Resources:
Lee Van Roth's Feature Article: Nonprofit incubator kitchen helps food businesses get off the ground in Ypsi
Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen
Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU, I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Inside a shared commercial kitchen in Ypsilanti, nonprofit urban farm Growing Hope is helping local food entrepreneurs turn ideas into sustainable livelihoods, offering not only space, but support, mentorship, and community. With me today is Eric Kinsler-Holloway, a food entrepreneur and owner of EK's Cheesecakes, who got his start working out of his home kitchen before transitioning into and then graduating from Growing Hope's incubator space. Eric, thank you so much for being here today!
Eric Kinsler-Holloway: Thanks for having me!
Lee Van Roth: So, obviously, I want to talk about your experience with the Incubator Kitchen and the folks over at Growing Hope, but let's start from the beginning first. Can you tell me a little bit how you first got into baking and what initially drew you into the food and restaurant business?
Eric Kinsler-Holloway: Yeah. So, it was some years back with my mom. She brought out two really nice looking at New York-style cheesecakes for Thanksgiving. And I was just so fascinated about how the process was done that I had to ask her, "You know, where did you buy these?" Because my mom was not a baker by any means, so I just thought that she bought them. And she proclaimed, "No, I made these myself." So, I was like, "Oh, all right. Well, let me help you next time you want to make some," because I was just so fascinated about the process. And so, I had a very small role of just kind of helping her make the crust. And it was just me and my mom in the kitchen making a few cheesecakes, and we had a blast! And that was the kind of the first taste of what I thought maybe my future could be. At the time, I was just a maintenance tech, and I wasn't really loving my job. And I found out quickly that I loved the process of making cheesecake.
Lee Van Roth: What did that process kind of look like, as far as the point when you saw when it became--or transitioned, I guess--from being a hobby baking kind of thing into a business idea?
Eric Kinsler-Holloway: So, it was really my job at the time was very seasonal. I was working anywhere between one hour and 28 hours a week. And we kind of found out that our son was on the way. So, I thought I really need some extra money. So, I just kind of took the plunge and made and Instagram page. I told my personal page, Hey guys! I'm starting this cheesecake business. If you want any orders for Thanksgiving that's coming up, let me know," hoping to get maybe one or two. And I think I got something like seven or eight orders, and I thought, "Man, I should have playing this a little bit better." I didn't think that I was going to make so many because, at the time, I was making one or two, I mean, a month, maybe. So, to make seven or a within a week kind of seemed almost impossible along with my job. But it was the grind that also I fell in love with, with me working a lot and having a deadline that i thought was kind of impossible. But then, meeting that deadline when we got to the finish line, it was just so gratifying that I kind of thought that maybe this is what I could be doing for potentially the rest of my life.
Lee Van Roth: When did it dawn on you that perhaps the home kitchen might be a little bit too small for the operation?
Eric Kinsler-Holloway: There used to be a cookie spot in downtown Ann Arbor called Detroit Cookie Company, and they just got into the building used to the a place that I would have lunch at my maintenance job all the time. So, since they were kind of the new business in town, I wanted to drop off my cheesecake not to really get in the door, mainly kind of to show our appreciation. But if that led to them wanted my cheesecake, then so be it. And they messaged me back on Instagram saying, "Oh my God! These are the best cheesecakes we've ever had! We'd love to get some!" And they ordered i think 30 cheesecakes. So, I was like, "Wow! How am i going to make that within just my house?" So, I got a second oven. I got a commercial mixer where I could make 10 cheesecakes at a time, as opposed to the one or three that I had previously. And then, I was able to bust those out for them, but it quickly began that like I knew that it wasn't sustainable. So, I also switched from my job to my passion and quit my maintenance job. And i went to a local bakery just to kind of see how a bakery ran because my dream at that time was to have my own bakery, so it made sense to work there, kind of see how a bakery ran, and then leave when I thought i was ready to jump ship and start my own. So, that's when Growing Hope got introduced because I just couldn't keep making 20 cheescakes every couple of weeks out of my house, and it wasn't very legal as well. So I wanted to be above board. I wanted to do everything the right way. I didn't want anything coming back on me and for my family. Som that's when I hollered at Growing Hope and got to sit down with the kitchen manager and kind of tell her like what my plan is, kind of what I've been doing, what I want to do. And it was them that really helped me progress my business into what it is today.
Lee Van Roth: I'm sure the previous bakery job also gave you some pretty good insight into how this business really works from the inside out. How did that education sort of continue with working with the folks over at Growing Hope?
Eric Kinsler-Holloway: It was my first time in a commercial kitchen at the bakery, so I kind of got to see and use a little bit of the equipment, kind of see how it ran, if it broke, maybe how to fix it, the time it would take for things to come to fruition. So, by the time I got to Growing Hope, it was kind of just seamless where I was just doing things, and it kind of dawned on me like, "Oh, I know how to do this because of my previous job at the bakery." But it was really the manager at the time at Growing Hope that really helped me dial in my process and help me with more food knowledge. I didn't really know much. I didn't have any culinary school. I didn't have a mentor or professor. It was just me starting to make cheesecakes because that's what I really liked and google if I had any questions to ask. So, it was really nice to come in and get the knowledge that I didn't even know that I needed. I came in just to fill orders pretty much because the orders were kind of pouring in from the website, and I knew that i could fill them much faster at Growing Hope. And that's all I was looking to do. But what I found was the community and the health aspect that I didn't know that I needed. So, I feel like starting anything or doing anything by yourself is very tough. But I think starting a business alone maybe a little more on the tough side. So, to come in and have the help at my fingertips was very, very crucial for the success of my business.
Lee Van Roth: This is WEMU's On The Ground Ypsi. I'm Lee Van Roth talking with Eric Kinsler-Holloway of EK's Cheesecakes. So, Eric, you had mentioned too one of the things that Growing Hope emphasizes is building community alongside the business development side of things in the Incubator Kitchen. And I'm wondering too how that experience kind of differs from a traditional kind of bakery job or other kitchen job and how that community forms and uplifts and how you all uplift one another in that space.
Eric Kinsler-Holloway: Right. So, I was just used to baking by myself, so it was just me in my kitchen. There's no one to bounce ideas off of. There was no one to see me make mistakes and try to help me. So, when I came in here, that's what I found, just a nice sounding board of, "Hey, I'm thinking about doing this. What do you think?" "Oh, I've done that before. They were going to work out well, so I went this route." Okay, that's great," or "I'm looking for a grant. Do you know any grants that might be looking to help someone with me in my background?" It's like, "Oh, I applied for this grant a few years ago. This is what I did." So, it really is just a community-based program that is just so helpful. And, yeah, just it's too hard to do alone, and you come in and you have the help that Growing Hope provides. It just makes everything much more easy and simple and above board. I mean, they helped me get state-certified and insurance and all the things that you need to run a proper business.
Lee Van Roth: You have since graduated, so to speak, from the Incubator Kitchen. EK's Cheesecakes seems to have really found its footing here in the area. So, did you feel prepared when you left?
Eric Kinsler-Holloway: Yeah. I was looking to get my own kitchen just by myself with a couple other people that I've met along the way. Another restaurant owner and a guy who had a sausage business, but all of us didn't have enough money ourselves for our own kitchen, so we thought we put money together to find a kitchen for all of us. And we quickly found out how expensive it is. So, we got quoted maybe $100,000 to make the space into a kitchen because it wasn't already a commercial kitchen. And that shocked me enough to say, "Okay! I'm just going to be at Growing Hope for probably the rest of my life because I don't have that kind of money. And then, an opportunity kind of fell in my lap to where my good friend was baking out of the space that was already certified and already a commercial kitchen. And the lady owning the business was retiring. Som he was going to stay there, bring me in and then there was also opportunity to do a part of the house and have our own bakery on the weekend. So, I was able to bake out the back whenever I wanted and then sell out of the front and, of course, continue with our wholesale account. So, I didn't really feel ready 100% because the price jump was pretty hefty, but I knew that if I didn't do it then, then I might not ever do it. And it was with a friend, it wasn't by myself, everything kind of just made sense. And the timing just worked out. So, if it wasn't for the timing, I don't know. I'd probably still be at Growing Hope, to be honest.
Lee Van Roth: And for anyone who is just starting out on their food journey, on their food business journey, why would you encourage them to seek out a resource like Growing Hope's Incubator Kitchen?
Eric Kinsler-Holloway: Just because there's so much help. I mean, it's so hard to start a business by yourself, and if you have the resource of a nice sounding board and a community that backs it, you have to take that opportunity.
Lee Van Roth: Well, Eric, I want to thank you so much for joining me here today and sharing about your experience with Growing Hope. I know I am certainly hungry for cheesecake now, so I wish you all the best of luck! And we look forward to seeing EK's Cheesecakes all over the place!
Eric Kinsler-Holloway: Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!
Lee Van Roth: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU, Ypsilanti.
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