Ghost Kitchen and Business Lab
A licensed commercial kitchen where participants build a real food business, including the menu, pricing, orders, customers, and revenue, with a mentor beside them the whole way.
The Ghost Kitchen Business Lab is our flagship program. It's not a simulation. Participants develop a real menu, cost every item, set prices for profit, take real orders, and serve real customers, all inside a licensed commercial kitchen.
Through hands on learning, participants move through the full process of developing a food business, including concept and recipe development, food costing, budgeting, menu planning, pricing, branding, marketing, production, sales, profit analysis, and reflection.
Participants may also have opportunities to test their concepts through business simulations, approved pop-ups, showcases, community events, and other appropriately permitted environments. The goal is to help participants understand not only how to create great food, but how to turn their culinary skills and ideas into opportunities for income, entrepreneurship, and long-term economic independence.
6 steps
Per cohort, with an intensive, structured, and real world experience
Real
Business concepts developed, tested, and refined by participants
Free
To all participants — no cost, ever
How the lab works
Participants move through the Ghost Kitchen and Business Lab step by step, taking a food business idea from concept to execution.
Create Your Concept
Participants choose the type of food business they want to develop, such as catering, meal preparation, a bakery, a food truck, a restaurant concept, or a packaged food brand.
Choose a food business type
Define the concept and vision
Identify target customers and market
Explore what makes the idea unique
Develop the Product
Participants create and test recipes, build a menu, calculate ingredient and food costs, establish pricing, and learn how to protect their profit margins.
Recipe creation and testing
Menu building and food cost calculation
Ingredient sourcing and unit cost analysis
Pricing strategy and margin protection
Build the Brand
Participants develop their business name, branding, target customer, marketing strategy, packaging, and customer experience.
Business name and visual identity
Target customer and positioning
Marketing strategy and outreach
Packaging and customer experience design
Learn the Business
Participants gain practical experience with budgeting, purchasing, inventory, sales, revenue, expenses, profit, customer service, and basic business operations.
Budgeting, purchasing, and inventory
Sales, revenue, and expense tracking
Profit calculation and analysis
Customer service and business operations
Test the Concept
When appropriate, participants can put their ideas into practice through simulations, approved pop-ups, showcases, community events, or other permitted environments.
Business simulations and practice runs
Approved pop-ups and showcases
Community events and permitted environments
Real customer feedback and iteration
Plan What Comes Next
Participants review their results, identify what worked, make improvements, and develop next steps for continuing their business idea, pursuing employment, or furthering their culinary education.
Review results and identify what worked
Make improvements and refine the model
Develop a plan for the business, employment, or education
Connect to next opportunities and resources
Who mentors you
Every cohort is led by working food entrepreneurs, people who have run a food truck, a catering operation, or a restaurant. They're not instructors reading from a curriculum. They're practitioners who've made the mistakes and built something real.
Meet our team →Who this is for
Youth and young adults ages 8 to 25 who want to start a food business or already have an idea they want to test. No prior business experience is required, just a commitment to showing up and doing the work.