LEOMINSTER The City Council will hold a public hearing Monday on whether to amend the city zoning ordinance to include provisions for regulating commercial kitchens.
“I can’t imagine it is not going to pass,” Mayor Dean Mazzarella said. “As of now, people who want to set up a kitchen downtown, our zoning ordinance says you can’t do this unless you retail a product.”
The Planning Board has discussed approving zones that would permit commercial kitchens. It has considered allowing the use in the commercial zone with a special permit and site plan approval by the Planning Board, and also considered allowing the use by-right in the Industrial MU1 and MU2 zones.
The move would open up the possibility of bringing a commercial kitchen to the city, enabling chefs, caterers, entrepreneurs and more to rent a station in the space as a way to create retail products and more.
“It would be what is known as a shared or ghost kitchen, where you are cooking and preparing but not selling the product there,” Mazzarella said. “It is becoming a big thing.”
A commercial kitchen could have a number of advantages for those who wish to participate including FDA approved guidelines and inspections already in place.
“It helps entrepreneurs who want to get started but don’t have the capital to have their own location or industry and want to try it out,” Director of Planning & Development Elizabeth Wood said. “It saves people on rent, inspections and fees, and getting started.”
A commercial kitchen would allow for food products to be distributed mainstream by people who want to develop their products — specialty items, rubs and sauces, condiments, bakery items, dog biscuits, and more.
Wood said they are taking inspiration from and using a successful industrial size commercial kitchen run by Neelima Gogumalla, founder and owner of Creative Chef Kitchens located in Derry, N.H., as a model.
“Her commercial kitchen has done very well. We would like to see something like that happen in Leominster,” she said. “I know they have been very successful.”
Mazzarella said most states allow people to set up a commercial kitchen fairly easily in their home for the purpose of producing retail items, which is not the case in Massachusetts unless the zoning is in place.
“We are the toughest when it comes to opening a business that is related to health, and it is very expensive to do that,” he said. “It almost makes it impossible.”
Mazzarella said the city plans to apply for a grant to get a commercial kitchen in place, but that he is hoping someone else will come in and do it.
“Why not set up a kitchen that serves me but also other businesses,” he said, adding that food trucks and canteens could also take advantage of a shared commercial kitchen.
Wood said they are “really proud” to be moving ahead with the zoning ordinance and the potential it brings.
“The city really wants to encourage new business and foster and support entrepreneurs that may not have the backing of a big investor,” she said.
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