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New Business Incubator Launches at La Marqueta Updated January 5, 2011 6:45am
By Jeff Mays
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HARLEM — When 38-year-old entrepreneur and Ecuadorian immigrant Elvis Hernandez couldn't get a bank to invest in his plans to expand his West Harlem bodega into a bakery, he started producing fresh baked goods at home. Soon enough, he was supplying 19 supermarkets in Manhattan.
But that number wasn't enough for the ambitious Hernandez, so he joined the inaugural class Tuesday at a new business incubator for cooks at La Marqueta in East Harlem. Now, Hernandez thinks he could have his Guava Paste cake, flan and muffins in 100 supermarkets over the next few years.
"Even the best business plan didn't work. I didn't have the credentials. I didn't have the credit. It was the classic difficulties of all small business owners," Hernandez said.
The business incubator, which is run by non-profit Hot Bread Kitchen, offers access to a newly-renovated 3,000-square-foot space, which includes two production kitchens, two prep kitchens, a chocolate kitchen and dough room. The incubator also offers students business assistance.
"Now, I don't have to worry about construction. I can use my few pennies to buy sugar," Hernandez said.
Before starting its incubator at La Marqueta, Hot Bread Kitchen provided immigrant and minority women from all over the world with kitchen training, food-handling certificates, English classes and other skills they needed to get jobs in the food industry or launch their own businesses.
"While more of our bakers are interested in becoming manager in the food industry and good job placement, others are interested in starting their own businesses. Until now, we lacked the facilities to support them in launching their businesses," said Jessamyn Waldman, executive director of Hot Bread Kitchen.
"This is a natural next step for Hot Bread Kitchen. Graduates from our training program can now capitalize on the skills they have learned in production and launch their own businesses in our space," she said.
The City Council funded the construction of the space with a $1.5 million capital grant.
During the 1950s, more than 500 mostly Puerto Rican vendors occupied the La Marqueta space, which runs from East 111th to East 119th streets. Despite recent renovations, La Marqueta has struggled. Along with Hot Bread Kitchen, the Urban Garden Center recently opened an outpost at the site.
For East Harlem, the incubator will help continue the historic legacy of La Marqueta, said East Harlem councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito.
"This is a historic moment for East Harlem.This was a space that needed to be revitalized. We needed to bring in new energy while not forgetting those who wanted to stay as vendors," Mark-Viverito said.
Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future, applauded the opening of the Hot Bread Kitchen incubator, but said that it did not go far enough to revitalize La Marqueta.
He pointed to a report recently released by the Center for an Urban Future supporting a plan by the Harlem Community Development Corporation to turn La Marqueta into a High Line for Harlem, and expand the space to 133rd Street with 900 vendors.
"The success of La Marqueta is tied up in doing something bigger. La Marqueta was such a success that people from all over came there. Our idea is create a real big market and make it more of a draw. People will come from other parts of the city and it will release the full potential of the site," Bowles said.
