Bed-Stuy Kitchen Closure Leaves 100s Of Food Workers Scrambling

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — A massive culinary incubator space suddenly shut down Saturday and left its 175 members scrambling to find new kitchens, the company announced.

While commercial kitchens across the city have offered discounts and assistance to former PilotWorks occupants, the culinary entrepreneurs reportedly don’t know when they'll be repaid the thousands of dollars they are owed.

PilotWorks owners provided little detail as to why its network of culinary incubators, including the Bed-Stuy space at 630 Flushing Avenue, suddenly shuttered their doors on Oct. 13.

“It is with a heavy heart that after failing to raise the necessary capital to continue operations,” owners wrote in a statement on the company website. “We realize the shock of this news and the disruption it causes for the independent food community we were so honored to serve.”

“We wish there was another option to continue operating. Sadly, there was not.”

The announcement meant almost 200 culinary entrepreneurs were forced to leave the Bed-Stuy building on Saturday without any word on when PilotWorks will repay up to $15,000 in rent and back orders Eater New York estimates they are owed.

That number does not include the loss the chefs will take on uncompleted jobs. Mi Casa Foods, for example, reportedly was forced to cancel $5,000 worth of orders.

And members told GrubStreet they were getting ready for the upcoming holiday season which, for some, provides up to 40 percent of their yearly income.

“No one’s heard from any of the management. Not even a single word,” David Roa of Superlost Coffee told Eater. “It’s just mind-blowing to me.”

PilotWorks first opened its Bed-Stuy location as FoodWorks in 2016 with the help of investors — such as Blue Hill’s David Barber, Campbell Soup’s venture capital fund Acre Venture Partners, the city’s Economic Development Corp and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President — who provided more than $13 million in investments, Eater reported.

The start-up expanded quickly, but shut down spaces in Providence and Portland, Maine earlier this year, and in Newark, Chicago, and Dallas on Saturday, according to New Food Economy.

Since news broke of the shutdown, Hot Bread Kitchen has offered to help members find new spaces and Hana Kitchen will provide discounted rates to access its culinary workspace at Industry City.

Former PilotWorks members have also formed a coalition to demand restitution and explore the possibility of taking over the space themselves or find a new one, according to Eater.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and City Councilman Robert Cornegy issued a joint statement Wednesday calling on the EDC to find the chefs a new commercial kitchen.

“If that remedy is not possible, we hope NYCEDC can provide bridge space to these businesses,” the officials said. “And would ask that DOHMH expedite the moving process by allowing existing certifications to be immediately transferable to new licensed commercial facilities.”

The EDC recommends members who need storage space email the agency at foodbusiness@edc.nyc.

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