We match food entrepreneurs with commercial kitchens in Connecticut because we love good food, small businesses, and community.
Kitchen Matchmaker was borne out of an identified need for more licensed commercial kitchen space in Central Connecticut and beyond. Starting a food business is an excellent way for folks with a passion for food and hospitality to get on the path to financial success without encountering the barriers of lack of a degree, language or ability to invest large sums of capital upfront. Access to an appropriate culinary space is essential to being able to take that first step. Currently there are many more businesses seeking a commercial kitchen space than there are actual spaces.
Simultaneously, we have seen that there are so many underutilized kitchen spaces in our communities: in faith communities, social clubs and dormant restaurant spaces. Often the sites of these kitchens are struggling with generating the necessary revenue to keep these kitchens fully operational. They are used for a few hours a week and otherwise sit unused.
Kitchen Matchmaker solves these problems by matching food businesses with host sites and create a win for everyone. More available kitchen space. Additional revenue for underutilized buildings in our community.
Our model is based on trust and building systems of accountability so that hosts and businesses feel confident that this partnership will work everyone’s benefit.
Launched in 2026, Kitchen Matchmaker is an organization based in central Connecticut, connecting food businesses and host kitchens in Greater Hartford. We will be incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Meet the Matchmakers.
Mary Cockram has 30 years of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating effective economic development projects with a focus on growing micro, small, and medium enterprises. She helped spark the founding of the Hartford Culinary Collaborative in 2019 when multiple organizations were focused on different aspects of food entrepreneurship in a single neighborhood. She is teaming up with Molly to get Hartford’s kitchen matchmaking working flawlessly. And she took a lot of jello salad to potlucks as a kid.
Molly Reynolds has worked as the Shared Kitchen Manager at Hands On Hartford from its inception in 2017 through 2026. Over the years she has assisted over 200 food entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses. Prior to working at Hands On Hartford she served as the Director of Member Engagement at Asylum Hill Congregational Church, connecting the Church to opportunities beyond its walls. Molly believes in the power of building community through culinary enterprises and has never met a food she didn’t like other than jello salad.