Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindi Thompson.
Cindi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Although I’ve always loved food, I didn’t start out in either food or entrepreneurship.
My first career was in financial services, specifically developing and marketing mutual funds. Recessions aren’t good for the careers of people working in financial services, so when I was given the choice between a severance package and relocation, I took the package.
Initially, I occupied myself with volunteer work at the LA Public Library and KCRW. While fulfilling, I wanted more, so I tapped into my love of baking and enrolled in a professional pastry program. The pastry program led to a number of things including working as a private chef which, by the way, I hated.
In the back of my mind, there were food products that I dreamed about producing. For me, the first question was “Where are you going to cook?”. At the time, there were only two “legit” options. Sure, restaurants and bakeries rented out their kitchens during their off hours, but finding a place to cook was only one small piece of a much bigger puzzle.
What about product development, sourcing of ingredients, production, distribution, sales, marketing, legal, accounting and social media? It was overwhelming until I realized I was on the wrong side of the equation.
My father had just died from metastatic pancreatic cancer. The question “If not now, when?” never left my mind, so I decided, rather than BE a small food business, I’d build the facility I felt I would have needed in order to be a SUCCESSFUL small food business. “What would I have needed?”, as a point of view, informed virtually every decision I made.
The recession, as it turns out, had a silver lining. It gave birth to what’s now known as the Sharing Economy; the notion that access to goods and services is more valued than outright ownership. Crafted Kitchen is a text-book example of collaborative consumption.
Through this process, I’ve been met with immeasurable kindness, support, encouragement and enthusiasm.
It’s said that everything happens for a reason. Here’s what I know for sure: Things happen. Some good, others not so good. There’s always something to learn and I’m unspeakably grateful for all of the lessons.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has been far from smooth. The old adage “It’ll take twice as long and cost twice as much”, in my case, was a vast understatement.
As a start-up, it was almost impossible to lease a space, particularly when potential landlords didn’t fully understand what I wanted to build. For 8 months, I negotiated on a property that I adored. On the day I went to sign the lease, the landlord looked at me, and out of the blue he said, “I’d never have your business on my property.” Three months and dozens of properties later, this space, which wasn’t yet on the market, was shown to me.
Negotiating a commercial lease is arduous at best and in my case, until my pen hit the paper and the ink dried, it was continually on the verge of falling through, Still, I feel fortunate to have secured this beautiful space.
My brother-in-law said, “Building the business is one thing. Running it is another.”, and he’s right. From power surges to broken faucets to faulty equipment, to denied insurance claims. as every entrepreneur knows, it’s always something and you’re never fully prepared.
At one excruciatingly painful juncture, when I was at the breaking point, a dear friend of mine said, “You’ve already jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. You have wings. Use them.”
In an odd way, my inexperience and naivete worked in my favor because had I known what was in store for me, I may not have had the courage to persevere.
We officially opened for business on February 1, 2017 and member by member, we’re gradually building our community.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Crafted Kitchen story. Tell us more about the business.
Crafted Kitchen is a “hub” for like-minded food enthusiasts. If you’re familiar with We Work, we, too, are a co-working space. The difference is that we provide a platform for small food businesses to develop, launch and grow their operations.
We’re more than simply a place to cook. Besides providing state-of-the-art work spaces, Crafted Kitchen offers the tools, resources and access that culinary entrepreneurs need to help propel their businesses. In addition, our Test Kitchen is an unparalleled event space, combining a fully-equipped and photo ready professional kitchen with a private outdoor patio that seats 100 guests.
It’s been an honor to have Top Chef, Netflix, PBS, Red Bull, Facebook and Goop film in our Test Kitchen. Slow Food, Grow Good and others have used the entire event space for fundraising dinners.
I’m most proud of the community we’re building, and it’s the community sets us apart, not only from other kitchens, but other businesses as well. Members who had never stepped foot inside a commercial kitchen are working right beside well-known chefs and long-established food businesses, all in an environment that encourages collaboration.
We have caterers who tap into the products of some of our specialty producers. Why wouldn’t they buy bagels directly from Maury’s, donuts from Donut Snob or breakfast burritos from The Rooster Truck? It’s the community that makes Crafted Kitchen so special.
Our community extends beyond our walls, too. Each month, we host an event that’s open to the public. In October, Crafted Kitchen was the marquee event for LA Kitchen’s annual Shared Plates fundraiser. We’ve also partnered with Indie Brew Co. for a food and beer tasting, Framework Law Group for a small business legal and financial workshop, and celebrity chef Seamus Mullen for a cooking class, dinner and book signing.
We’re currently working on this year’s calendar of events.
Contact Info:
- Address: 672 S. Santa Fe Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90021 - Website: www.craftedkitchenla.com
- Phone: 213-477-1127
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @craftedkitchen
- Facebook: @craftedkitchen
Image Credit:
Mireyah Marcinek
Gary Askew II
Jake Ahles
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
