Shared commercial kitchens and food incubators are spaces where would-be restaurateurs can gain the experience they need before opening their own operations with lower overhead. A recent addition in Southeastern North Carolina aims to expand those resources.

The food hall Block Eatz aims to provide local food entrepreneurs the support they need to make the leap to brick-and-mortar restaurants. It opened Sept. 19 in the McKeithan Center at Cape Fear Community College’s North Campus.

As an incubator, Block Eatz supplies food entrepreneurs with the costly infrastructure needed to get a restaurant off the ground, including real estate and a fully equipped commercial kitchen. Block Eatz also supports entrepreneurs so they can maintain and grow their businesses. 

“Our mission here is to partner with local food entrepreneurs from ideation to commercialization,” said Girard Newkirk, who along with his wife, Tracey, founded Block Eatz as well as Genesis Block, a small business development service center.

They came up with the idea for Block Eatz when they realized that a large number of the entrepreneurs working with Genesis Block were in the food industry but lacked the capital and sometimes the know-how to open a restaurant.

“Over 40% of our businesses were food businesses,” Girard Newkirk said. “A lot of the biggest challenges they were facing were related to the infrastructure needed to expand their food businesses. That first initial investment is a huge capital investment.”

They partnered with CFCC and CFCC’s Small Business Center to provide space for the venture, training and mentoring. The partnership also benefits CFCC’s culinary students, as they have a pipeline to working with professional chefs.

Block Eatz’s food hall is currently home to two restaurants, which operate on rotating days. The program’s restaurateurs lease space on a short-term basis – about four to five months – and they share their profits with Block Eatz.

Block Eatz’s participants, however, undergo a rigorous selection and training process before staking out a claim in the food hall. First, they must convince judges and community members that their idea is viable. Then, those who are selected for the program embark on a comprehensive educational program to learn the business and technical skills needed to make their ideas work. The crowning point of the program is the real-world experience the food entrepreneurs get running their own restaurant. 

In the end, the participants might decide to open their own restaurant, or they might decide to go in another direction, according to Gerard Newkirk. Either way, they can make an informed decision, he added.

The program is ideal for people like Yanni Lopez, who owns Cultura 311 and Paella Fusion with her husband and who wants to take her business to the “next level.” 

Lopez said it was important to her to have a commercial kitchen.

“Having a kitchen and not having to worry about where the appliances will come from is the most valuable part of the program,” she said. “Buying a grater or fryer is all very expensive. We just need to bring our talent and what we need to make our meals.”

Lopez said that Block Eatz’s educational components are essential to her success. She has learned a range of skills integral to opening and running a full-fledged restaurant, including how to keep track of and calculate her costs as well as how to work with distributors, marketing and management.

“I’m learning a bit of everything,” she noted. “It’s helping us a lot.”

Another aspect of the program that Lopez appreciates is the opportunity to collaborate with other business owners. Doing so provides learning opportunities that seminars can’t offer, according to Lopez. 

“We are a team working together,” Lopez said. “We are learning from each other, and I like that because we are all entrepreneurs. If we don’t have answers, we brainstorm together and come up with answers for what is best for us.”

In the short time Block Eatz has been open, it has been ramping up steadily. Though business was slow the first week the food hall opened, it has steadily picked up. As word spread, college students, CFCC faculty and even workers from nearby offices stopped by for meals.

For Girard Newkirk, Block Eatz’s debut is just the beginning. He hopes to increase the number of food entrepreneurs as well as the number of restaurant spaces in Block Eatz. They also plan to include food distributors, local producers, farmers and others in the food supply chain to the program. 

More educational programs are also on the menu. One possibility is curbside and delivery options. Another would teach vendors and food companies the ins and outs of the permitting process. 

Girard Newkirk has big ambitions for Block Eatz, but that’s because he is driven to help hopeful entrepreneurs realize their goals and ambitions. 

“I wanted to be a tycoon when I was a kid, but I didn’t have role models to show me the way,” he said. “My dream has always been to come home and provide an outlet for entrepreneurs. I’m in a unique position to provide solutions to their problems. I worked in Silicon Valley with some of the best minds in the world. That transfer of knowledge is why I do it.”