“I’m not one of those businesses that can bounce back easily,” said Donna “Cheff Roostie” Davis, the owner of Veggie Grub. “Right now, I’m just going back to the old ways of hustling.”
Davis feels she has to go back to the “old ways” because Pilotworks, a commercial kitchen, suddenly shut down last week, forcing her to temporarily shut down her business. Pilotworks’ shutdown left 175 vendors scrambling for a new space.
In a statement on their website, Pilotworks expressed sorrow for having to close-up shop.
“It is with a heavy heart that after failing to raise the necessary capital to continue operations, Pilotworks will cease operations on October 13th, 2018,” read Pilotworks’ statement. “We realize the shock of this news and the disruption it causes for the independent food community we were so honored to serve.”
Davis initially rose to prominence through the NYCHA Food Business Pathways Program, a free business training program that helps NYCHA and NYCHA Section 8 residents start and grow food businesses in the city.
“So I basically joined the program and really excelled at it,” said Davis. “I graduated in the top five. The top five were bestowed with fringe benefits of getting into a commercial kitchen of their choice, six months, for free. That’s how I ended up at Pilotworks. I went from making a couple of hundred dollars a week to a couple of thousand.”
Pilotworks, a multimillion dollar startup based in Brooklyn, was a restaurant/food product incubator that gave space to small businesses such as Davis’. The company has several high-profile investors and less than a year ago announced a new $13 million investment in the company. Davis said that she had just paid her monthly rent to Pilotworks the week before the shutdown.
“I don’t know if there was any indication, but there was definitely signs that things weren’t going right,” said Davis. “I’ve been here since last January and the people in charge of the daily order of operations kept leaving and moving on. People got fired. There was talk of corruption. There was a lot of change of hands of leadership.”
This summer, Pilotworks co-founder and CEP Nick Devane stepped down from the CEO position and was replaced by COO Zach Ware. Shortly after this announcement, the company started closing locations in Portland, Maine, and Providence, R.I. According to the website Tech Crunch, Pilotworks wasn’t able to reach the scale its investors hoped for because they focused on new food entrepreneurs instead of established, well-known chains.
“This is a sad outcome for Pilotworks, the makers in our kitchens, and independent food in general,” Pilotworks’ statement continued. “We wish there was another option to continue operating. Sadly, there was not. The work the independent food community is doing is amazing and inspiring. We know it will live on and we are deeply sorry it will not be with Pilotworks.”
Stephanie Baez, of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, said they were just as shocked by the shutdown as the vendors were.
“The news about Pilotworks was as surprising as it is alarming,” said Baez in an emailed statement. “The holiday season is a crucial time of year for food entrepreneurs, and we hope another operator will step in and work with the landlord to keep the doors open. In the meantime, NYCEDC is working to address the immediate needs of the businesses.”
Baez concluded, “In particular, Pilotworks members should contact foodbusiness@edc.nyc if they need storage space for their food and equipment.”
Davis said that Pilotworks gave her business a boost and allowed her to network with other chefs and be mentored and given seminars by those with more experience.
In a joint statement, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and NYC Council Member Robert Cornegy praised outlets who are giving temporary support to those who lost their space at Pilotworks.
“Our community was disappointed to learn of the shuttering of Pilotworks. While we all understand the challenges and variability of the business world, it is concerning to see the impact on so many local food entrepreneurs who were tenants of this incubator,” read the statement. “We thank nonprofit organizations like Evergreen Exchange who are stepping up amid the confusion and triaging resources to facilitate work and storage spaces for more than 175 affected small businesses.”
According to multiple sources, there are vendors who are owed anywhere between $10,000 and $15,000. Pilotworks locked vendors out of their space at 5 p.m. Saturday, but eventually let them back in this week and gave them three days to empty their spaces. But by then, the damage was done. Davis said she lost thousands of dollars of business this weekend alone. Adams and Cornegy hope the local government gets involved.
“It is our hope that NYCEDC, who has overseen this project since its initial inception, will work to find another shared commercial kitchen operator to operate this incubator for the affected food manufacturers who have relied on this space for their businesses’ well-being,” continued the statement. “If that remedy is not possible, we hope NYCEDC can provide bridge space to these businesses and would ask that DOHMH expedite the moving process by allowing existing certifications to be immediately transferrable to new licensed commercial facilities.”
Davis said that the shutdown has forced her to do something she hasn’t done in decades.
“I’m gonna be temporarily shutting down my business and getting a job,” said Davis. “I haven’t worked for anyone but myself in 18 years, so this is pretty devastating.”