Citizen Kitchens
Citizen Kitchens has been known as the (food business incubator) as people start small in our kitchens, giving them a place to grow their business and reach new their goals. For people looking to start their dream of opening their food business, Citizen makes this possible with its shared e-commerce space making it cheaper and more affordable for our clients. This shared space has created a fantastic community of like-minded food entrepreneurs, helping to drive the food industry in Nashville to new heights.
At Citizen Kitchens, our goal is not to make competition but to help create a community of businesses who work together to further the food industry by bringing new cuisine and changing the way people do business.
Grant and Laura Wilson
They are the Brilliant minds behind our Kitchens. They have worked hard to make our kitchens what they are today. With their expertise and knowledge of the food industry, they have helped countless of our members succeed and have helped shape the food industry in Nashville.
Below you can see the success stories of our members, and how
their businesses grew in our kitchens and went on to do incredible things.
Andrea Borchers started a small artisan bakery called Brightside Bakeshop. Andrea began to use our kitchens to make her pastries and sell them to local coffee shops. She later had to ramp up production as her baked goods gained popularity and her demand grew. We worked with Andrea to make more space in our kitchens as she needed more room to expand her production and bring in more equipment. As she produced more pastries she was able to partner with a high-end local coffee shop chain called (Barista Parlor) to sell her pastries to them, as the coffee chain was having a hard time keeping up with demand. After saving and working hard and getting up at three AM in the morning every day to make her pastries, Andrea was able to buy a place to build out a full-service bakery and retail store. The first year she opened her store she sold out almost every day she was open. Brightside Bakeshop continues to grow and has experimented with new pastries, bringing new and better pastries to the Nashville food scene.
Chivanada is a food truck that surves Colombian empanadas. Chivananda was started by Daniel and Kai Yarzagaray were homesick and wanted to bring traditional Colombian food to Nashville. They used our kitchens as home base for their food truck, running events and bringing light to their culture. They have worked hard and overcame many challenges with expansion and production. One of the ways we helped them was by consulting them on their food truck as they were building it and needed to know what kind of licensing and code they had to meet for Nashville. They now have added a second truck and have partnered with the new MLS Soccer Club’s official empanada sponsor. They opened up a food stall in their food court, and have quickly become MLS’s best-run vender.
Javier Salado Started his business in our kitchens selling traditional Cuban sandwiches and sides. He used our kitchens to sell his sandwiches online for pickup or delivery. This method of selling food became popular during the pandemic and was called ghost kitchens, as they don’t have a restaurant and only do online business. Javier’s food started to gain a following when he started doing popups in bars for the brunch crowd. Our kitchens allowed him to work in a shared kitchen, saving him money doing the pandemic. He went on to open his first restaurant in a new food hall called (The Wash). This allowed him to grow his business even further and share his Cuban culture with Nashville.
If you feel inspired after reading this to open your food business scroll down and contact us with any questions you have about our kitchens and we’ll help you find the best way to start a new journey.
