Sacramento food business incubator needs kitchen essentials for its entrepreneur academy

Alchemist Community Development Corp. is a Sacramento organization that strives to enhance the quality of life in low-income neighborhoods. They aim to do this through access to healthy foods, community-supported green spaces, and business entrepreneurship.

The group is asking for assistance to buy a commercial freezer and industrial food processor for their shared-use kitchen space through The Sacramento Bee’s Book of Dreams program. The total cost for both would be $7,000.

Alchemist CDC has three main program areas. The best known is facilitating the use of CalFresh at local farmers markets. In this program, Alchemist transfers the CalFresh debit card to vouchers accepted at the vendor booths. They even have a matching program, helping to make fresh local foods an option for those using CalFresh.

The second program focuses on neighborhood empowerment. Alchemist helps turn vacant lots into community spaces, after working with the neighborhood to determine what kind of space is most needed.

After conducting a study, they saw that there were no food business incubator programs in Sacramento, and started Alchemist Kitchen in 2019. The program is designed to take aspiring food entrepreneurs from low-income populations through the entire process of starting and growing a business.

The first part of the Alchemist Kitchen is the Alchemist Microenterprise Academy. Around 20 students are accepted into the academy for a 12-week course that explores every aspect of running a food business, such as writing the business plan, food safety, permits, accounting and marketing.

For Jasmine Bonilla, 42, of South Natomas, her journey with the academy started with a taste test.

In January 2020, a friend of Bonilla’s had her sample a sauce that she thought was delicious. Since it wasn’t available locally, she wanted to make something similar. The sauce ended up being a hit with her friends, so she decided to pursue selling it and found out about the Alchemist Kitchen program and its streamlined process.

“Not having been in the food industry, the classes were great. I learned a lot, and asked a lot of questions,” Bonilla said.

For Bonilla, it means she has an affordable location to make, bottle, label and even store her sauce. She generally only needs the kitchen nine to 14 hours a month, which would make having her own space unsustainable at this time.

Also as part of the incubator program, she was able to have her sauce tested through UC Davis to find out its shelf life. She is currently selling Jazz’s Saucy Sauce at farmers markets and online at jazzssaucysauce.com.

It is also available at Strapping Stores, Warehouse Creative in Old Sacramento, and at Allspicery, where Bonilla sources her spices.

“It’s the ‘unicorn of sauces’ because it works on so many foods from sandwiches to sushi,” she said.

Jacob Sacks, Alchemist Kitchen’s program manager and administrative manager, said the goal of the program is really to connect the entrepreneurs with resources and save them time and energy.

“For some, we’re able to shave years off of starting their business,” Sacks said.

Those accepted into an AMA cohort pay $300. It’s not just having speakers talking about hiring practices, or someone from the health department explaining health code standards. Those in the program also have the support of the people in their cohort, benefiting from other people’s questions and experiences, and sharing ideas with each other.

Sacks said there is some attrition in each group, and they view that as a positive.

“If we are able to help someone meet their goals and get their business off the ground, that’s great. But we also feel that helping someone realize early in the process and without much financial investment that this business is not for them is great, too,” he said.

Graduates of the academy get $50 back from their initial investment for completing the course.

From there, some entrepreneurs go on to start their business. Some opt to apply for the Alchemist Kitchen Incubator Program, where staff work hands-on with each business to determine the next steps.

“For some people, this business is their passion, and we want to equip them to succeed,” Sacks said. “We act as a connecting point to resources.”

There are some foods that can be sold on a small scale being made at home, but for everything that doesn’t meet so-called cottage food law requirements must be prepared in a commercial kitchen space.

Because finding that resource can be difficult and expensive, Alchemist opened their own kitchen in May. The Alchemist Kitchen is a shared commercial kitchen space, reserved through an online scheduling program.

“There’s too much demand, and not enough space,” Sacks said, “and it’s critical to developing the business.”

Sacks said that so far over 80 businesses have graduated from the academy and 14 businesses are currently in the incubator program. In the future they hope to have an umbrella brand that businesses in the program can utilize to open up more opportunities, still keeping the focus on each business creating their own branding and following for when they graduate.

Bonilla said going through the programs has made her feel like a legitimate member of the food industry, and she loves being able to bounce ideas off the people in her cohort or at the Alchemist Kitchen.

“It would have been such a mess if I had tried to do it on my own. With Alchemist’s hand-holding, it was pretty seamless,” Bonilla said.

Alchemist is funded in part by grants, with donations and fees from the small classes making up the difference. A commercial freezer and industrial food processor are a big expense, and donations to the Book of Dreams program can make a huge difference for the entrepreneurs.

To learn more about this organization, go to alchemistcdc.org.

How you can help

For more than three decades, The Bee has asked readers to provide a gentle lift to Sacramento organizations helping the needy during the holiday season. Last year, more than $200,000 was raised to help 32 community organizations. To help in this year’s Book of Dreams campaign, you can make a donation at: sacbee.com/bookofdreams