The Knox commercial grade kitchen on the lower level was opened in 2014 as a key part of a social enterprise – small business incubator initiative.  Over the 3 years that the Knox Community Kitchen was in full swing there were some great successes and a number of business were able to get established because of the support that the Knox Community Kitchen Cooperative provided.

The Kitchen operated on a fairly uncommon and therefore still experimental social enterprise model that holds promise but needed an outside funding source which couldn’t be found. Supporting newcomers and small start up enterprises is intensive work. In the model, the kitchen users were not the kind of folks who could just pay more for the use of the kitchen and the support that they needed to get established as independent businesses.

The Knox congregation is regrouping and seeking a way forward which will enable the kitchen to once again be accessed by the community. Some of this is internal work and some of it involves engaging with the neighbourhood in determining the future role for this vital community resource.