lemon-dill chicken for a wedding. The couple owns Robinson Catering.
Tobie went to Renton Technical College’s Culinary School. He also catered at RTC. He earns extra money as a line cook at Bellevue Club, an athletic club and hotel.
“We plan to grow here,” Tobie says. “Get this catering company off and running so it can handle itself.”
Ultimately, Tobie wants to open his own restaurant, with Brandi’s help, of course.
Creative Kitchen just opened in mid-July, but Veich says the business is already doing well.
“We’re a community,” she says.
Creative Kitchen has about 13 occupants. That number grew from seven in mid-August. Veich doesn’t want more than 18 occupants. Although hourly rates are available, most occupants pay for 40 hours a month, which comes to $250 a month. Occupants can rent cupboards, pantries and lockers for an extra charge.
Most Creative Kitchen occupants live in South King County. But Veich has been asked to build kitchens in other places, such as Snohomish.
“I really didn’t think there was this big of a need,” she says.
Veich also works as an ocean export manager for cargo company MTI Worldwide in Tukwila.
“We’re doing pretty good,” Veich adds of Creative Kitchen. “Most companies struggle their first year.”
Creative Kitchen Works
Find out more about Creative Kitchen Works LLC at www.creativekitchenworks.biz, or by contacting 425-251-6963 or CreativeKitchenWorks@Q.com
