Back when she was in the catering business, Amélie Morency convinced a “random dude” to rent her his kitchen. It didn’t end well.
“After five months, he kicked me out,” says the Montreal resident. “The whole cohabitation thing wasn’t working out at all.”
All of this got her thinking: What if people in the food business—caterers, cooks, or restaurateurs, for example—had a commercial kitchen they could use whenever they needed one? It would include separate office space, comfortable common areas, and even conference rooms for when they needed to bring together their teams or meet with prospective clients.
That was the thinking behind the Food Room, which Morency describes as the “first culinary coworking space of its kind in North America.”
“When you’re in the food business, you need kitchen space you can rely on,” says Morency, a WeWork Place Ville Marie member. “You shouldn’t have to wait to see if you can arrange for space somewhere.”
Morency will soon be cutting the ribbon on the first Food Room location, located at 465 Rue de Port Royal Ouest, in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville neighborhood. The kitchen is spacious, able to accommodate everyone from a chef trying out a new recipe to a catering company arranging a lavish affair.
Colleagues in the food business have been enthusiastic about Morency’s idea.
“We have the capacity for about 100 businesses to share the space,” says Morency. “And 25 have signed up already.”
Integral to Morency’s idea is the abundant space outside the kitchen. Instead of private offices, there are clusters of desks where anyone can set up a temporary office. And the common areas are meant to encourage collaboration.
Morency knows all about encouraging new businesses to grow. She’s a 2015 graduate of the competitive Founder Institute, the world’s largest entrepreneur training and startup launch program. She wants to pass along that knowledge to the business founders who join the Food Room.
“We can hook them up with whatever resources they need,” says Morency. “We can help them operate their business more smoothly. Basically, we can help them become better entrepreneurs.”
Photos: Steve Gerrard