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Sussex County ‘Kitchen incubator’ opens to culinary entrepreneurs
S ussex County has added a new ingredient to the recipe for

promoting economic development in southern Delaware.
In November 2023, County officials formally opened a new
“kitchen incubator,” aimed at small commercial operators in need
of space to craft their cuisines. The kitchen launched at the Owens
Campus of Delaware Technical Community College, centrally
located in Georgetown.
The 1,800-square-foot commercial-grade kitchen is the result of
a four-plus-year collaborative effort among the County, Del Tech
and the State of Delaware to create a first-of-its-kind working
space for caterers, farmers, food truck operators and other smaller
businesses without a commercial-grade kitchen.
Under Delaware’s licensing requirements for vendors, such
a facility is a requirement for food preparation and sale, which
often means small businesses must use space during off hours at
restaurants, fire halls, church kitchens or other licensed facilities.
“Lack of space and the tremendous overhead costs to create
their own kitchen is something food vendors have told us time
and again [is a challenge],” said Bill Pfaff, the County economic
development director. “We believe the kitchen incubator is a way
to help meet that need, to provide the catalyst—the yeast, as it
were—so these ‘foodpreneurs’ can cook up their success.”
Latisha Dismuke is a culinary arts teacher and chef/owner of A
Taste of Jazz catering. “I had crossed paths with Bill Pfaff a few
years ago when I talked to him about trying to find a kitchen, and
it was just really hard.”
Now, the kitchen incubator is “instrumental” to her business. In
past summers, “I didn’t have access to a kitchen, and I had some
large-scale events. This summer, I did four weddings with over 220
guests, within a 30-day time,” she said. “I’ll put it like this: This
year, being able to have this kitchen, my revenue has quadrupled.”
The incubator helps reduce the risk of failure by removing start-
up barriers associated with starting and maintaining a commercial
kitchen.
Plus, this Sussex County program will provide technical assistance
and training related to distribution, branding, marketing, pricing,
food cost and other business know-how. Ultimately, this will help
people to grow food companies, create jobs, improve healthy food
access and strengthen our regional food economy.
More than two dozen vendors are or soon will be working
here. Products have included baked goods, gourmet hot sauce,
handmade jellies, catering businesses, food trucks and more.
Vendors using the space must become members of the incubator,
paying a minimal fee and a per-hour charge for kitchen use. Up to
three businesses can actively work in the space at any time.
Find more information, visit sussexkitchende.com or facebook.
com/SussexKitchenDE. Contact econdev@sussexcountyde.gov or
(302) 667-0825 for more details.

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