Nonprofit Martha’s Table has partnered with the Latino Development Center’s Food Venture Initiative to give aspiring chefs and restaurateurs in D.C.’s Ward 8 a chance to hone their skills in Martha’s Kitchen’s state-of-the-art kitchen.
The Community Kitchen program will provide five startup food business owners with training, resources and mentorship to help them build a profitable food business.
Three of the five entrepreneurs for the inaugural class have been selected:
- Gesenia Corea is a private chef who specializes in in-home chef services and catering with her Side Dish Queen business. She hopes to build a meal prep service that would also include training high schoolers on healthy cooking.
- Yessica Guera’s business, Los Quesos, specializes in pupusas and other Central American foods. Los Quesos wants to promote Central American food through meal delivery and catering services.
- Christa and Terry Joyner run Mamma Tee’s Kitchen, a catering and meal prep business that focuses on locally sources ingredients.
All will have access to the Martha’s Table’s kitchen, which is more than 1,000 square feet and equipped with commercial-grade equipment. All will also have a dedicated Community Kitchen manager, who will train on food safety, business licensing and compliance requirements.
They may also qualify for loans through the Latino Economic Development Center.
Martha’s Table opened its first community center in 1980 at 14th and W Streets in Northwest D.C. In 2018, the nonprofit — which focuses on food security, education and heath and wellness — opened a much larger location at 2375 Elvans Road SE in the Fort Stanton area of Ward 8.
