Developers of a community commercial kitchen hope it can serve as a launching pad for culinary careers as well as entrepreneurial ventures.  

The Hammond Development Corp. will host a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. March 29 for the new HDC Community Kitchen at 5233 Hohman Ave. in Hammond. The space was created as a potential site for cooking classes as well as a commercial kitchen and pop-up café where new food products and services could debut.

“We are excited to provide another significant resource to our food entrepreneurs,” said Jackie DeRosa HDC program director. “It is our goal to help eliminate any barriers that may prevent them from realizing their business goals (and) making an industrial kitchen available to them is a big piece to this puzzle.”

Education start-up food entrepreneurs can rent the HDC Community Kitchen to prepare their products in a commercial environment, which complies with all state health regulations and avoid the liability of cooking at home. HDC said SERVSAFE Managers Certification is required.

Community kitchen start-up food entrepreneurs can rent the site’s pop-up cafe by the day, week or month to test products and services before deciding to rent a restaurant or catering space.

The kitchen renovation was funded through donations from the Fifth Third Foundation, BP, First Midwest Bank and Franciscan Health.

The Hammond Development Corp. has been assisting women and minority-owned businesses for more than 20 years. Its mission is to promote economic development through small business development and job creation.