Mama’s Hot Tamales – Pasadena will consist of two service components: 1) a small business kitchen incubator; and 2) an apprentice-operated business and job training restaurant.

Mama’s Hot Tamales – Pasadena will be a licensed, commercial food education and preparation area for small business operators to start and support food-based enterprises. This will include individuals who want to acquire the knowledge, abilities, and skills to pursue opportunities in the food service industry as bakers, cooks, caterers, restaurant owners or managers, or permitted sidewalk vendors. Food service industry opportunities will include:

• producing specialty food products to be sold in stores and supermarkets;
• catering foods for events;
• preparing gift baskets for holidays;
• selling food products from sidewalk vending carts;
• selling foods at community events (e.g. arts and music festivals, farmer’s markets, etc.);
• starting-up restaurants;
• becoming restaurant managers;
• becoming cooks;
• starting-up bakeries; and
• other food service opportunities.

Mama’s Hot Tamales Café will be an apprentice-operated business and job training restaurant that will provide hands-on and classroom instruction. It will feature authentic presentations of regional dishes from throughout the Americas. This unique dining experience will engage customers as valuable participants in the education training process of future culinary professionals.

Mama’s Hot Tamales Café will provide a commercial food education and preparation area and a hands-on training café in order to train low-, moderate-, and middle-income individuals in the disciplines necessary to begin a career path toward success in the culinary world. Participants will acquire the knowledge, abilities, and skills to pursue opportunities in the food service and hospitality industry as bakers, cooks, caterers, hosts, restaurant owners or managers, waiters/waitresses, wholesalers, or permitted sidewalk vendors.

Small business entrepreneurs often have a product to market but no place to produce it. Such food products must be produced in a licensed facility. Mama’s Hot Tamales Café will be the licensed facility in which entrepreneurs will receive assistance with 1) product development; 2) ingredient sourcing; 3) packaging and labeling; 4) shelf-life information; 5) nutritional analysis; 6) marketing strategies; 7) licensing compliance; and 8) insurance/product liability.

The future site for Mama’s Hot Tamales – Pasadena is 45 N. San Gabriel Boulevard which is one-half block north of Colorado Blvd.

For More Information Contact

Joe Colletti, PhD
626.794.3400
joecolletti@ehala.org