New program brings culinary hopefuls to City Market

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Local black-owned restaurant startups have the chance to grow their business through a new program called the S.O.U.L. of the City kitchen incubator.

S.O.U.L. stands for “Supporting Our Unique Locals.” 

The Indy Black Chamber of Commerce received a $150,000 grant from Bank of America to start the kitchen incubator.

The program has five fully-equipped kitchen stations inside Indianapolis City Market and commercial kitchen space that can be used by caterers or food truck owners for food prep.

Greg Hicks, CFO of the Indy Black Chamber of Commerce, tells News 8 that the startups will get to spend a year or two in the City Market, and then start their own brick-and-mortar location. 

“We’re excited to offer culinary entrepreneurs an opportunity to come in and grow their menu and customer base,” Hicks said. “The program is to help them with education. We don’t just put them in these stations and let them go. We train them.”

The program’s education portion includes weekly training classes on financial literacy, branding and trademark, sales, customer service, and more.

To be eligible, startups must be a member of the IBCC, have a unique menu, be local, and have completed an online application. Visit the IBCC website for more information.