BRA, developer step up to keep incubator cooking

Nuestra Culinary Ventures lives on.

The nonprofit Jamaica Plain kitchen incubator, which rents cooking workspace to food-service entrepreneurs, was saved yesterday from the brink of closure by a $75,000 grant from the Boston Redevelopment Authority and $25,000 from developer Steve Samuels.

In disclosing the rescue plan at the Germania Street facility, Mayor Thomas M. Menino urged other private businesses to collectively contribute at least another $50,000 to the program, which gives culinary entrepreneurs a chance to start catering companies and specialty food businesses without having to build expensive commercial kitchens. Citizens Bank has already committed at least $10,000.

The city stepped in with financial backing after the kitchen said it would close at year's end due to continuing operating losses.

The contributions by the BRA and Samuels, founder of Samuels & Associates, will help cover the kitchen's immediate $150,000 funding shortage.

The kitchen has bled money every year since it opened in June 2002, racking up about $700,000 in total losses. It charges for hourly workspace rentals and receives some corporate grants, but that income has not kept pace with expenses.

To help the kitchen become self-supporting, Menino said, the city will start a new program that teaches entrepreneurs business management skills.

The city also will try to locate city-owned properties where Nuestra entrepreneurs can store their supplies and products, since the kitchen lacks sufficient storage space.

BRA-owned Marine Industrial Park in South Boston is one possible site, city officials said.

Saying that "small businesses are the backbone of a strong economy," Menino called Nuestra Culinary Ventures, which is home to nearly 70 entrepreneurs, a "fantastic organization."

"It's really an investment in the spirit of entrepreneurship," he added, "because Nuestra serves as a springboard for so many people looking to start their own businesses."

Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com.

(Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in yesterday's about the city's plan to help a Jamaica Plain kitchen incubator remain open gave an incorrect first name for Boston Redevelopment Authority director Mark Maloney.)