CINCINNATI — Findlay Kitchen needs the community's help paving the way for local food entrepreneurs after their commercial oven broke down. About 60 small businesses use that kitchen and it's throwing off operations for those business owners.
Vot Louprasong is one of Findlay Market's newest members. The Dayton resident drives all the way to Cincinnati to use the commercial kitchen to help him achieve his dreams of starting his business, Lotus, which specializes in Laotian and Thai jerky.
"For me to make a batch [at home], it would take me like eight hours to do," he said. "It's just because, you know, the oven is not like commercial ovens."
Louprasong put in his application, went through the proper protocol and was ready to get started until "I got an email that [the oven] broke down."
"It's a $50,000 piece of equipment, so certainly not something that we can just go out and buy off the shelf," Findlay Kitchen's Gina Regan said.
Regan says they tried some fixes over the last few months, but the kitchen's workhorse has been put out to pasture.
"We've had to turn away potential members who wanted to come in and utilize the oven," she said. "It's definitely putting a strain on everything here."
Now, Louprasong is switching things up, focusing more on cooking other traditional dishes where he doesn't need an oven, instead of jerky.
"It set me back a little bit, but it's OK. Everything happens for a reason," Louprasong said.
Anyone who would like to help Findlay Kitchen buy a new oven can buy tickets for the "Findlay Kitchen Tasting Event" or donate directly here.
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