Helping Small Businesses Get Off the Ground

Yesterday, we took a field trip over to the Entrepreneur's Space, an incubator for small businesses. While the majority of the tenants are launching their business in the food industry, the Queens Economic Development Corporation, the entity behind this space, is also beginning to encourage other small businesses to take advantage of the mixed-use facility.

Previously, the space served a similar purpose, but was operated by a union-backed non-profit that eventually was unable to afford to maintain it. When the QEDC heard about its pending doom, they opened up their pockets and were able to take over the space, keeping all of the existing tenants intact.

Located just one block east of the 36th St. R/M stop, E-Space has been used for years as a shared industrial kitchen for start-ups ranging from catering businesses to dessert manufacturers across the City. The space now caters to businesses of all sizes, some of which distribute nationally in supermarkets to others who are just getting their start at local flea markets.

Tenants displaying their products in the main kitchen

Yesterday, several of the tenants attended the ribbon-cutting open house by offering their products to curious onlookers and other potential tenants. We couldn't have been more impressed with the quality and variety of edible products being produced in this space.

We found several catering companies, an organic doggy treat company, a granola company, a nordic bread company, several pastry chefs, a popsicle company, and a vegan hot spiced chocolate company, among others.

Zoj Granola, Astoria, USA

Finnish Ruis Bread is now exclusively available at Dean & Deluca

Bocce's Bakery organic, all-natural, health food for dogs (yes, we ate them...and yes, they were good) has been featured in People Magazine, on theknot.com, and Daily Candy since launching last year

Sweet Silk Middle Eastern-inspired treats look almost too good to eat

NibMore vegan hot spiced chocolate is now available nationwide

The space is open 24/7 and daily rates start at just $154--this includes access to all of the industrial kitchen equipment and their trained kitchen staff.

One thing we encountered that took us by surprise is that of the 20+ businesses we spoke with, only one was actually Queens-based. All of the other businesses were coming from Brooklyn, Manhattan, New Jersey, and Long Island to use the space, then taking their products back to distribute locally. Hopefully, now that the QEDC is at the helm, we'll see more of these great products making their way into our neighborhood and not just making a bee-line to Whole Foods and Brooklyn Flea.

In addition to the space being used by those in the food industry, the QEDC is trying to make the second floor office space geared more toward other types of businesses including high technology. On this second floor, you'll find three office suites and a handful of cubicles that can be rented out in various types of packages.

Another major bonus of the space being transitioned over to the QEDC is that now all tenants (food-based or not) have access to free business counseling to help ensure their business plan is optimized for today's market.

If you're interested in becoming a tenant at E-Space, stop by or give them a call.