If You Really Want to Make a Friend, Go to Someone’s House and Eat With Him

In a city like San Francisco where there is a restaurant for every 376 people, it’s almost impossible to have a bad meal. From the flurry of new arrivals on the restaurant scene to the dizzying array of Michelin starred eateries like French Laundry, it’s easy to forget about our local entrepreneurs who are financially excluded from accessing the resources they need to launch and grow their food businesses.

Enter La Cocina, a groundbreaking business incubator designed to reduce the obstacles that prevent low-income food entrepreneurs from creating successful and sustainable businesses. La Cocina focuses primarily on women from minority communities, and has been a trustee on Kiva since 2012. Since then, Kiva and La Cocina have partnered to support entrepreneurs such as Gabriela and Guadalupe through 0% interest loans of up to $10,000, enabling them to grow their businesses and become economically self-sufficient.

Me and the La Cocina Team