Do you enjoy getting to know people doing really cool things for their local food community? Does seasonal cuisine prepared by award-winning chefs tickle your fancy? Are you ready to get out from behind the screen and engage in conversations shaping the shared kitchen industry?
No two Shared Kitchen Summits are the same. The content evolves as data emerges and lessons are learned. New operators enter the industry with innovative concepts and fresh perspectives. Each host city offers a different local food system to explore and taste. We take the feedback provided each year to heart and iterate our Summit based upon what you want to experience and learn.
Whether you’re on the fence about attending, or merely procrastinating, we hope this in-depth Summit preview helps get you off of the dock and into the boat with us.
If you’re lucky enough to already have your ticket, consider this your hype blog.
Prefer to listen to us reminisce about Summits past and what we’re looking forward to most this year? Check out this conversation with our own Ashley and Tyler.
The Venue
CIC is our Summit headquarters this year. We have complete run of District Hall, so we’re transforming it into our Clubhouse for three days. Floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Providence River, comfy lounge seating scattered about the common areas, and interactive partner activations throughout. They also love supporting local as much as we do, so expect breakfast and lunches featuring the businesses from Sankofa Community Kitchen and Hope & Main. Did we mention it’s walkable to all downtown has to offer?
The Sessions
No high-level fluff around here. We’re getting into the weeds about your most requested topics, with the operators and partners living them daily, so you can implement solutions immediately upon arriving home.
Get ready to dive into:
- Data, policy, and your economic impact: Numbers talk, but yours have a story to tell. Learn how to translate your kitchen's activity into the kind of economic impact data that turns skeptical funders and city officials into believers.
- Finances from all angles: Whether you're staring down a spreadsheet or building one from scratch, we’re covering the money questions every operator eventually has to answer, from pricing to reporting to balancing your mission with revenue.
- Support for your renters: Your members' success is your success. Explore what it actually takes to help the businesses in your kitchen grow, stay compliant, and stick around.
- Operational case studies: Skip the theory. These are real kitchens, real decisions, and real results, laid out so you can borrow what works and avoid what doesn't.
- SOPs, policies, and compliance: The foundation of a smooth-running kitchen. Get practical frameworks and paperwork strategies that protect your business and free you up to focus on what matters.
The Events
Our Summit is synonymous with experiences that forge meaningful relationships lasting beyond the three days together. Here’s what you can look forward to:
Oct. 11 - Makers Market & Early Check-in
This is your opportunity to support the food businesses producing in Providence’s shared kitchens, kick-off networking early, and see all the goodies we packed in your swag bag. Come hungry. We invited a few of the best local food trucks to join this event.
Oct. 12 - Regional Lunch
Forget the high school flashbacks of trying to find someone to sit with on the first day. We’re seating you with the attendees in your region so you can get to know those closest to home.
Oct. 12 - Resource Happy Hour
Unwind after the first day at Track 15, a food hall featuring Providence’s best chefs in a historic Providence train station. Entice your tastebuds while engaging with partners for a chance to earn amazing prizes. We hear the shipped to you live lobster draw is returning. You’ll enjoy bites from:
Oct. 13 - Local Bus Tour
We’re nosy and we like to see other kitchens. We’re hitting the road field trip style (in more comfortable buses) and doing just that. Here’s where we’re going:
Farm Fresh
Sankofa Community Kitchen
Hope & Main
Navad Bakery
Oct. 14 - Golden Whisk Awards
It’s time to celebrate you, the kitchen hero. Hosted at the Herreshoff Marine Museum, The Golden Whisk Awards is the perfect close to three days of intentional connecting and learning. Prepare your best nautical themed attire for a night of live music, boats, libations, and of course, locally caught and grown fare against the backdrop of Bristol Harbor at sunset.
The Golden Whisk Awards are more than a cool trophy (they’re that, too), they’re a differentiating factor on a grant application, a story for your local news, and a signal to your renters and prospects that your kitchen is among the best out there.
Nominations are open! Now is not the time to be humble. Brag about all your kitchen accomplished this year and complete our nomination form by August 14th.
This isn’t just another conference. This is the place where education leads to action, partners turn into collaborators, faces on a screen become lifelines, and that sense of doing it alone melts into community.
We can’t wait to see you!
