Celebrating 15 years of Investing in Breadwinners! Join our members on the journey.

Hot Bread Kitchen

Timeline

Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez founds

2008

Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez founds

Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez founds Hot Bread Kitchen from her Brooklyn home kitchen to help immigrant women gain economic mobility through careers in food. Women begin training and many go on to begin their career in our bakery. TODAY: 280 women have been placed in jobs around New York City through 50+ employment partners.

2010

Hot Bread Kitchen moves into East Harlem’s La Marqueta

Hot Bread Kitchen moves into East Harlem’s La Marqueta and our incubator program launches, providing shared commercial kitchen space and support for women, immigrant, and minority entrepreneurs launching food businesses in NYC.

TODAY: Space is just the beginning for our Incubator members. Our entrepreneurs become part of a culinary community with access to training, expertise, markets and networks.

Read about us in The New York Times

Hot Bread Kitchen “Almacen,” Hot Bread Kitchen’s first retail location

2012

Hot Bread Kitchen “Almacen,” Hot Bread Kitchen’s first retail location

Hot Bread Kitchen “Almacen,” Hot Bread Kitchen’s first retail location, opens at La Marqueta carrying Hot Bread Kitchen’s full line of bread and products from small business members.

TODAY: Hot Bread Kitchen small business member Amuse Bouche has taken over the stall at La Marqueta and offers French fare Wednesday—Sunday.

2015

The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook is published

“The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook” is published, winning the 2015 Yahoo! Food Cookbook of the Year and the Food52 Piglet Award! Alongside the recipes, you’ll find the story of Hot Bread Kitchen and the women and small business owners who are an integral part of our story.

Shop the Hot Bread Kitchen cookbook at most booksellers and online.

Our incubator helps launch 36 food business start ups

2016

Our incubator helps launch 36 food business start ups

Our incubator helps launch 36 diverse food businesses selling everything from desserts to tamales to popcorn (like Pipsnacks!)

TODAY: We have served 250+ food businesses, 90% of which are run by women and people of color. Read more about our Incubator.

2017

Our training program moves out of the bakery and into the International Culinary Center

Our training program moves out of the bakery and into the International Culinary Center in Soho. The world-renowned cooking school provides in-kind space to hold our new curriculum that expands into a broader culinary arts curriculum, more effectively meet employer needs and increase the amount of women we can serve.

TODAY: Hot Bread Kitchen places 100+ women per year in jobs in the food industry with 50+ employment partners across New York City.

2018

Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez hands over the reins to new CEO, Shaolee Sen.

Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez hands over the reins to new CEO, Shaolee Sen.

TODAY: Shaolee helped Hot Bread Kitchen quadruple the number of women served. Read about Hot Bread Kitchen’s first decade and vision for the future in “Investing in Breadwinners: 10 Years of Impact”

We surpass our goal to quadruple the number of women placed in jobs

2019

We surpass our goal to quadruple the number of women placed in jobs

We surpass our goal to quadruple the number of women placed in jobs from 2016-2019 and place 108 women with 50+ employer partners in New York City.

TODAY: We continue to refine and strengthen our workforce model to couple culinary training with wrap-around services and long-term support for our alumni. Learn more about our workforce program.

Hot Bread Kitchen launches “Entrepreneur in Residence”

2019

Hot Bread Kitchen launches “Entrepreneur in Residence”

Hot Bread Kitchen launches “Entrepreneur in Residence” program at Chelsea Market, providing key Manhattan retail access to small businesses.

We relaunch our best-selling challah braid

2019

We relaunch our best-selling challah braid

Hot Bread Kitchen relaunches our best-selling traditional challah braid and Parker House Rolls—now kosher!

2020

Prior to COVID-19 Pandemic

NYC:

  • 315,000 people employed in the food industry (NYC Current Employment Statistics (CES) History).
  • Two-thirds of all workers in the city’s face-to-face industries earn less than $40,000 annually (Parrot).

Hot Bread Kitchen:

  • 64 active member small businesses.
  • 160 alumnae of our workforce program were actively employed in jobs in food and 28 recent graduates were preparing to enter the workforce.

2020

March 12—20, 2020

NYC:

  • Mayor DeBlasio declared a State of Emergency, closing bars, restaurants, and cafes, and announced all schools would shift to distance learning.
  • 31,000 food workers made a new unemployment claim in the first 7 days (Initial Claims Data).

Hot Bread Kitchen:

  • Initiated outreach to members to understand job status, business revenue loss, and financial support plans.
  • Launched an emergency hotline to receive member concerns and questions and make Hot Bread Kitchen resources accessible.

2020

Hot Bread Kitchen responds to COVID-19

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hot Bread Kitchen quickly adapted to provide support for women, small business owners, and communities.

Read about our support for our community through emergency meal relief, cash stipends, and more.

2020

March 22—23, 2020

NYC:
Governor Cuomo closed all non-essential businesses as New York State goes into PAUSE on March 22.

Hot Bread Kitchen:

Launched one-on-one and group technical assistance to help over 200 members apply for unemployment and public benefits and accessing emergency food.

 

2020

March 29, 2020

NYC:

  • 2,637% increase in the number of unemployment claims in NYC from this time period in 2019, including over a 4,150% increase in claims in the Accommodation and Food Services industry statewide (Initial Claims Data).
  • 2 out of 3 of all restaurant workers lost their jobs on a temporary or permanent basis (Parrot).

Hot Bread Kitchen:

  • Disbursed first emergency checks, which would ultimately help 177 members weather the gap between income loss and delayed unemployment payments.
  • Started offering resource guides to help members navigate unemployment and public benefits applications.

2020

April—May 2020

NYC:

Hot Bread Kitchen:

  • Launched emergency meals campaign to achieve dual goals of funding small businesses and providing meals to hospital workers.
  • Offered rent-free kitchen space to 5 small businesses providing over 25,000 emergency meals.
  • Launched public hotline for all food workers, in addition to our alumnae, to provide assistance with applying for unemployment and public benefits.
  • Continued support for members, including emergency stipends, PPP loan applications, unemployment applications, and other referrals.

2020

June 2020

George Floyd is killed by police in Minneapolis on May 25, triggering massive Black Lives Matter protests across the U.S. and around the world.

Hot Bread Kitchen:

Re-committed to anti-racism work and solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement and BIPOC, including a refocus on a staff-led DEIA committee and creating safe-space community conversations for our members.

2020

FM Training

Hot Bread Kitchen, in partnership with the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Foundation, expanded our workforce training program to include Facility Management, a rapidly growing and high-paying field with opportunities for professional advancement.

2021

Chef Collective

As of June 2021, Hot Bread Kitchen’s Chef Collective, in partnership with Food For Soul’s Refetorrio, distributed 15,000+ meals in the Harlem community, rescuing 2,600 pounds of food in the process.

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