Photos by Geoff Folsom / SpokesmanBusy Chef owner Dick Robertson shows the dry storage area in his commercial kitchen.

A kitchen designed to help local chefs get on their feet has already added another use.

Busy Chef commercial kitchen recently opened at 413 SW Glacier Ave. Building owner Dick Robertson has one caterer using the facility, which is designed as a food business incubator. Caterers or food truck chefs can work until they build up a large enough business to get their own space.

He originally planned to wait a while before starting “phase 2” of the project — an event center that can be rented out. But Robertson, owner of Coho Coffee and a partner with Robertson-Price property management, decided to go ahead and rent out part of the facility for weddings and quinceañeras.

Instead of major renovations for the event area, it will now get a paint touch-up.

“We decided, ‘let’s just go for it,’ and let people decorate it however they want to decorate it,” Robertson said.

The event area can be rented separately or jointly with the commercial kitchen, Robertson said.

The event center has one large room. A smaller room will be set up as a game room, designed for kids to use while the adults celebrate.

“We want to provide a space where they can bring the kids,” Robertson said. “The kids can play, and the adults don’t have to worry about them. They can have their party.”

The event room has a small kitchen for meat-free cooking, as well as bar seating. Renters can provide their own tables and chairs or rent them from the facility.

Customers can rent the event area for $350 for five hours, Robertson said.

“I think what we’ll find is we’ll be a low-cost provider,” he said.

Business for the event area has been good, with weekends dates already booked for much of the spring and summer, Robertson said.

But the primary business remains the commercial kitchen, which Robertson’s group has already invested more than $100,000 in, Robertson said. He is seeking businesses willing to pay $12 per hour to use the kitchen for 50 or more hours per month, or $15 per hour for fewer than 50 hours per month.

The facility includes a dry storage area — essentially a locker room where chefs can store their nonrefrigerated items. It has a large walk-in refrigerator, as well as reach-in freezers and refrigerators for cold storage.

Chefs can rent out the kitchen, which is available 24 hours a day, for four-hour increments. It includes two convection ovens, a bake oven, six top burners, two larger burners for large pots, a grill top and two deep fryers.

The kitchen can also be used for agricultural food processing.

A dish-washing area is rented separately from the kitchen.

Bangarang catering was the first to rent out Busy Chef, and Robertson said he was in the process of lining up another catering business. According to its website, Bangarang chef Dave Bodi prepares meals using seasonally available ingredients from local producers.

Busy Chef kitchen is certified by Deschutes County for commercial food preparation, but people looking to make food to later sell will need a state license, Robertson said. Not using a certified kitchen can be costly for caterers.

“It only takes one or two people to get sick at an event if it’s not a certified kitchen,” he said. “Next thing you know, they don’t have a house anymore.”

Robertson is looking for a variety of customers to use the kitchen, with some moving on to start their own restaurants.

“This is kind of a revolving door,” he said. “There will be people who will be here for a long time. But there will be people who will move in, get started and move out.”

Robertson had tried unsuccessfully to find a restaurant at his off-the-beaten-path location. But a presentation from Jose Balcazar with Central Oregon Community College’s Small Business Development Center convinced him that Redmond’s first commercial kitchen has potential to work in the building.

“There are a few of them in Bend — they’re full,” Robertson said. “There is a large demand for it.”

Helping start businesses that can bring jobs to the community is why the Redmond Urban Renewal Agency supported Robertson with a low-interest loan, said Chuck Arnold, the city’s economic development project manager.

“It’s a great example of the public sector helping the private sector leverage funding to maximize investment in the area and catalyze more development in our commercial business district,” Arnold said.

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com