Have you dreamed of starting a food business but have no idea where to begin? The LEAP Kitchen is here to help!

‍The LEAP Kitchen is a commercial rental kitchen inspected by the Virginia Department of Health and Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Becoming a kitchen member provides access to commercial grade cooking equipment and the space needed to work more efficiently. LEAP’s Kitchen Manager is also an industry expert available to offer guidance. The LEAP Kitchen can accommodate food trucks, caterers, bakers, and food manufacturers. We can assist with recipe development, menu engineering, packaging and label requirements, marketing and merchandising, procurement, and avenues for distribution.

The LEAP Kitchen has immediate openings for membership. It also has the best yearly member rate and hourly pricing compared to other commercial rental kitchens in the Mid-Atlantic region and across the country. We do not require weekly or monthly minimums. We also offer a food truck commissary package.

The LEAP Kitchen has about 30 members, all of whom use the kitchen in different ways to support their businesses. For some, the community of food producers is most important, others cook many times a week in the kitchen as caterers, still others sell food products at LEAP's farmers markets.

Here are a few LEAP Kitchen members  you might know: Asher's Coffee Beans, Beauty and the Treats, Blessed 'N' Highly Flavored (caterer), By the Dozen (cookies), Elote Alebrije (Mexican street corn), Ot Chihuahua Salsa, Smoke in Chimneys, Spice Titan, and Sycamore Snacks.

‍Queen's Vegan Cafe and Kind Baking Co.are recent LEAP Kitchen members who have “graduated” to their own brick-and-mortar spaces, food trucks, or other partnerships. When kitchen members succeed, we consider this a LEAP Kitchen win!

To learn more or schedule a tour, connect with LEAP Kitchen Manager Jeff Bland at 540-632-0485 or kitchen@leapforlocalfood.org.