Amateur chefs whip up grab-and-go goodies at Mount Prospect store

Many dream of becoming a chef but confine their efforts to their own kitchens and dining rooms.

Mount Prospect residents Charles and Alynne Chen are giving area amateur chefs kitchen space and a chance to make their creations available to the public.

Local Flavor, at 105 W. Prospect Ave. in downtown Mount Prospect, is taking home cooking to another level. It is built around a simple but mouthwatering idea: giving home cooks and bakers a commercial kitchen space to create and sell their wares in exchange for a percentage of the revenue.

The Chens took over the former home of Dave’s Specialty Foods, a business that closed after developing a loyal following for more than two decades. Now, they are working on building a loyal following with home-cooked items people can grab, sit down and eat, or take home with them.

“We’re a platform for the cooks to showcase their talents,” Charles said. When he and Alynne chose the space, they thought, “If people love cooking, maybe they’ll want to find a place where they could prove that they could cook.”

Charles has a background as a software engineer and describes himself as a “cook hobbyist.” Both he and Alynne also have done gig work.

Cooks who want to throw their chef’s hats in the ring can scan a QR code posted in the shop’s window or online and fill out an interest form.

Addressing concerns for food safety, everyone who works in the kitchen must earn safe food handling certification.

“That’s one of the requirements that we have to have for anybody who works in the kitchen,” Charles said.

The kitchen is outfitted with everything chefs need to work their magic.

Chefs include Mount Prospect resident Frank Carioti, a freelance video editor who does a lot of work with the Big Ten Network. His cooking reflects his family’s southern Italian background.

“I have always enjoyed feeding people,” he said, recalling how he once served massive quantities of spaghetti and meatballs and sausage to the drum line for the Prospect High School Marching Knights when his son was in the group.

On one morning, he can be seen creating an olive oil and tomato-based sauce with green lentils, pasta, garlic and onion.

Those watching him work his magic can sample something already prepared — a tangy Texas sweet-and-sour slaw.

“I’m not a professional chef. I’m not here to make this my living,” he said. “I’m here more for the experience. And if I make a couple bucks along the way, great.”

Other chefs and bakers include Stickney firefighter Dom Iovino, known as Firehouse Chef Dom, whose specialties include apple bourbon pork sliders, as well as Mount Prospect resident Geralyn Walsh, a volunteer baker at Gerry’s Cafe in Arlington Heights who bakes banana bread from her mother’s recipe.

“No one gets my recipe,” she said. “I don’t share it with anyone.”

Walsh said she loves the concept of Local Flavor, which draws a wide range of customers, from children coming in after school to commuters on the way to the train to residents who might not be in the mood to cook after working all day.

Commuters and others on the run can grab salads, wraps and sandwiches from the cooler. The store also has a base menu for breakfast and lunch, with dinner provided by the community cooks.

“We listen to our customers,” Alynne said. “If they suggest something, we keep it in mind.”

The items are inexpensive, most priced under $12. To broaden its appeal and its revenue stream, Local Flavor also offers capsule vending machines styled after ones found in Japan.

Many of them are stocked with goods from local vendors, including a mother-daughter team who make scrunchies and resin jewelry.

The store focuses on grab-and-go to keep staffing costs down and the revenues to chefs up.

Shared kitchens

Local Flavor is a variation on the theme of home-grown businesses offering their kitchens or their raw ingredients to outside cooks.

At Entree Kitchen in Carol Stream, Richard and Diane Beaulieu handle all the shopping, chopping, dicing, slicing and other food preparation. Customers select from a menu of 18 entrees.

“Our meals leave here raw, and they are cooked at the customer’s home,” Diane Beaulieu said.

The business also includes a rental kitchen that has been used during off-hours by small business partners such as a company that distributes pre-made cookie dough, owners of hot dog carts and a Sushi operation.

“Those hours help us offset the cost of our overhead and help somebody else get their business started,” Beaulieu said.

SAAGE Culinary Studio in Aurora is a commercially licensed, dedicated shared-use kitchen serving Naperville and the Western suburbs since 2015.

It provides members with utilities, professional-grade equipment and kitchen tools. It also is approved by various county health departments and inspected by the state health department and the FDA.

“It’s called a shared-use kitchen or a commercial kitchen, where food makers can come and then make their products,” said founder Gayatri Borthakur.

The makers then sell to wholesalers, retailers or customers. SAAGE does not sell the products. That is up to their members.