The Hive, Nantucket's New Shared-Use Commercial Kitchen, Opens On Amelia Drive

Inalva de la Cruz came to Nantucket six years ago from Brazil with a passion for food and cooking. She dreamed of starting her own business on the island, but the hurdles and challenges to making that happen were daunting, to say the least.

But this week, de la Cruz will realize that dream when she opens Marmitaria Sabor de Minas at The Hive, a new shared-use commercial kitchen facility and food business incubator opening today on Amelia Drive.

“I’ve always been in love with cooking as long as I can remember, and I wanted to combine the love and passion I have for that and make that my living,” de la Cruz said. “This has always been a dream.”

De la Cruz is among the first four “members” of The Hive, which is being launched by Remain (formerly Remain Nantucket), which purchased the former Keepers restaurant building at 5 Amelia Drive from the Dawson family in July 2022 for $4.69 million. Since then, the property has undergone an extreme makeover and renovation, including the construction of six commercial kitchens that Remain hopes will provide opportunities for island chefs, farmers, makers, and entrepreneurs to launch new businesses and food ventures.

De la Cruz intends to offer classic Brazillian food and specialties from her home state of Minas Gerais, take orders through WhatsApp, and deliver meals to the many job sites around the island.

Joining de la Cruz as the first members of The Hive are Siam To Go under chef Thitima Sasomsin, 8 Arms Chef under chef Chris Morris, and Noemi's Dumplings under chef Noemi Zhong. Two additional food entrepreneurs are scheduled to join in November.

Another new entity, the Nantucket Food Group (NFG), will manage The Hive’s operations and programming under the leadership of Karen Macumber, founder of NFG, and Tom Pearson, who will serve as culinary operations manager. Macumber and Pearson will work with new and existing food businesses to set them up for sustainable growth by offering memberships that include the use of commercial kitchens, access to experts in food manufacturing and business operations, and strategies to increase their sales and profit.

“We hope to change the dynamics of operating a food business in a seasonal market in two ways,” said Macumber. “First, the shared kitchen model reduces upfront capital needs and ongoing operating expenses, making it easier for new products and services to launch. Second, we help members create multiple year-round revenue streams. For example, a chef who is busy in the summer can turn their customers’ favorite sauce into a new product during the winter, selling it to local retailers.”

Bo Sasomsin, a co-owner of Siam To Go, said her family intends to keep its current location at the Nantucket Ice rink while also expanding with the new operation that will be called Siam At The Hive. The plan is to keep the existing menu at the ice rink intact while offering new, healthier options for takeout dinners from The Hive.

“We’re taking the cuisine to the next level and creating healthier menus with the Thai favorites in it,” Sasomsin said. “It’s a new concept, and we want to provide the customer with the Thai flavor with a modern twist and a healthier version of Thai food. It’s going to be all fresh.”

Members will be able to purchase blocks of time in one of The Hive’s six kitchens, which have all been decked out with state-of-the-art cooking and kitchen equipment. Macumber said customers will soon have the option to order dishes from all of the member businesses operating out of The Hive on a single online platform, and takeout will be seamless from a wall of heated lockers where orders can be picked up.

"We are continuing our catering operations at the Hive with both full-service catering, prepared meal dropoffs, and hope to add some on-site meal preparations," said Chris Morris, of 8 Arms Chef. "The Hive will provide us smaller food producers with a base and an opportunity to expand the scope of services. Much needed for Nantucket as the amount of smaller food producers has steadily increased over the past few years. Karen and Tom are very helpful and will be there to ensure we are successful. We rent the space from Remain and the for-profit business Karen is creating. It's not free. Some people I chatted with were congratulating me like we have a free kitchen space, but each business or potential business will have to continue to work hard, market their goods and services and do their job every day."

All members must be licensed and certified to run a food business and present a formal business plan to The Hive before being allowed to take advantage of the facility and the expertise of the Nantucket Food Group and Pearson, its culinary operations manager.

"This is an exciting and new opportunity for food businesses on Nantucket,” said Pearson, the former executive chef at the White Elephant. “We will have a diverse group of entrepreneurs in a state-of-the-art culinary facility that gives them a special chance to operate safely and successfully. We want to connect with all aspects of the food chain, including becoming a place for farmers to turn produce into products.”

Remain purchased the former Keepers restaurant two years ago to realize the vision of Remain founder Wendy Schmidt, who sought to create a profitable, shared-use food production facility to advance community efforts working toward a vibrant, local food system. It’s located just down the street from another Remain-owned property on Amelia Drive that is working to enhance the island’s food system: the former Annye’s Whole Foods location that is now leased to Pip & Anchor.

“Nothing brings a community together like food — especially when we minimize the distances between farms, fisheries, restaurants, and homes to create resilient local systems," said Schmidt. "We are excited to deepen the ties connecting Nantucket, particularly year-round residents, to the growers and makers of food and to provide a sustainable shared kitchen space for island food entrepreneurs."

The 11,000-square-foot facility has been remade over two years of design and construction that included the re-engineering of the building’s infrastructure and the installation of a new custom-made electrical panel built to support the electrification of the kitchens. The construction and design team included Clarke Brothers Construction, Emeritus, and Gary McBournie, Inc., with kitchen design and equipment expertise provided by Ricca Design Studios and Fountainhead Foodservice Group, respectively.

The island community will have the opportunity today, Friday, Nov. 1, to visit The Hive from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and meet the team, tour the facility, and learn more about the opportunity to become a member.