LETICIA LANDA
Program participants have access to kitchen facilities for six years
I
f La Cocina were a restaurant group, it would have more outlets than many established competitors. In reality, the many food businesses it’s helped launch
over the past 20 years are proudly independent, but it is a useful thought experiment to understand the scale of what this Bay Area non-profit organization has achieved. At its heart is a simple
premise: turn minority cooks into successful food business owners. “Recognizing that things take time is important – and we give people a shot,” says executive director Leticia Landa about the key to La Cocina’s success. “Tere’s so much
talent out there, but it’s often the same people who get the opportunities.” Now in its tenth year, the Basque Culinary World Prize is awarded to chefs and food professionals who use gastronomy to drive social change. It rarely goes to celebrity names – the closest was World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés in 2020 – but to people who transform communities through their work. Tis year, the jury recognized Landa for “democratizing access to the food industry and proving that kitchens can be engines of social change.” La Cocina was founded in 2005 and offers affordable commercial kitchen space, business training, and access to catering and retail markets for low-income women and immigrant entrepreneurs. In a city where the cost of launching a food business can be prohibitive, the model has become a lifeline and a launchpad. Many of the entrepreneurs
were already cooking before joining – at home, in local
community centers or in street markets – but lacked support to formalize the business. “Te barriers are all the logistics, including permits, insurance and all the other practicalities,” says Landa. “And then there’s money – San Francisco is an incredibly expensive city, it always has been, so getting access to kitchen space and finding a restaurant to lease has been a very big barrier.” La Cocina is mainly run
on donations from foundations and private donors, with a focus on women because the barriers they face are higher. “We serve people who are low income and we prioritize immigrant women, particularly women of color, but of course immigrant
“We want to create businesses that generate wealth and jobs, and that takes time”
men face barriers too,” she says. Once through the
application process, entrepreneurs are in the program for six years, a staggering amount of time in the world of incubators and one that pays dividends in the outcomes. “It is just our philosophy.
It takes a long time to build a business – most don’t turn a profit in the first five years. Tere’s not much point in starting a business if it is just going to close,” she says. “We want to create businesses that will generate wealth and jobs, and that takes time, so really being able to be patient and to have sustained resources for entrepreneurs over time is super important.”
SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING
Over 150 businesses have come through La Cocina – from catering companies and food trucks to packaged food brands and restaurants – among them more than 40 brick and mortar locations, including a tamale factory and an edible insect
> 19
SILENT VICTORY / ERIN NG / ERIC WOLFINGER
WORLDWIDE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
