Austin Net Zero Powers This Culinary Startup
Austin Culinary Startup A Net Zero Hero
World Class Resource Helps Train Future Food Pros
For Austinite Joi Chevalier, an e-commerce tech worker turned culinary entrepreneur, her career course made a 180-turn the day she decided a net-zero culinary resource was her new North star, one that includes a presentation at James Beard House along with outreach at local farmer’s markets.
For nearly 20 years, Ms. Chevalier’s profession was marketing for the tech industry, where she used data analysis and user behavior to personalize online experiences for her clients. But throughout that career her passion was cooking, a dream that she would realize after graduating from Austin’s Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. But unlike other graduates of the cooking program, her goal was to combine the knowledge gained from her work in tech with a vision of a carbon neutral cooking haven that would in turn provide training, resources, guidance, and above all opportunity to Austin’s renowned food and restaurant scene.
The Cook’s Nook Introduces New Standard
The result? The Cook’s Nook, a wildly innovative approach to food prep that combines state-of-the-art energy management with centuries old waste management. From humble beginnings in a 1,500-square-foot nondescript single family home in East Austin to a dream culinary educational environment that now includes a 2,000-square-foot warehouse, the transformation to a net-zero facility is breathtaking.
Today it’s a teaching environment that enjoys significant cost savings thanks to a wide array of energy efficiencies while delivering business planning guidance alongside cooking instruction for the best possible outcome, guided in turn by a board of directors picked from Austin’s recognized leaders in their fields.
Delivering Training And Inspiration
Her market, the clients The Cook’s Nook was created for, include food trucks, meal services, caterers, food artisans, and anyone interested in combining their interest in food as a marketable product that also benefits from a conservation approach to bumping up the bottom line.
Officially, The Cook’s Nook describes itself as a culinary incubator, one that serves the Austin market but that’s also accessible to anyone interested in a conservation driven approach to food services. From popup events to corporate catering to commissary production to best business practices, the tools and techniques taught at The Cook’s Nook represent the realized goal of techie meets her inner cook, a synergistic convergance that’s unique in approach and delivery.
