Maker Kitchens is finalizing their third San Diego location in the Midway District near Sports Arena. The designers of private kitchen spaces will introduce Hancock Kitchen along with new technology for growing restaurants and small businesses.
Maker Kitchens partner Bennett Goldberg toured What Now San Diego through the new facility, their third kitchen in San Diego county and their seventh location in the US. The company has another seven locations in the works, heading to Phoenix, Denver, and Orange County soon.
Hancock Kitchens has 26 private kitchens, outfitted with ventilation, hood systems, and additional on-site amenities like cold and dry storage rooms.
Seven restaurants will be moving in to use the space and serve directly from the site. Guests can look forward to a diverse lineup of food choices offered on-site, from Thai, East African cuisine, West African cuisine, pizza, Mexican, vegan, and more.
Maker’s Hancock Kitchens will debut their latest technology, partnering with 1Delivery as their ordering system. By using a multi-vendor payment remittance platform, this allows guests to purchase from multiple restaurants on one tab. Many of Maker Kitchens competitors with a large number of vendors do not have this function.
The 1Delivery Driver Module finds the closest and cheapest delivery service at the time of order to ensure fast and affordable delivery. Maker Kitchens signed agreements with Uber Eats, DoorDash, and local delivery company Pico for prompt and readily available service.
In the food pick-up lobby, you’ll be greeted with a set of Boxie Smart Lockers. Guests can order directly from the 1Delivery app and when their order is complete, their food is securely placed in their assigned smart locker for the guest or their delivery driver to pick up with their unique access code. They’ll even be alerted in case the entire order is not there yet, letting them know not to leave until all operators have brought their food to the front.
Beyond restaurants, the remaining kitchens will be utilized as prep facilities by catering companies and as food production and packaging facilities by brands like Mooski Snacks who will be fulfilling orders to chain retailers through Hancock Kitchens.
“We fill a gap, a much needed gap that’s never been there before. There are steps to becoming a commercial food producer. Let’s say to get to Whole Foods, you start making food in your kitchen first, then you move to a shared kitchen, then you make a huge investment into your own facility. Now we bridge that gap between buying your own 5,000 square foot facility and taking on all the utilities required.” Maker Kitchens not only provides the space but the utilities, on-site storage, and loads of resources to the food operators and restaurants under their roof.
For caterers or restaurants serving without a brick-and-mortar location, private kitchens like Maker Kitchens locations provide a necessary launch pad for brands to find success in the busy San Diego food scene. “We don’t have many people fail,” Goldberg proudly shares. Due to the nature of Maker Kitchens set up, Goldberg’s sound advice to restaurateurs in this space is, “nobody is going to be walking by and coming in. You have to be 50% Marketing and 50% Chef, and you have to do both really well.”
Hancock Kitchens is running through final inspections and hope to begin launching businesses under their roof in December 2022. To learn more, visit Maker Kitchens on Instagram.
