Renting a commercial kitchen means booking hours in a licensed kitchen, a shared kitchen, commissary, kitchen incubator, or a restaurant renting its kitchen in the off hours, and paying for those hours plus the storage you leave behind. Finding one starts with your health department, which knows the licensed shared kitchens near you, then local food business groups and other makers at your farmers market. The price has more parts than the hourly rate: a membership fee, a minimum number of hours a month, dry, cold and freezer storage by the shelf, and a deposit. So compare kitchens by the monthly cost at your hours, not the rate. On the tour, ask about booking and peak hours, overnight access, equipment you'd share or reserve, who cleans what, and notice to leave. And expect paperwork: kitchens ask for your business registration, a certificate of insurance naming them, a food safety certificate, and whatever license your city or state requires of renters, which in some cities is a license of your own at the kitchen's address. In the example below, an empanada maker compares three kitchens at today's hours and December's. Below are the questions, the costs, the example, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Shared kitchens, commissaries, incubators and restaurants rent hours in licensed kitchens.
- Ask your health department which licensed shared kitchens are near you.
- Costs: membership, hourly rate, minimum hours, storage by the shelf, a deposit.
- Compare the monthly cost at your hours, not the hourly rate.
- Ask about booking, peak hours, overnight access, equipment, cleaning and notice.
- Bring business registration, insurance naming the kitchen, food safety training, and any renter license.
- TaroStack keeps your stock counted wherever it's stored. More below.
What to ask on a tour
| Ask about | Why |
|---|---|
| Booking | How far ahead, how peak hours work, whether your regular slot is yours |
| Access | Overnight and early-morning hours, if your products need them |
| Equipment | Mixers, ovens, freezers: shared, reserved, or bring your own |
| Storage | Dry, cold and freezer space by the shelf, and whether it's locked |
| Cleaning | What you clean, what the kitchen cleans, and the checklist |
| Rules | Allergens, other renters' products, deliveries, parking |
| Paperwork | Insurance limits, licenses, food safety certificates they need from you |
| Leaving | Notice period, the deposit back, and what happens to stored goods |
What renters sign is in shared kitchen agreement template, the license a renter may need in shared kitchen license, and the cleaning rules in shared kitchen rules.
What it costs
| Cost | How it's charged |
|---|---|
| Membership | A monthly fee, at some kitchens, often with a lower hourly rate |
| Hourly rate | Per hour booked, sometimes higher at peak times |
| Minimum hours | A monthly minimum you pay for whether you use it or not |
| Storage | Per shelf or rack a month, more for cold and freezer |
| Deposit | One time, returned when you leave in good standing |
An example: an empanada maker leaving home
Palisades Empanada Co., the made-up empanada maker in Jersey City, New Jersey, I use in these examples, needs 48 kitchen hours a month, one dry shelf, two cold shelves and a freezer rack, and makes about 1,200 frozen six-packs a month. Three made-up kitchens nearby:
| Hoboken Shared Kitchen | Journal Square Commissary | Bayonne Kitchen Co-op | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Membership a month | $150 | none | $250 |
| Hourly rate | $28 | $32 | $22 |
| Minimum hours | 40 | none | 60 |
| Storage: dry, cold, freezer, a month | $60, $90, $120 | $50, $75, $100 | $40, $80, $110 |
| Deposit | $500 | $300 | $600 |
| Monthly cost at 48 hours | $1,854 | $1,836 | $1,880 |
| At 70 hours, November and December | $2,470 | $2,540 | $2,100 |
At today's 48 hours the three are within $44 of each other, about $1.53 a six-pack. The co-op's 60-hour minimum costs it the lead now, but its $22 rate wins by $370 to $440 a month once the holiday orders push hours to 70. Palisades picks the co-op for the fall, after checking it has freezer space for 300 more six-packs. What the empanadas earn is in empanada business plan.
Get the calculator
Download the shared kitchen comparison. One sheet: type your hours a month, storage needs and units made, then each kitchen's membership, hourly rate, minimum hours, storage prices and deposit; the hours you pay for, the monthly cost, the cost an hour used and a unit made, and the cheapest fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Once you're renting, your stock lives in three places: a dry shelf, a cooler shelf and a freezer rack in a kitchen you visit three days a week, and your packaging and labels at home.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps your stock counted and dated wherever it's stored.
Counts on a phone. Your shelves at the kitchen are counted on a phone, even with no signal, so you know what's in the freezer before you book the next session.
Each session a batch. Each kitchen session is a batch that takes its dough, fillings and packaging off stock and adds the six-packs, with their lot and date, so the kitchen hours show up in what each pack costs.
Packaging on time. Boxes and labels come up on the reorder list in days of cover, with each supplier's lead time and minimum, so a booked session never waits on boxes.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What's in the kitchen's freezer | Remember, or drive over | Counted on a phone |
| Six-packs made in a session | Tally marks | A batch with its lot |
| Kitchen hours in the cost | Left out | An added cost on the batch |
| Boxes for the next session | Found short | Reorder list in days of cover |
Batches, counts, lots and the reorder list are on every plan, from $49 a month; stock at more than one site, such as the kitchen and home, is on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.