Local food entrepreneurs have a new resource to help nurture their talents and connect them with new customers. Rising Kitchens is a recent startup with a simple mission: to help early-stage food entrepreneurs grow their culinary dreams. Founder and CEO Lauren Silverstein has a number of ways to achieve this goal.
Rising Kitchens accepts applications from up-and-coming local chefs, cooks, and bakers in the Northern New Jersey area, with plans to expand statewide as the program develops. A committee of local chefs and expert food strategists reviews each application. Once accepted into the program, Rising Kitchens helps these food entrepreneurs develop through mentorship and business development.
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Why Choose Rising Kitchens for Your Next Event or Meeting?
New Jersey residents should care about Rising Kitchens for one important reason: the company curates a diverse portfolio of unique and authentic foods perfect for events, corporate meetings, and special occasions. “Impress clients, partners, employees, friends, and family with distinctive catering options that stand out from the usual offerings,” Lauren says. Plus, it’s “feel good food.” By supporting Rising Kitchens, customers are discovering and supporting early-stage entrepreneurs, making a big impact with each order from a small business.
A Rising Kitchen can cater private parties with appetizers, desserts, or full meals. They can also handle corporate breakfasts and lunches or provide services at cafes or restaurants. Some of the Rising Kitchens can even provide party favors and brand them with a company logo or in line with the party’s theme. Ordering from Rising Kitchens is easy and personalized. Customers fill out the online form to describe their event, date, number of guests, and budget. Lauren will confirm availability and suggest a menu.
Supporting Local Talent
All the businesses in their first cohort are local to Northern New Jersey, featuring many women-, minority-, and immigrant-owned businesses. Rising Kitchens aims to promote businesses that have historically faced barriers in the entrepreneurship space. They service areas including Morris, Union, Somerset, Essex, Sussex, and Bergen counties. Food options range from Indian to soul food to Jamaican, showcasing dishes and culinary traditions from around the world.
Current Rising Kitchens offer gourmet breakfasts, unique hamburgers and hot dogs, custom cakes, cereal buffets, and artisan baked goods and chocolates. For example, Jennifer Harris owns Jen’s Breakfast Catering, providing original breakfasts any time of day. Likewise, Allison Gogarty, aka the Morristown Cake Lady, creates custom cakes for special occasions. “So much local talent is undiscovered, many without storefronts or cash reserves for marketing,” Lauren explains. “Rising Kitchens was born out of seeing an opportunity: there is so much talent that can be capitalized on and enjoyed.”
“We get such a high demand for authentic food from all different cultures,” Lauren says. “I believe in the importance of communities having access to and celebrating the diverse talents of their members, even those who might not be widely recognized. Rising Kitchens helps to connect these dots by bringing under-the-radar culinary talents to the forefront and giving them a platform to shine.”
Mentorship, Business Development, & More
In addition to helping new businesses connect to customers, Rising Kitchens offers access to mentorship from highly experienced chefs and business leaders. “We recognize the value in learning from others,” Lauren says. “Many emerging food entrepreneurs don’t know people in their network who’ve started a food business, so they have limited opportunities for mentorship. We create these connections.”
Rising Kitchens also hosts business development and culinary training sessions taught by local chefs and food entrepreneurs. These professional development opportunities and network-building efforts can position businesses for success. “I care about individuals being able to afford to take a chance on turning their talent into a career path.”, says Lauren.
Future plans include further expansion into the corporate sector and becoming a “caterer of choice” for local offices, giving corporate offices an opportunity to boost their local economy and experience new and diverse food offerings.
About Lauren Silverstein
Lauren has a passion for growing mission-driven organizations. She’s held executive management positions in the nonprofit and philanthropy sectors and has “always had an entrepreneurial mindset,” she explains. In addition to founding Rising Kitchens, she also founded Jr. Apprentice, a nonprofit program based in Hartford, Connecticut. Lauren has a Ph.D. in education and has taught education leadership programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
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Photos Provided by: Lauren Silverstein, Rising Kitchens
Top Photo Caption: Nitin Kamath, owner of swaadbynitin