Press release
Minister English marks exciting new shared kitchen initiative
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English, today performed the sod turning ceremony for the build of a new shared kitchen facility at SPADE Enterprise Centre in Nth King Street, which will provide increased capacity for what is a growing demand from food start ups.
The Minister said:
"I am delighted to be here in the heart of Dublin and to mark this exciting development which will see a new shared kitchen facility at SPADE. For more than 35 years SPADE have nurtured and encouraged a spirit of entrepreneurship here in the city and provided flexible work spaces which can grow with businesses as they scale up. The shared kitchen will provide that much needed practical support and surety that are vital to all start ups and will build on an already innovative and thriving food scene."
The new shared kitchen facility will service the growing demand from food start ups for affordable and flexible kitchen space and it will operate 15 hours per day for 365 days of the year. The shared kitchen model will help start ups with the high costs of setting up a new food business and thereby prevent early exits from the business. The kitchen will accommodate multiple food producers simultaneously with state of the art kitchen facilities, along with best practice culinary and nutritional education, sectoral events and food cluster initiatives.
SPADE was approved funding from Enterprise Ireland under Regional Enterprise Development Funds towards the development of this new Shared Kitchen incubator.
Carol Gibbons, Divisional Manager, Regions and Local Enterprise with Enterprise Ireland commended the project:
"Enterprise Ireland is delighted to support this project through the Regional Enterprise Development Fund. This new Shared Kitchen reflects the spirit of sustainable Regional Development promoting resource sharing to facilitate job creation, new product development and innovation. We congratulate Spade on their achievements to date in supporting new and growing food enterprises in Dublin."
Over the past number of years, SPADE has provided space for over 80 businesses contributing to over 250 jobs. They currently provide their main building in North King St and allied premises to more than 30 businesses employing 155 staff including social enterprises, innovative food companies, tech start ups and professional services.
Minister English concluded:
"This new facility will deliver a key piece of infrastructure for SPADE and will help new food entrepreneurs to enter the market and scale up so I am delighted that my department and Enterprise Ireland have been able to assist this excellent venture with over €2.1 million provided through our Regional Enterprise Development Fund and Enterprise Centres Funding. I wish the entire team at SPADE every continued success as they embark on this new chapter."
SPADE (St. Paul’s Area Development Enterprise CLG) is a not for profit community enterprise based centre comprising kitchen and office units supporting start ups and young companies to incubate in Dublin’s North Inner City.
SPADE has operated successfully since 1990 providing kitchen and office space in its units in North King St and Oxmanstown Lane.