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Cooking
Up Business Aloha Style
By Dr. Tin Myaing Thein, Director,
Pacific Gateway Center
The Culinary Business Incubator (CBI) opened its
doors in 2003 to entrepreneurs with an appetite for success and a mind
for culinary innovations. CBI is situated in the heart of Kalihi, an economically
depressed area on the island of Oahu, with a population of 25,000. CBI
evolved from community meetings held with area residents to elicit economic
development ideas. The participants engaged in the discussions consisted
primarily of refugees from Southeast Asia, native Hawaiians and Pacific
Islanders who were unemployed and living on public assistance. These individuals
were desperately seeking revitalization and self-sufficiency opportunities.
Overwhelmingly, a commercial kitchen emerged as the most popular suggestion
and as an ideal medium to provide self-employment prospects in the food
sector. Many of those interested in such ventures had been discouraged
by regulatory provisions, which are not only capital-intensive but also
cost-prohibitive.
In 2001, Pacific Gateway Center (PGC) engaged in
a major capital campaign to get others who shared the same vision to complement
the resources needed for the development of CBI. PGC was established in
1973 as a private nonprofit and has been a frontrunner in devising PGC
is the only SBA intermediary lender and CBDO (community based development
organization) in the state. PGC is also certified as a Community Development
Financial Institution (CDFI) and Community Development Entity (CDE) by
the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Boasting 20,000 sq. ft. of culinary equipment space,
CBI is undoubtedly the nation's largest kitchen incubator. The setup includes
12 fully-equipped kitchens with everything imaginable from deep fryers
to convection ovens, multi-range burners to chillers. These kitchens are
ideally structured and well-suited to their purpose of providing a state-of-the-art
facility for the "Iron Chef" aspirants of Honolulu to prepare
their various ethnic cuisines. In addition to local outlets, the food
will be available wholesale to establishments that cater to tourists and
other high-end clients on other parts of the island.
With fifteen students currently enrolled in CBI,
CBI is very close to its maximum capacity of twenty students. Applications
are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given
to residents of the surrounding public housing complexes. Traditional
entrepreneurship coursework such as marketing, business plan writing,
finance and small business management is complemented by specific training
related to the culinary industry such as safety and sanitation. In addition
to the kitchen facility, a computer lab, day-care center and business
center complete the "ready to cook" experience that CBI promises
to the entrepreneurial hopefuls. We anticipate that students will remain
enrolled with access to all of CBI's services for three-to-five years
depending on their growth strategy, after which time they should be ready
to take on bank loans to expand their business to its full capacity.
Lending is only one of the opportunities available
for banks to support the Culinary Business Incubator. Others include providing
technical assistance in finance and accounting, basic budgeting, grants,
etc. With PCG's 30-year track record of success, range of community development
services and pool of 50 staff that speaks over 35 different languages,
students enrolled in the Culinary Business Incubator are certain to find
the ingredients they need for success.
To learn more about supporting the Culinary Business
Incubator or other programs offered by the Pacific Gateway Center, email
Dr. Myaing and visit the website
at www.pacificgateway.org.
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