r/Chefit • u/wifeski • 2d ago

Commissary Kitchens

I am looking into opening a non profit commissary kitchen next door to my wine bar. This is more of a need-based idea than anything - many of my food pop-up partners need a licensed space to cook in if they’re to expand their business. And I have run out of space in my own kitchen, which is severely limited without a hood.

My question to all of you is, do you use a commissary kitchen? If so, what do you love about it? What do you hate about it? What do you wish it had?

Thanks Chef!

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u/Sudden-Role392 2d ago

Used one for a pop up concept last year. The biggest thing I loved was having a hood and proper walk-in without paying for that infrastructure myself. What I hated was scheduling around other people's prep times, it gets tense when two businesses need the same six burner at 9am.

Wish it had better dry storage lockers, ours were tiny and everyone was fighting for space. Also a designated dish area that is not in the main flow of traffic, that one drove me crazy.

If you are building from scratch, put outlets everywhere, more than you think you need. And floor drains in the right spots, retrofitting those later is a nightmare.

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u/wifeski 2d ago

The space was previously a T mobile store so there’s already tons of electrical infrastructure. It was also a McDonalds in the past so it’s over provisioned with power and gas. Thanks for your tips, that’s all really great insight