Synergy Incubators

Synergy Incubators Is Hanging Up Its Apron

November 2, 2014 By Dayton Most Metro

Dear Community,

After two years of challenging and exciting work, it’s time for us to step away. But first, we’d like to thank you. We’re in awe of the passionate support of people like you. Your generosity and engagement kept us inspired and drove us forward. And we were so close! It’s not easy to let go when we knew we were there!

Thanks to your support, we were running classes, had created a special curriculum, awakened new talent, helped launch new business, and were busy remodeling a kitchen in Dayton’s urban core—right where we belong, where we can do the most good. But the climate wasn’t supportive. Even as we explored every avenue, innovation and partnership suggested to us by the many talented thinkers and doers we know. Even with positive press, prevailing trends and the support of thousands of you in what amounts to one of the broadest grass roots efforts in memory. Even with the need we see in our community. Ours is the kind of effort that requires support from all sectors—private, commercial, non-profit and government.And the powers that be didn’t align with our mission.

Take heart. The concept of a regional culinary incubator is powerful and inevitable. Thousands of you have embraced it. Even as we must step down, we encourage you and your organization to take up the fight at some future time when conditions are more welcoming, as they will be. Meanwhile, we’ll continue to cheer our lungs out for every daring, independent, downtown food venture that enlivens our city streets and keeps us loving urban life. Please rest assured, whoever takes up the gauntlet next will have the benefit of our knowledge and experience, waiting here to be shared.

Love,

Synergy

Full disclosure- I, Lisa Grigsby, publisher of DMM was a part of Synergy.

City Proclaims Today Food Truck Day!

September 20, 2013 By Dayton Most Metro Leave a Comment

Over the past couple years, at least one segment of the food industry seems to be burgeoning not despite the recession, but because of it: food trucks. Given the tight credit market over the past few years, it takes more up-front capital to start new businesses. This makes the food truck market easier to enter than the traditional bricks and mortar restaurant business. The Dayton region has over 30 trucks in operation, with many more are on the way.

Synergy Incubators, a start up non-profit that collaborates to remove obstacles to success and to educate our next generation about nutrition, sustainability and community, has been working with local food trucks. Tonight at 200 S. Jefferson Street, during Urban Nights, they will host their 5th food truck rally, partnering with the Foodbank to host Food Truck Bingo! Attendees will have the chance to fill their bingo card by visiting the food trucks, as well as the Decoy – art boutique – studio sponsored children’s activities area & the Synergy Makers Market featuring 15 local Artisans as well!

The following Food Trucks will be serving up Street Food from 5-9pm tonight:

Bella Sorella Brick Oven Pizza
Cest Cheese
Cheeky Meat Pies
East Coast Eats
Fressa
Go Cupcake
Harvest Mobile Cuisine
Missourui Avenue BBQ
The Monchon
Ringo’s North Star Mobile Eatery

First Friday Food Truck Rally at 5th & Jefferson, The Start of Something More!

July 2, 2013 By Dayton Most Metro 4 Comments

Ever wondered how many food trucks Dayton has? We’ve got 22 listed in our DMM Dining Guide. This Friday, July 5th you’ll have the chance to dine at over a dozen of them , as Synergy Incubators hosts a Food Truck Rally at 200 S. Jefferson Street from 5 -9pm. After producing food truck rallies at Urban Nights and June First Friday, which attracted many thousands of patrons, the hope is that the new location will generate vibrancy and foot traffic to the benefit of the brick and mortar business nearby.

Mobile eateries participating include: Zombie Dogz, Go Cupcake, Ringo’s North Star Mobile Eatery,Caribbacanas LLC, Fressa Truck, G’s CUE BBQ, Horseless Buggy Eatery, La Pampa Grill, Tik’s Thai Mobile, The Monchon, Kona Ice, Missouri Avenue BBQ, McNasty‘s and Cold Stone Creamery. In addition, local artisans will be on hand selling jewelry, pottery, arts and crafts. Scheduled to vend will be ReVamped Jems, Cherry Fullam Art, Barmaid Soap Company, Miss Motley’s, No Place Like Nerd, Open Road Art Show, Lissa Lush Makes Stuff and Urban Reclaimed.

Event organizer Tonia Fish, has been working with the Miami Valley Mobile Food Association and shares, “the people of Dayton are embracing food trucks with open arms and the 200 Jefferson location is a perfect place to bring vibrancy to a corner of downtown Dayton that has been lifeless for too long. Our hope is that this is the first of many events we’ll host at this location.”

Synergy Incubators, Dayton’s first Kitchen Incubator, has submitted a proposal for use of the City owned property at 200 S. Jefferson Street. Synergy intend to establish a “food pod” or all-amenities location for food vendors to gather for the benefit of local eaters. If Synergy is successful in our bid to lease the space, food truck rally’s will become a regular event downtown. 200 Jefferson Street has all the necessary elements for a successful food pod are in place with very little need for physical alteration. Additionally, the interior of 200 S. Jefferson is perfectly suited to serve the community as a rentable banquet space, a demonstration-ready classroom, and a shared use certified commercial kitchen.

A rentable banquet space, available to all. Many local food businesses, lack on-sight banquet space and have expressed interest in hosting events. In addition to the food pod, Synergy proposes to offer 200 Jefferson Street as banquet event space.

Pilot shared commercial kitchen. The kitchen at the Jefferson space will serve the as a Synergy Incubators Pilot Project offering shared certified kitchen space for rent by the hour. Synergy has a waiting list with many new and growing enterprises ready to launch new food businesses in Dayton today. Early in the week a group of over a dozen scratch bakers met to talk about the need for a community kitchen and how that could increase their entrepreneurial efforts.

Beauty, vibrancy and engagement. Jefferson Street space is full of promise and the Synergy plan is one of beautification. Plenty of lovely greenery and demonstration food plants will bring nature back to the corner of Jefferson and Fifth Street. Synergy’s design plans to encourage a kind of old-fashioned humanity and togetherness that is so often missing from urban centers.

IMPACT: Healthy Food and Foot Traffic

Of the myriad advantages of placing 200 S. Jefferson Street into service as a community shared asset, perhaps the most important is it gives our entire food community access to kitchen and banquet space, helping all, rather than helping one.

Another is its potential to act as a gateway to nearby destinations. As a center of gravity for street food, the food pod attracts people to a place that’s within walking distance of the Oregon District, 5^th 3^rd Field even RiverScape. Situated as it is on the bike path, it can connect bike riders to 2^nd Street Market, destinations north of the river or south to the University of Dayton area. Available case studies show that street food has a positive impact on surrounding businesses and neighborhoods and a food pod is an effective means of increasing foot traffic.

Synergy Incubators is a developing non-profit aimed at offering certified commercial kitchen in addition to support services and programs, which encourage the successful development and growth of food businesses in Dayton. For more information on Synergy Incubators please visit synergyincubators.com.

June First Friday MIX 107.7 Food Truck Rally!

June 7, 2013 By Lisa Grigsby Leave a Comment

First Friday brings the second ever Dayton Food Truck Rally to downtown! Last month six trucks lined up at Riverscape and on a dreary day that rained off an on all day, no one was sure what to expect. The food truck operators weren’t sure whether to cancel due to weather, or show up, but how many to prep for? What they found was an overwhelming turnout, where guests lined up in the rain by the hundreds! Lines reached from the streets almost back to the pavilion. The turn out was huge and for some of the trucks it was more than they had on hand. What they learned is that Dayton loves street food!

So this First Friday there will be a dozen trucks lined up, more food prepped and Synergy Incubators has been working with the Miami Valley Mobile Food Association to help the truck entrepreneurs to work on efficiency, and quicker customer service! For many of these local entrepreneurs, they are learning as they go. And they are not the only ones learning- existing local ordinances, laws and regulations pertaining to food service were written decades ago, long before anyone had ever heard of a food truck. Most cities and counties do not even acknowledge the existence of “food truck” in their code, which poses challenges, permitting delays and lack of consistent information for the modern day food truck warrior. By forming the formal association (MVMFA) they can work together to help navigate and change the laws that allow these pioneers to bring food to underserved areas of town. They are also educating the public, mobile food now covers so much more than just a hot dog cart with an umbrella (speaking of which Craig’s Pesto Hot Dogs serves up a yummy Reuben Dog). A colorful, gleaming, fully equipped food truck can cost upwards of $120,000. Add to that the graphics wrap, menu development, gas, maintenance, insurance, truck storage, permitting fees, biz licenses and suddenly, what some may consider a weekend hobby, is now a full-on investment. And yes they do have to pay sale tax!

These restaurants on wheels are creating a whole new business niche, serving up gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, locally sourced foods and gourmet cupcakes. Many of them aspire to grow into bricks and mortar eateries . Being mobile allows them to research locations that work best for their particular food offerings. Many of the trucks have constantly changing menus. What they all have in common is they love to serve up food and they thrive on the challenges of each outing.

Tonight’s event with Miami Jacobs College is Mix 107.7’s Pre-Summer Fest Party, featuring a live band, and ticket giveaways to the June 15th Sheryl Crow show at Fraze Pavillion. The party will begin at 6pm at 110 North Patterson, and is scheduled to run until 10pm or until the food runs out!

Trucks You’ll Probably See Tonight:

Caribbacanas

Cheeky Meat Pies

Fressa

G’s Cue BBQ

Go Cupcake

Harvest Mobile Cuisine

Horseless Buggy Eatery

Kona Ice

Ringo’s North Star Mobile Eatery

The Monchon

Tik’s Thai Express Mobile

Map the Plan for Your Business Idea!

May 19, 2013 By Dayton Most Metro Leave a Comment

Join us for 2 valuable hours focusing on making your business a viable dream come true: Dive in with Kimberly Collett, Olive, an urban dive: Creating your business and financial plan. This class is for folks that have done their homework, flushed out their ideas, and are ready to put it on paper. It’s time to get serious about your business idea! Real regional insight, valuable tools and templates, a chance to ask questions and an opportunity for follow-up on your progress 6-8 weeks later. Ready to take the plunge into your first venture? Find out what it really takes. Get started on a solid foundation with the help of Kimberly Collett, entrepreneur and restaurateur, who will show you how to create a business plan and a detailed three year financial plan. Bring your laptop (if possible) and current plan if you have one, or any figures you’ve pulled together so far. Kimberly will provide a 3-year financial plan excel template and show you how to tweak it for your own business -a priceless tool that will bring your business plans to a boil! Attendees will be invited to a follow-up class to check progress and get feedback.

Class takeaways:

Realize the truth about planning and what it means in the real world.
Understand why you need a business plan AND a detailed financial plan.
Discuss possible funding for your idea.
Legal name searches and how to claim your domain name.
Customize a catch-all business plan template to your style and your idea.

Create a 3 year financial plan. A deep-dive exercise that shows what you’re in for, including:

Facts about legal licensing and fees.
Laws and taxes you are expected to know (without being told) and will be held accountable for.
The true cost of payroll.
Class includes 30 minutes of question and answer time. Limited Enrollment: 20

About Kimberly Collett:

“All the things I picked up in life came together in one little restaurant.”

Kimberly has a passion for building businesses. In 2011 she opened Olive, an urban dive, then her own construction company, Dayton Tradesource, and most recently broke ground on a collaboration project, The Barrel House. Olive is a locally sourced, Mediterranean/American restaurant offering foods inspired by Kimberly’s back-packing travels around Europe after high school (20 some years ago). Collett currently mentors for the Entrepreneurial Capstone Class at The University of Dayton, is a voting member on the Downtown Priority Board, and an Aileron Course for Presidents Alum. Synergy Incubators gives Kimberly an avenue to reach a classroom of budding entrepreneurs interested in learning how to turn ideas into brick-and-mortar businesses.