Local Entrepreneur Set To Launch National Franchise

Nine years ago, Cindy Pickering was making fresh salsa in her home and selling it to local restaurants. She was living the American dream, owning her own business after years of toiling in the cut-throat worlds of television and radio. 

But as her salsa empire continued to grow, her business-related headaches increased as well. 

In addition to the challenges of purchasing ingredients, producing and marketing her product, and finding clients; Pickering realized that she was possibly in over her head, when she discovered that she was breaking the law. 

“I had trucks delivering pallets of tomatoes to my house at 4:30 in the morning, so eventually my neighbors complained,” said the fit 52 year-old mother and grandmother.

“Inspectors from the Department of Agriculture came and asked me if I was a certified commercial kitchen.” 

Pickering learned that producing food for public consumption without certification was a sure-fire way to bring a budding edible enterprise to a grinding halt. 

“I was up to my eyeballs in tomatoes. I didn’t know what to do,” she said.

Pickering wound up selling her home and opening a small, certified kitchen to house her burgeoning salsa business. By 2007, her salsa was sold in 47 Beef O' Brady's locations. Pickering also happened to meet people who were in the same position she'd been in just a few years earlier. They needed a place to make their tasty products.

“One lady who was making jams approached me and asked if she could use my place to produce her product,” said Pickering. “I agreed, and soon the word spread that I had this facility… so I started renting it out.” 

“I started to think, ‘this is a business’. Why kill myself making salsa? I’m going to open a certified kitchen that people can use to make their own products.” 

Pickering, who has no college or culinary degree, sold her salsa business in 2008 and moved into the current home of , a certified shared kitchen and culinary incubator on 126th Avenue in Largo. 

The 3,500 square-foot facility features commercial kitchen equipment and appliances, storage space and culinary supplies. Pickering also facilitates certification exams and even helps design logos, websites and labels for aspiring chefs and caterers.

70 companies currently use Your Pro Kitchen, which is accessible 24-hours a day. Members must sign a six-month lease agreement and use the facility a minimum of eight hours per month at a cost of $15.62 per hour. The price goes down as hours increase. 

“This place is great. I used to own a restaurant, and the overhead was ridiculous,” said Jill Johnson, co-owner of Mangia Gourmet Catering and a tenant of Your Pro Kitchen since 2009.

“When I was looking to get into the business again, I didn’t want to spend the money to open a certified kitchen. So this place was perfect.” 

While caterers make up about 30 percent of the membership at the facility, the backbone of Pickering’s business are “foodies”, or independent bakers and chefs. 

“I started baking cupcakes from home and selling to friends and neighbors, and then I won a contest, and things started growing from there,” said Debbie Brunner of the Tampa Bay Cupcake Company. “I couldn’t keep doing it out of my house... but I knew of Cindy’s kitchen, and it came to be that we are here.” 

“Now business is booming… and we wouldn’t have been able to facilitate this without Cindy.” 

Soon, Pickering's concept could help aspiring culinary artists all over the country; she recently signed a franchise agreement that will take her concept nationwide. 

“My focus now is on franchising this business nationwide,” she said. “I want to show other foodies how they can have their own certified kitchen, and I want the franchisees to be passionate about food.” 

“Some people don’t know how to start a business," she added. "I can help them… because I’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”