HOW SUMMIT COOKHAUS IS MEETING THE SHARED KITCHEN CHALLENGE

Lightly edited for readability: filler words, repeated words and false starts are removed. [Brackets] mark my clarifications or audio I couldn’t make out. Timestamps mark where each passage starts in the recording.

AUGUSTINE0:01Okay. Cool. Awesome. And thanks again. This is really, really cool. … [What made you] decide to start it? What’s a big point to make something viable, from both a business standpoint and [a] food system standpoint?

[We moved somewhere quieter before Jake answered.]

JAKE0:39So basically, we needed a space to cook for our 80 to 100 kids. We have our own kitchen staff that does that. We didn’t need a commercial kitchen to do that. We just needed the basics. There was miscommunication. The city obligated us to get a commercial fire suppression hood, the Type One hood, a three-bay sink, and a grease trap, but we didn’t need that, and we knew we didn’t need that. We didn’t need to invest that much for what we were doing here. It was holding the build up, so we finally agreed to do that. It was to the tune of about another $200,000 to do that. And then once it was installed, the city’s like, “Oh yeah, you didn’t need that after all.” Okay. But it was already installed, and so this build was completed in January of 2026, so very recently.

And as the build is coming up on being completed, we’re looking at that Type One hood that we have in there, and fire suppression, and three-basin [sink], and grease trap, and that’s what makes it. That’s the start of a commercial kitchen. You absolutely have to have those items. So I started to network with my friends. I have some friends in the food industry. I don’t come from a food background whatsoever. I have no culinary experience, nothing. Never worked in it, but I have friends that have and do.

And I got into contact with local caterers and food manufacturers. I had a lot of conversations leading up to the building [of] this place, and it became clear that there was no commissary kitchen. Prior to a year ago, I never even heard the term commissary kitchen, and here I am operating one. So it was just a lot of talks with local food manufacturers, talking to caterers that made it and where they struggled getting to where they made it. A lot of our valley’s top caterers, through their business, were able to invest in complete kitchens that just serve their own business, and they love it that way. They want their own kitchen, their own supplies, and don’t want to share anything. But for new and upcoming caterers, or caterers that just [transplanted] here, they don’t have that option. Property is incredibly expensive. Kitchens are incredibly expensive, and so they need places to operate out of.

So we decided to pull the trigger on outfitting the rest of that kitchen. So after that initial roughly $200,000 investment as part of the build, I withdrew about $60,000 from a retirement account to outfit the kitchen with what you now see: the eight open gas burners, the industrial double convection ovens, the stainless steel prep tables, the mixers, the commercial refrigeration, and all the storage racks. So here we are.

And so I continue to have conversations with people in our community. I have about eight or nine people onboarding right now, and there couldn’t be a bigger variety. So right in there now, you see that we have a caterer. I just got a custom spice making company that officially is going retail [and] wholesale. So instead of just selling at farmers markets, they can now sell their products in restaurants, grocery stores, online, and all over the world. And she came in the other day with the health department, and we jointly got an A-plus inspection.

And so we have a few food trucks onboarding who just need maybe additional prep space. Food trucks require a commissary agreement. They need to be connected to… not all of them. Some beverage trucks don’t have to, but most food trucks have to be connected to a licensed kitchen. And so from here, they can get their potable water. We have grease disposal, and again, extra prep space. And so we’re seeing a huge variety of clientele that I didn’t expect. And I spent the entire summer having conversations at farmers markets and food truck festivals, to talk [to] people about what their interests were and what their needs were, and [it] just further solidified that going live with this commissary kitchen was the right choice.

AUGUSTINE4:35Yeah, awesome. You covered a ton of questions.

JAKEYeah, sorry. I can talk a lot, and I’m sorry.

AUGUSTINENo, it’s great. Okay, let’s see. Did you work with any development programs, like [Montana West] Economic Development, or no?

JAKE4:57I definitely could have and should [have]. But my wife and I, we’ve spent years building this business and her business, this large facility, and we definitely solicited and received support from them in the early years of doing our business, and we’ve certainly attained grants at the state and federal level to get that money to help us build out this one. I just kind of did it on my own. I got in contact with [MWED] afterwards, and USDA, and did networking after it was built. So I should have done that before.

And undoubtedly there’s certainly grants in the future for my expansion of this location. I would like to certainly be able to offer a [walk-in] cooler. We have an avenue to do that. There’s a huge shortage of cold storage, but really until our cold storage fills out for what we have… But Ben at [MWED] has been great. He kind of heads up this side of things, the food production in Montana, for [Montana West] Economic Development, and so being connected with them for me right now is really important because of referrals. If we talk about [the] Small Business Development Center, they have people coming there starting food businesses, seeking food licenses, and same with [Montana West] Economic Development. So my best partnership with them right now would be getting their referrals, and that I’m a resource to their clients, and so we’re kind of a joint resource. But definitely in the future, when I seek to expand, if that’s my intention, I’ll definitely be working with them much closer.

AUGUSTINE6:40Yeah, especially on the cold storage front. I was trying to run numbers on what it would take to actually get a third-party cold storage up and running for people, and it’s a challenging economic thing to make work unless you have a good context around it.

JAKE6:57Yeah, well, and you’ll see when we do a tour of the kitchen, we have a dry storage pantry back there, and on the other side of that wall is actually a garage, a shed, and I had it priced out with the company. They could build out a [walk-in] cooler there for about $26,000, which is, for what it’s worth, that’d be a really good addition to my business, and not a tremendously burdensome cost. But again, I definitely want to build it when we’re at capacity, and then ensure that there’s a demand.

There was a commissary kitchen in the area a few years back called Ghostland Kitchens, and [I] had a lot of talks with that individual. His name was Kevin Rosenjack, and we talked very plainly about how [Ghostland] Kitchens went, and I tugged his ear on, because he had operated, mistakes that I could avoid. And so, just learning as we go. So I don’t want to overbuild without having accomplished filling out this kitchen in my existing storage.

But I think it’s still so new that… one thing I learned about Kalispell is you can tell people about a business that you’re going to start, but the mentality is, I’ll believe it when I see it. In this valley you see a lot of people that talk about businesses they’re going to start and things they’re going to do that never come to fruition. They get people pumped up online: “Hey, I’m going to do this. I’m going to do this.” And you go back and you’re like, whatever happened to that? And it didn’t happen. And I understand why our valley feels and thinks that way, because we’re told this business or this company is coming into Kalispell, and it doesn’t happen.

And so now that I’m here, now that I’m actually real… that was one of the things when [the] SBDC called. John Driscoll, he called me up, and I meant to get in touch with him. And his first question when I said hello, he’s like, “Are you real?” [laughter] Because again, there’s always those businesses that don’t actually come to fruition. We are real, and so I believe that once people use it and start to trust that they can use it, I’ll be able to do those future buildouts.

AUGUSTINE9:01Cool. So I want to revisit what you said about the stakes from Ghostland Kitchen. My angle on this is all kind of the systemic element, so everything working together, and I’m curious if the challenges that Ghostland Kitchen faced were things where just the economy wasn’t right, or there were traps that were not operational mistakes, or if it was more on the “I would have done it differently.”

JAKE9:07From what I gathered, it was kind of “I would have done it differently.” And there [were] certain maybe expectations that weren’t met. Because I think what Kevin was trying to accomplish, in his words, he wanted to create a really awesome experience. He wanted to just be all-inclusive, this kind of fusion thing, where he identified that the valley had so many different needs, and he tried to combine them all into one. And that really muddied the waters. He was in that kitchen. They started serving food right from that kitchen, incorporating a variety of other things, and permanent food trucks on location, like a court. I can’t really speak to all of it specifically. He could definitely talk more on that.

But I just [want to offer] the kitchen. Just the absolute back to basics, because at least I’m targeting that clientele: the people that need a space to upgrade their license to retail [and] wholesale, my chef in there [who needs] a kitchen to come operate out of to cater his events. I didn’t want to create a big blob of “We’re doing this, this, this, and this.” I want to just be the best commissary kitchen in the valley, now and in the future, where we just provide a really simple but perfect service that people need.

And then as we get into it, I do want to do things for our community. We have that whole back half, two acres of this property that butts up right to Spring Creek. It’s a beautiful property back there. I’m a fun-loving person. I want this to be fun, and I want to have fun. And so I think in the future, I can look to some of those bigger community ideas, where we incorporate certain things or certain elements to bring more life. But I think right now, if you just do something simple and do it really, really well… that old adage: do a common thing uncommonly well. And just meeting that need straight away.

AUGUSTINE11:30Cool. So if I understand it, a commissary kitchen kind of fills a role at a certain part of the life cycle of a food entrepreneur, where it’s before they’re successful enough to buy all of their own stuff. So how do you kind of think about your customers moving through that life cycle? Are you planning to stay with them in some way, or are you kind of just happy to stay in this band and soak up all of the new ventures that are happening in the valley?

JAKE12:01Yeah, obviously that’s the ideal. The ideal situation is someone coming into my kitchen from ground zero. They have a skill. They’re an excellent baker, or they make amazing sauces or spices, or they’re an excellent chef, and they don’t have the financial capital to build out their own licensed kitchen. And then to see those businesses come in and grow, and then move up and out, and I’ll support them in that completely.

But also, my kitchen is a line item, a small line item on their total budget. So I think it’s incredibly feasible that I get a chef, a caterer, a sauce maker, a spice maker, whoever, and they might realize that I have this kitchen and it’s a small line item. Depending on how much time they spend in my kitchen, you can come into my kitchen [and it can] only be 100 bucks a month. It could be 1,000 a month. Whatever it is, your level of production. But if that individual was to go out, let’s say a baker wanted their own specific bakery and a commercial kitchen, we’re talking about $1 million, $2 million, and that monthly bill is 15, 20,000 a month. So they’re on the hook for that 20,000 a month, no matter what their production and sales are. Whereas when you’re working in my commissary kitchen, you only pay for what you use. It’s not a monthly membership or a monthly rent. When you’re with my kitchen, you pay for what you use. So maybe that same baker looks at the whole thing and is like, no, leasing allows me to stay more liquid. So they might just lease this space for the entire duration of their business.

Obviously, if their new level of production outgrows mine, then they’ll have to do something with that. But for now, [I] haven’t seen that yet, and I’d love to see that, where someone’s like, “I have too many orders, I have so much requests for my products, I need more.” And then what I would like to be able to do in those future moments is build out my kitchen. Like I said, we have the other two acres over there. It’s not like I’m sitting here telling you I’m going to build another kitchen. We have that facility down in Ronan that’s 14,000 square feet. It’s the size of this building, and they have the mass production cherry pickers, and maybe I’ll get there, but kind of suss the demand. I want to meet the community need, and then provide products and services that meet those needs. I’m sure something like that would take off and do well, but that would be a significant investment.

But ultimately, at the end of the day, what we offer could be the end-all be-all for people, where that’s a simple line item, and they watch their profits grow, or it’s a stepping stone for them to get into their new business. And whatever assistance they needed from me along those ways, I provide what I can.

AUGUSTINE14:47Okay, very cool.

JAKE14:48Yeah, awesome.

AUGUSTINE14:50And so how would you characterize the food entrepreneur scene in the valley? What advantages do you think this valley in particular has going forward, in terms of food? If someone was interested in becoming a food entrepreneur, what do you think really is in their court?

JAKE15:09I think the tourism here. One thing, as I really started delving [in] and look[ing] for clients and customers, I personally messaged, I’d say, at least 1,000 people or more by now, whether it’s through Instagram, Facebook, whatever I find, and all of a sudden I start to uncover things. I’m like, whoa, the amount of wedding days, the amount of wedding photographers, the amount of outside tourism. I’ve heard from multiple people that catering is in high demand here. And so I think it’s that tourism, the people from the outside coming in. People are coming to this valley for an experience, and that can and does include food.

And I think that anyone stands to benefit from that, whether it’s someone that’s selling their items at a coffee shop, capitalizing on those opportunities of the people coming here for an experience. Now, if you were to go somewhere else in Montana that maybe didn’t have the tourism [lure] that we do with Whitefish Mountain Resort, Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake, and just this beauty of the area, you’re talking about a totally different customer and client base. But I think that is a tremendous advantage. The people coming here want an experience, and they’re going to be able to get it with food, and they’re getting the food, and so that’s the advantage they have. And I want to provide those people with the advantage of our kitchen so they can get their products in those hands.

AUGUSTINE16:31So I think one last big question I want to ask you is… I’m really interested in how locally produced food moves into consumption. So how do people get food grown here onto someone’s plate, or into a food cart or something like that? And so from my perspective, it looks like, oh, okay, there’s this infrastructure that’s already bought that is multimodal, in the sense that you can use the cold storage for farm produce, or you can basically bring things that are grown around the valley to the place where people already need and use ingredients for their food. So I’m curious if you have thought of basically acting like an aggregator for the farms around the valley, and if so, what’s the reality of actually trying to integrate that into a business model?

JAKE17:30I know, this is the one question you’re going to stump me on, because I haven’t quite really delved into that. I know those systems exist; they’re everywhere. You’ll see farm to table everywhere. We have so many local farms producing their fresh products, packaging them, making them readily available to our food manufacturers, people. Whether it’s caterers for their fresh dishes, or people making fermented foods, jarring, canning, whatever its need is, that’s an area that I haven’t gotten into. It’s an area I want to go to. It’s an area I need to learn a lot more about, and I’ll do that by connecting with local farms and how they’re doing it. But on that side of things, I truly don’t have an answer for you on how that happens, and I want it to happen, and then I know that our facility can play a key role in that.

I think it really boils down ultimately to the licenses of those locations and what they’re doing. When we want our local farm foods into our markets, okay, a lot of them are getting into our market underneath a home license or a cottage license, where all the sales have to happen face to face. When you get into retail and wholesale licensing, that allows you to sell your products to broader markets, get into wholesale deals with local restaurants and grocery stores. A lot of our farm stuff, I know, is just happening face to face. People are doing farm stands. Local food producers are going directly to them to pick it up. That way, they don’t have to have a retail or wholesale license when you’re doing it face to face. And there’s certainly a volume component to that too. So I can’t speak for… if you do X amount of volume, you might have to upgrade your license.

But I would love to be a part of that process, to either facilitate getting those products into our facilities, getting them packaged, and having a client who does retail, wholesale, or uses it in their production and gets it out to not just our local community, but broader and beyond, all of Montana and beyond. But that’s an area I’m weak in that I need to bolster.

AUGUSTINE19:40Yeah, it’s awesome. What you achieved right now is fantastic. That pretty much covers [it]. I have a few little random things, but mostly…

JAKE19:53I don’t mind. Whatever question. That one stumped me, and that’s the one I want to work on, and you’re prompting me to do it. So that’s kind of my next thing. I joke with my wife: I go on these marketing blitzes. It’s like, all right, we’re targeting chefs today. I’m targeting food trucks. I’m targeting dot dot dot. I’ve made some connections with farms, but we’ve had no hard communication. So I need to make those calls and talk it through. There’s a local business called Milk Movers, where their specialty… I’m sure you’ve heard of them.

AUGUSTINEYeah.

JAKETheir specialty is moving locally made products. So we’ve had a few talks with them, and I’ve got to get over there and get my flyers over there so they can help [spread] my information, if people are interested in getting their products in circulation. I think they’re instrumental in that whole process, as far as the whole farm to table and getting things circulated. But yeah, I’ve got to take some steps.

AUGUSTINE20:50Yeah, they’re cool. Something that comes to mind… and this is totally off the hip… is packaging. I’ve been really curious to know if anyone is in the packaging space, basically making an affordable way to package without having to buy out of state, especially using materials that are byproducts, agricultural byproducts or industrial byproducts. So I’m curious if that has ever [been] something you’ve picked up on.

JAKE21:20No, it hasn’t picked up yet, but we’re getting into that. As far as food packaging, one thing that’s becoming much more popular this day and age is prepared meals, and so that’s where packaging comes in. A lot of food producers, such as caterers and chefs… we’re very seasonal here, so they’ll have a slow season. And the people I’ve talked to that want prepared meals, they don’t want to do DoorDash. It’s [a] total ripoff. Everybody knows that; it’s absolutely ridiculous. And they’ve tried national brands, but they feel those national brands lack in nutrition. They’re low on proteins, and it’s not great quality meat. So more and more people are looking towards prepared meals made right here. You have Salty Calf that does prepared meals, the chefs that slow down, to buoy their winter seasons when they don’t have these events that they’re catering, pivoting to meal preparation.

So I’m curious. I’m going to learn more about packaging and the availability of packaging. Now, it’s not jars and canning and all this stuff. It could be, but I’ll learn more about our packaging chains and packaging products as I get the opportunity to see how that actually transpires. I think [MWED]… I was provided a bunch of resources. There are packaging resources in Montana, but I haven’t had the opportunity to delve into it. As far as what I do with the kitchen, it’s what people do in there. So I need to learn about it to benefit my clients coming in. So if I have a new customer that’s interested in packaging food, I want to be able to be a powerful resource and say, “Oh yeah, you call XYZ company. They’re based in Polson… They’re based in Montana,” and get those locally sourced products that are sustainably made.

AUGUSTINE23:12Yeah. The food kit thing is something that I’ve always wondered about as well. Seems like an amazing niche, actually, for someone to fill. A validated thing people need, and the local aspect could be huge.

JAKE23:26And I think people are willing to pay. When you see DoorDash show up with a cheap $5 burger and a $10 delivery charge, I’m like, they can afford a prepared meal that’s way better than that. So I’m excited to see how that goes, and I am getting my first few clients that intend on using my space to do so. And so learning those processes, learning where they’re getting their products from, not just the food but also the packaging, and streamlining those processes, so it reduces their [lead times?] and costs, and they’re able to profit more from the meals they’re selling, so they can continue to do more.

AUGUSTINE24:04Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. I guess the couple follow-ups are, I guess, how can I help? Something that you said made me interested. I’m in a writing and researching kick right now, so if there’s any research things where it’s like, oh, what are the packaging options, or stuff like that, I’d be happy to help with that. But is there anything else that you need help with, as a business or as a part of the community?

JAKE24:40Yeah. Well, right now I’m like, play as I go. It’s all about who comes in here, and the people onboarding are so vastly different. Like no two are the same. So, if I ever get to a point, I think I’ll definitely ask those questions, if I see a business stalling or having trouble with something that they want to accomplish, and my [kitchen] provides them that capability, but we’re stuck somewhere else in the process. Absolutely, I’ll find you. I’ll hit you up. I have your contact information, to identify how that can be accomplished. But so far, just kind of playing the ball as it lies, as people come in, and sussing out what their needs are.

AUGUSTINE25:18Cool. And then, is there anyone else who’s doing something that you think is interesting that I should talk to?

JAKE25:26Yeah, I already talked about, as far as the whole production of getting products in Montana, the Milk Movers. I’m really fascinated with what they’re doing. And I was talking to another chef this morning about DoorDash, and really how awful that really is for local business. It’s a total ripoff. You’re getting cheap products at a super high delivery charge. He was talking about if a ghost kitchen ran out of here (which is a restaurant with no storefront, where it’s strictly delivery) but top quality food, to totally take over that DoorDash market, but with local food and good food, and where you’re not just getting ripped off on delivery charges. So that’s something. I don’t know of anyone doing that in the area.

Some people feel that ghost kitchens are on a decline now that we’re so far from COVID, and people are more interested in pop-up and live events. But when you look at businesses like DoorDash, they are killing it. They’re pretty much operating as a ghost kitchen, a delivery service where you’re not actually going to a restaurant or sitting down. It’s just getting taken to your house. So I’m curious on the research on that. I’d be curious as to if that’s still successful. From the articles I’ve read, some [say] that’s in decline in our major cities, but here, I don’t know. I think it can do well, but it’d be about finding a chef who wanted to run the business like that and be like, “Hey, I’m XYZ Ghost,” and they just deliver amazing food.

AUGUSTINE27:00Yeah, that would be cool. That’d be really cool to look into. Okay. Well, awesome. I can’t wait. So basically, like I said, I think this will just be transcribed.

JAKE27:11Go right ahead, man. You can clean up my language a bit.

AUGUSTINE27:14Okay. And then I’ll send it to you, and it’s just going up on the same blog that [the] map was [on], and I’ll do some promotion.

JAKE27:24Awesome. I appreciate it.

AUGUSTINE27:25Oh, I like that. This was something that was on my mind pretty much since the spring, like, why isn’t this here? And now it’s here, so that’s really cool.

JAKE27:35Yeah, and I’ve heard that from everybody I talk to. It’s like, oh, we need this so bad. We need it. We need it. We need it. And so to see it start to fill out… we’re hitting into the slow season in Kalispell like we do. But the fact that I got people in there and things moving and new businesses onboarding, I’m excited about it. And a lot of new food licensees make the mistake of all getting licensed in the spring, and our health department’s probably six to eight weeks out, through no fault of their own. [That’s] just when everyone applies for a license. So I’m encouraging people to go ahead and get that license, and then whenever you’re ready to take the business up a level, I’m just here when that’s ready to happen.

AUGUSTINEAwesome. Well, thank you so much.

JAKEYou bet. You bet. Did you want to take a little walk through the kitchen?