Episode 110 - The 525 Kitchen & The Flying Waffle cover art

Episode 110 - The 525 Kitchen & The Flying Waffle

Episode 110 - The 525 Kitchen & The Flying Waffle

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 525 Kitchen in Frankfort is a business incubator offering shared equipment, co-working space, and event space. They are a 501(c)3 project started by Julie Derringer and Cynthia Smith, focusing on fresh food, agribusiness, and education to help local food entrepreneurs succeed. Their own business is the Flying Waffle and Southern Eats food truck. Cindy Smith of 525 Kitchen is managing multiple related businesses.525 is a business AND non-profit.She and her partner began with the Flying Waffle food truck.They needed more kitchen space and a place to park the truck, so they bought their building.Her partner Julie had the idea to set up as a nonprofit to be able to partner with community projects and help others as an incubator space.Flying Waffle began in September 2021, and their commissary kitchen opened in November 2022.Other food trucks do work out of their kitchen, as independent owners and operators.They have helped incubate Matt’s Hot Dog Stand, which operates in Frankfort and Lexington.They do not view the other food trucks as competition, because they are all so different.Some of their tenants are doing their food business full time, while others are part time.Food trucks either must prepare the food on the truck or in a commercial kitchen, so lots of the prep work gets done in the 525 space, and they don’t restrict hours tenants can use the kitchen.They call their truck the Flying Waffle and Southern Eats, because they’ve expanded beyond just waffles. Look for the distinctive pink and flowered wrap on their truck.Flying Waffle is an event only truck. They also use the truck for mobile catering, especially for business clients who are serving their employees.Cindy and Julie have been friends their whole lives.Cindy calls Julie a born entrepreneur. She owned a florist shop, then went back to school to become a nurse, and eventually opened Mulligan’s, an indoor golf facility with simulators.They put a kitchen in Mulligan’s and that is how they met the very helpful Wes Clark with the Franklin County Health Department, who Cindy says anyone wanting to start a food business should call first.Julie closed Mulligan’s in 2013 and started travel nursing, while Cindy was finishing up her bachelor’s degree and changing career paths.The waffle business was inspired by Pinterest scrolling, and Julie taking the initiative to incorporate their LLC and order the food truck.Julie does all their graphic design for their truck, logos, menus, and more.Julie and Cindy’s first year in business, they began to offer a menu and pickups for Thanksgiving, which was popular through word of mouth and Facebook.They did the same for Christmas and Bluegrass Home Chef was born as a meal prep business with people preordering menus and picking up weekly through the winter.As the food truck business picked up, they now only offer Bluegrass Home Chef periodically, and always around the holiday season.525 accommodates some non-food truck businesses, like Tincan Coffee which does its coffee roasting onsite in their own roaster, and Apocalypse Freeze Dried Treats which keeps their freeze dryers there as well. Thyme Together Charcuterie prepares her charcuterie there for pickup and for catering.525 Kitchen has multiple sinks and ovens for tenants, as well as a floor mixer and lots of KitchenAid mixers.Everyone has their own refrigerator space and dedicated dry storage.Some tenants also maintain their own private and separate equipment there.525 has gotten a grant from Kentucky State University to help install a produce washing station, plus two extra stoves in the back for canning so they can work with local farmers.If you have a large garden and need a large space to can, you can use the 525 for $25 an hour, and they will provide all the equipment, except for the jars.For food trucks, it’s a monthly membership fee on a sliding scale, based on storage and kitchen needs.The kitchen is located at 525 Warsaw Street in Frankfort, which is how they got their name.The Flying Waffle name came from the fact that they are mobile.Julie and Cindy have used social media to spread the word about 525, as well as word of mouth.Julie found the once “rustic” building they are using on Warsaw Street, that they’ve put lots of work in.Both women have fulltime jobs in healthcare while running their food businesses.One of their tenants, Chloe Cooks, does some special dietary catering like gluten free.Cindy advises that those wanting to start a food business learn Kentucky food code and how to access it.She also advises contacting your local food inspector who will ultimately permit you to do business.Their newest venture is the addition of a mobile cart that can be rented out for weddings and events to do things like a cupcake or cookie stand, a charcuterie cart, and more.Customers can have the cart manned by the business for onsite service or just drop off and set up.They prefer to work in a radius of less than two hours from ...
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