Cooking up business
Oct. 24—SHARON — Two years after launching a culinary arts program, Laurel Technical Institute is preparing to make sure graduates enter a thriving restaurant market.
LTI plans to hold a grand opening Wednesday for the Laurel Kitchen Incubator.
The open house, at 4 to 7 p.m. inside the commercial kitchen on the campus at 200 Sterling Ave., will include tours, free food samples and demonstrations and meals available for purchase a from its in-house Gigi's Table Café.
A grant for $45,000 from the Sharon's American Rescue Fund Act pool of almost $15 million was a catalyst for the kitchen incubator, Decker said.
Created in the style of Fulton Commons in Pittsburgh and Commonwealth Kitchen in Youngstown, Ohio, the commercial kitchen project opens the culinary location for public rentals with the shared space, including two kitchen spaces, the Gigi's Table restaurant space.
By early 2023, it will also include commercial walk-in coolers and freezer space with the full-blown kitchen incubator completely set up by next spring. The rentable space could be used for small graduation parties, showers, funeral meals, or food trucks that need a place for a brick and mortar event, among other ideas.
"The idea is to ultimately build concepts that can be expanded or replicated into the City of Sharon and surrounding areas," said Doug Decker, vice president of Laurel Technical Institute, referencing aspiring food entrepreneurs, those with a restaurant concept they want to try out and those that bake at home who want to take their wares commercial.
He said that, if an entrepreneur has a great sauce they want to can and produce and sell to the public, for example, they could develop it in the incubator. The concept could be tested with low cost and risk, surrounded by the culinary school that opened in 2020 on the same campus.
The school, which encompasses the kitchen and restaurant space as well as a community garden and shared greenhouse with Whole Life Services in Hermitage, has graduated six students and now almost 20 enrolled, its highest enrollment, since it opened.
"We also foresee graduates of our programs developing their own culinary concepts out of this kitchen space," Decker said, adding that the school offers lunch to the public from noon to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.
On Wednesday, along with tours, demonstrations, and food samples inside, the LTI students decorated the inside of the Sharon campus, calling it the 'Haunted Halls of LTI," for visitors to enjoy.
There will also be a 'Trunk or Treat' in the parking lot with the Downtown Sharon Farmers Market. Banjak Heating & Cooling will be coordinating a coat collection event for new & gently used coats, scarves, hats, gloves and socks and live music will be provided by Matt Boser.
"We'll continue to participate in community partnerships and events like the farmers market and see where the roadmap takes us from there," said Decker.
Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com
