Mid-Shore Food: 411 Kitchen Cooks Up Opportunity By Debra Messick

This is the time of year when grateful feasting preoccupies our time, minds, and kitchens. But local entrepreneur Amanda Kidd has been staying busy all year long fine tuning a new recipe for bringing fresh food opportunities to this area. The Four Eleven Kitchen at The Packing House is a planned shared professional kitchen and educational engagement space promising community wide benefits.

Kidd, whose abundant business sense brought forth her Beat the Rush Delivery service 13 years ago, was approached by Cross Street Partners and Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, the organizations responsible for reimagining the historic Packing House on Dorchester Avenue.

The “Opportunity Zone” enterprise has been designed with the aim of removing conventional barriers for foodpreneurs seeking adequate commercial kitchen space to prepare menus, test out dishes, and nurture customers, while learning compliance with food service guidelines and hospitality skills. In other words, to “empower, elevate, and establish a thriving food entrepreneur community and support the local food economy,” Kidd noted.

411 Kitchen’s Project Statement provides a more comprehensive view of the program’s far reaching goals and potential impact:

“Our shared kitchen space is not limited to chefs and established
foodpreneurs. It is our goal to offer community members basic foundational
skills and a platform to explore food in a brand-new way. With the
combination of educational classes, workshops and trainings, it is our
vision to also educate and equip the everyday person with the basic
knowledge and skills they would need to feed themselves and their families.
Through these programs we will also work alongside our local farmers to
promote the use of local produce year-round. Creating these connections
will also elevate one’s knowledge and understanding of just how impactful
supporting your local food economy is. When we know and understand how
the local economy works, it begins to broaden our sense of community and
how vital everyone’s role is for it to thrive.”

The concept that food creation provides nourishment on many levels has been expressed by one of 411 Kitchen’s Founding Members, Harriet’s House, a residential program focused on helping women who are survivors of exploitation. Executive Director Julie Crain explained the group’s support:

“It is our goal to empower survivors by teaching them skills in the kitchen. From basic food preparation and meal planning to teaching the art of preserving the food we grow in the garden, we see this resource as an excellent opportunity to sow into the lives of women who are working towards building their confidence and stepping into a new life.”

Since Kidd was a young girl, food has figured as a central force in her life. But a true epiphany about its potentially transformative power occurred during her mother’s battle with cancer which involved chemo treatments, sending them both on a mission to better manage their health within the practical constraints of a limited budget, and sharing the knowledge gained with others who would benefit.

After carving out careers in the fields of hospitality, health, and wellness, Kidd feels right at home mentoring others beginning their professional journeys along similar lines. “Think back to the last time you started something new,” she stated, explaining her passion for helping provide “a leg up.”

Since Packing House project leaders reached out to her about a year ago with a vision she strongly shared and believed in, she’s been off and running on multiple fronts to create the innovative community food hub, from fact finding and foundation building to raising community awareness, support, and funds.

Last July a kick-off fundraising extravaganza gave community participants a taste of 411 Kitchen’s possibilities and ongoing progress. In August, local brothers Ray and Adam Remesch helped in producing a commercial video, viewable on the 411 Kitchen’s YouTube channel. In September, Kidd attended online shared kitchen community conferences including the Food Incubator Summit and The Food Corridor. By October’s end, the Cambridge Rotary Club joined a catered lunch and Packing House tour of the site’s progress. Currently 411 Kitchen’s Facebook Page is counting down to Giving Tuesday on November 30, hoping to continue enlisting underwriting sponsors and partners, working to get kitchen tenants on board, and reaching out to vitally needed volunteers.

“Now, we are growing our legs,” Kidd noted. She’s been tracking feedback and assessing responses to her online survey to best learn what foodpreneurs need help with most, plus setting up one on one meetings.

“So far, we’ve heard from a plethora of bakers, an egg roll maker, and a tofu company, plus some beverage people,” Kidd added. “It’s definitely looking like a diverse array of offerings, a nice smorgasbord.” Some hail from across the bridge, but others are local.

The designated space’s 9,000 square foot “footprint” will consist of general use and baking pods, full workstations with hoods, dry, cold, and frozen storage, and a classroom kitchen with full workstations for hands on learning.

While feeling blessed to work within such a historic building space, Kidd admitted that the area itself, an ongoing work in progress, presents unique challenges, “you measure 1000 times to cut once,” she added with a smile.

Coming up with a name to convey the Kitchen’s many facets was among Kidd’s most creative challenges. “At that juncture, I was thinking about all that it would mean to the community plus something a little trendy, barrier breaking, and urbanized, plus an information hub for making connections. I heard myself saying the catchphrase ‘what’s the 411?’ and suddenly, I knew that was it! Four Eleven Kitchen!”

After sharing her inspiration with the developers, they paused a minute before asking, ‘you do realize what the address here is, don’t you? Of all the details she’d covered, that hadn’t been uppermost in her mind. But when Kidd learned that the Packing House is located at 411-A Dorchester Avenue, she smiled.

For more information, visit https://www.411.kitchen/

Debra Messick is a retired Dorchester County Public Library associate and lifelong freelance writer. A transplanted native Philadelphian, she has enjoyed residing in Cambridge MD since 1995.