If 2026 is the year you’ve promised yourself you’ll finally launch that catering company, bottle your grandmother’s hot sauce, perfect your pastel de nata recipe for market, or grow your side hustle into a full-fledged food brand — this is your moment.
The Community Economic Development Center (CEDC) is opening the doors to one of New Bedford’s most valuable (and practical) entrepreneurial assets: its fully licensed, commercial kitchen facility in the North End.
On Wednesday, March 11 from 5:00–7:00 p.m., the CEDC will host an open house at 235 N. Front Street, New Bedford, inviting aspiring and established food entrepreneurs to tour the space, ask questions, and learn how the kitchen can help turn ideas into income. (NOTE: The kitchen is located in the basement of the former Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.)
For many food-based entrepreneurs, the biggest barrier to starting or scaling a business isn’t talent — it’s access. Access to a licensed commercial kitchen. Access to the right equipment. Access to a compliant space that meets health and safety regulations. Access to affordability.
This facility changes that equation.
The CEDC’s commercial kitchen offers local entrepreneurs a professional, health department-approved environment where they can legally prepare food products for sale. Whether you’re developing packaged goods for farmers markets and retail shelves, launching a catering operation, testing a food truck concept, or expanding a home-based baking business, the kitchen provides the infrastructure needed to operate with confidence and credibility.
Even more importantly, it provides a starting point.
New Bedford has long been a city of makers — from seafood processors and Portuguese bakers to emerging chefs and specialty food creators representing cultures from Cape Verde to Central America. The North End in particular is rich with culinary creativity. The CEDC kitchen gives that creativity room to grow.
At the open house, attendees will:
- Tour the licensed commercial kitchen facility
- Learn about membership options and scheduling
- Understand health and safety requirements
- Connect with CEDC staff about business development support
- Meet fellow entrepreneurs exploring similar paths
This isn’t just about renting kitchen space. It’s about building an ecosystem for food-based small businesses in your community.
“The CEDC’s community kitchen is about working in your community, while building your business and making valuable connections with each other,” says Kitchen Coordinator Jess Morgado. “We’re looking forward to introducing this unique space – a shared-use, community-based commercial kitchen, to New Bedford. As a bonus, it also comes with a large space for various creative activities!” Indeed, the CEDC hosted a Mexican Cooking Class in the space in December, 2025. (Jess Morgado can be contacted at jess@cedcnewbedford.org with any questions or inquiries regarding the kitchen.)
The CEDC has a strong track record of supporting entrepreneurs with training, technical assistance, and guidance in areas like permitting, business planning, and financing. Pairing that expertise with access to a commercial kitchen creates a powerful launchpad — particularly for first-time business owners who may not yet have the capital to build out their own brick-and-mortar facility. The kitchen upgrades were made possible by a grant from MassDevelopment’s TDI Local program.
For entrepreneurs who have been operating informally or testing recipes at home, this is an opportunity to professionalize. For those looking to expand into wholesale accounts or larger-scale production, this is a chance to increase capacity. And for dreamers who have been waiting for the “right time,” this may be it. The shared-use, community kitchen is a great home-base for food trucks!
The kitchen’s North End location at 235 N. Front Street makes it easily accessible to residents across the city and close to major routes, markets, and neighborhoods where food entrepreneurs often find their first customers.
New Bedford’s food economy continues to evolve — from pop-ups and specialty baked goods to value-added seafood products and culturally inspired prepared meals. Spaces like this ensure that local talent has a pathway to growth without having to leave the city to find it.
If you’ve set a goal for 2026 to start something new, expand something small, or finally formalize that side hustle, mark your calendar.
The CEDC Commercial Kitchen Open House takes place Wednesday, March 11 from 5:00–7:00 p.m. at 235 N. Front Street in New Bedford’s North End.
Bring your questions. Bring your business ideas. Bring your appetite for growth.
Your recipe for 2026 might just start here.