Isaac Dominguez of Cali’s Coffee House sets up his coffee bar inside the Clovis Culinary Center during the spring open house on May 14. Photo by Denine Currie
The Clovis Culinary Center, a nonprofit certified commercial kitchen and incubator space, hosted its spring open house on May 14. From West African fufu to frozen cookie dough, local caterers, food truck owners, vendors and more gathered to showcase their products and discuss how the Center helped launch their businesses.
We sat down with several of its members to talk about the 24/7 co-working kitchen.
Q: Can you introduce your business and tell us what you specialize in?
Eric Djanie, Djanie Chocolate: “We make chocolate, we make healthy Nutella. We don’t have palm oil in there, less sugar, no artificial flavors, no additives as well, and we’re based here in Clovis. I was born in Ghana in West Africa. Ghana, and our next-door neighbors, grow about 70 percent of the world’s cocoa. So the first time I saw a cocoa plant I was just about eight years old, and I’ve always known that I have a love for chocolate. I work at a hospital, I make babies, I’m an embryologist, so that’s what I do in the day and then when I’m off from that stressful job I make healthy chocolates for people.”
Lance Sanchez, Dad’s Cookies: “We started in April of 2020 right at the beginning of the pandemic. I was baking cookies out of my own oven, just like a lot of people were making food and things like that from their kitchen during the pandemic. And I started getting too many orders to do in my own kitchen. My whole house was turning into a bakery.”
Alex Cowles, Let’s Munch Cookies: ” I went to culinary school and I used to work at Google and YouTube and I’ve done that whole thing. I developed that recipe as a private chef and I had just been kind of refining it and working on it. So it’s like a 10-year recipe that I’ve poured myself into, and to me a lot of it is in the flavor, in the balance, but the texture’s a big thing for me. That’s why I like it frozen.Taking it from the freezer and putting it in the oven gives it a better texture. To me the crunchy bottom with the shell on top and the gooey inside — that’s where it’s at. My clients loved it and I was just making it for friends and family, and they all were like, ‘You should sell this as dough,’ and so finally I started listening to them and that’s kind of why I’m putting it out there today. “
Eric Djanie of Djanie Chocolate and Alex Cowles of Let’s Munch Cookies show off their products at the Clovis Culinary Center’s spring open house. Photo by Denine Currie
Q: How has utilizing the Clovis Culinary Center benefited your business model?
Rahina Seidu, Afro Spice: “The kitchen supports all businesses. They give each and every one of us a spot to shine, to showcase our business and all that stuff. So I really love the kitchen. I like the people here, they support us. When you start, you don’t know where to go, what to do, who to talk to.
Alex Cowles: “Honestly, the community here is amazing. I’m sure you’ve heard that answer over and over again, but it’s very welcoming. Everyone’s just like gassing each other up and promoting each other and helping each other out. And it’s just really fun to see. What’s wild to me is I didn’t expect necessarily the quality of food that’s coming out of here. I’m just constantly shocked when I try people’s food, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, this is really good stuff.’ So it’s really cool to see what people coming from a culinary background are able to accomplish just from their own home recipes, it’s just wild.”
Victoria Vela, Lix Rim Dip: “Well, I will say that I started making this about 2020 or 2021. It’s been a few years. They have been telling me the whole time to try and make a business out of it, but I did not know where to start. This past year, I met Kris Marshall (operations manager). She told me about the Clovis Culinary Center and I kind of saw it as, ‘Hey, you know, she has a lot more knowledge than me about small businesses.’ So I met with her and she told me how I can get started. The process was hard at first when it was just myself, but as soon as I started networking with everyone here, it has been so positive.
Containers of Lix Rim Dip, Victoria Vela’s signature product, on display. Photo by Denine Currie
Q: In what ways has this space helped accelerate your growth?
Isaac Dominguez, Cali’s Coffee House: “I really like that I’m slowly growing. I feel like you need a good foundation to really last. I really enjoy starting from pop-ups, and then it’s the fact that it’s been building, it just feels more solidified, more legitimate. I feel more in touch with the community, if you could kind of sum it up like that.”
Alex Cowles: “The kitchen’s open 24 hours a day. So, if I need to come in here at 10 p.m., I can. I don’t necessarily want to, but if I had to, it’s a possibility. Things happen in life and it’s nice that this is available. The fact that I can get in here at any time is really, really helpful. I think a lot of people might think of it as like a commercial kitchen, but it’s really an incubator.
Hang Ha, Viet-Thai Fusion: “For example, like today’s open house, I can have an opportunity to meet a lot of people who can help me and help my small business grow. That is really good. It’s a really good chance for me to introduce my food, because my business is just me. Those opportunities are really good for me to let people get to know my food.”
Hang Ha of Viet-Thai Fusion serves guests at her station. Photo by Denine Currie