Whether you’re ordering takeout or cooking up your own company, there’s no shortage of innovative ideas on the food scene, where forward thinkers are bringing together sustainability and profitability for the good of the industry they know and love. Here, meet three creative Colorado companies with one shared goal: supporting and benefitting local food business.
The Food Corridor
Food companies looking for kitchen space can avail of a handy resource with The Food Corridor. Launched in 2015 amid her Ph.D. studies at Colorado State University, founder and CEO Ashley Colpaart’s platform now boasts 250 kitchens in the United States and Canada that share space with anywhere between 20 and 50 other food producers. “It’s an idea whose time has come,” Ashley says.
The software provides cloud-based business management software for the shared commercial kitchen industry. Owners of these kitchens buy the software, which aids in handling everything from scheduling to insurance to billing. The average cost to rent kitchen space, Ashley says, is $20 to $25 an hour plus extras like storage.
The company also offers an online directory, TheKitchenDoor.com—a master list of shared kitchens with available space searchable by city or zip code. (It is free to list on the site; there are several in Denver and a few in smaller hubs like Boulder and Fort Collins.)
Ashley says the company has been profitable for the last 16-plus months and growing steadily. “Sharing commercial infrastructure is important and helps people more easily create food businesses,” she says. “It’s where food businesses go to learn how to start a food business.”
Nosh Delivery
Nosh Delivery bills itself as the ethical, locally-minded alternative to Uber Eats, GrubHub and Doordash. Nick Graham, director of operations, helped launch Nosh Boulder in November 2020. It now has about seven employees and 75 drivers—everyone from students to career changers to older citizens who want to stay social. Drivers receive base pay of $14/hour, even during slow periods. Drivers keep all tips and all delivery fees after the first 50 cents.
Nosh also boasts 17 local restaurants as part owners of the company. Once the company is profitable, the restaurants will earn dividends. Nick says larger food delivery apps routinely charge restaurants 30% of the food bill—on top of fees a customer already pays; Nosh Boulder charges 15%.
“They aren’t supporting the restaurants,” Nick says. “They’re tech companies selling food on the internet.”
As for future goals, Nick says Nosh is eyeing Longmont and Denver as ideal cities for expansion. “Even when the pandemic ends, food delivery is a convenience that will continue growing,” Nick says. “No one’s going to let it go.”
RepEATer
In 2016, Ashwin Ramdas visited his mother’s village in her native India. It had once been picturesque, he says, but was subsequently destroyed by plastic waste.
“I saw how irresponsible single-use waste is,” says Ashwin, CTO and co-founder of RepEATer, which sells zero-waste containers to restaurants. “I started thinking about how to cut back on it in my own life.”
After a zero-waste grocery service he piloted in Denver for 18 months didn’t pan out, Ashwin launched RepEATer in April 2021 alongside Christopher Todd, who is co-founder and COO. Christopher spent two decades in the food industry, Ashwin says, wearing “every hat in the building at some point.”
How it works: The app lists participating “RepEATeries” that stock the containers. (As of December, there were 15 in Boulder.) Select “pack in RepEATer reusables” for a small fee—around $3 for four entrees, Ashwin estimates—to receive your order in stainless-steel containers. (Customers can also ask for them in person.) Then drop off the vessels within a week at any one of five kiosks, which are mapped in the RepEATer app.
Soon after RepEATer’s debut, the City of Boulder encouraged the duo to apply for a grant, which they received. As of now, that’s the company’s primary source of funding. Ashwin says the concept is ideal for fast-casual restaurants like Fresh Thymes, which was an early adopter whose customers “really get it,” just like Ashwin hoped.
“I want to make a tangible difference with my work,” he says.