For years, Penny Steele went to Minneapolis to shape policy for Hennepin County. Now she's back in the big city again -- only this time, the thing she's shaping is fondant icing.
Steele launched a suburban custom cake business in 2009 when she stepped down from the County Board after 14 years as commissioner for the northwestern suburbs. But two months ago she moved the business to Kindred Kitchen, a newly opened business incubator in north Minneapolis.
The new space has two full-sized commercial kitchens, big enough for three teams of cooks, that are rented monthly by a dozen food entrepreneurs who are either just getting started or, like Steele, already in business. Several more are on the waiting list.
"It's kind of an amazing place," Steele said. "They have a big walk-in freezer and cooler, and you can rent a sliding bin and lock it up. They've thought it through quite nicely."
The cakes that Steele bakes are pretty amazing, too. Weddings make up about two-thirds of her business, including groom's cakes. With the help of her son Mark, a genuine edibles artist who can sculpt a cake to look like anything from a hot dog to a real dog, she turned out 80 custom wedding cakes last year.
It was, she said, too much. When an opportunity came along to expand the space she was occupying in Hamel, she realized that she really didn't want to grow the business. Instead, she wanted to cut back a bit, save on overhead and spend less time at work.
Kindred Kitchen was developed by the nonprofit Catalyst Community Partners in response to food entrepreneurs who had been working out of their homes and church basements and needed commercial kitchens to take their businesses to the next level. It opened in October, said sales and marketing director Austin Aho.
"We see it as an investment in our community," he said. "We're hoping to create jobs. We're trying to lower the barrier to the food industry in north Minneapolis, as well as provide a quality service to chefs all over the Twin Cities."
