Seated at a dining table in her empty – but technically open – new business, Gabrielle Long described what the Tasty Hub will be in the coming months: a community-oriented food scene with regular vendors in the parking lot and a dining area inside, but also a venue for food-related community events, teach-ins, or whatever else folks dream up for the space. 

But the new commissary kitchen in northern Eureka, which opened officially on Monday this week, isn’t quite there yet. The kitchen itself is fully stocked and ready to go; now it just needs chefs. 

Have you noticed this new sign, heading north on the 101? Photo: Jacquelyn Opalach

Long’s business is the foundation of a plan that relies on other local businesses to operate. It is now up to those in the mobile food industry – already existing or new to the scene – to make the Tasty Hub vision a reality. 

A commissary kitchen is a rentable commercial kitchen typically used by food trucks, vendors, caterers, nonprofits or other food-related business ventures. These “mobile food facilities” (usually) legally depend on commissary kitchens to operate. Though there are a few commissary kitchens in Humboldt, the area’s recent food truck boom has created a demand for more.

That’s one of a few reasons Long, who also owns A Taste of Bim and the Grind Cafe, decided to open the Tasty Hub. “I’ve been hearing that chant: ‘there’s not enough kitchens,’” Long said. “‘Kitchens, kitchens, kitchens.’” Commissary kitchens, Long pointed out, are a resource to people who want to break into the food industry but don’t have the money or resources to do it the old-fashioned way. 

But the Tasty Hub is a bit different from your average commissary kitchen. Beyond using the facilities and storage space there, food vendors may, if they wish, secure a permit to sell their food onsite. 

The goal is “to build community, because we’re stronger together than apart,” Long said. “What better way to have people helping each other, working together in a place that can help uplift, and help the community thrive.” Long is stoked with the traffic-heavy location and was happy to restore the unique building, which was once the long-time home of The Chalet House of Omelettes but has been vacant since 2020.

“It’s always good when you can take something like that and make it positive, and turn it into something that people can use and benefit from,” Long said.

She hopes the Tasty Hub will become a safe space for underserved communities, Long said, like folks of color and the queer community.

That hope might manifest in a partnership with a local nonprofit called Pathways of Purpose, which facilitates learning programs for underserved transition-age youth (16 to 24). Dr. Susanne Sarley, who co-founded the organization with her husband Aerin Monroe in 2021, said they’ve been looking to add some vocational training programs to the nonprofit’s offerings. 

“We think that it will be a great place to train transitional age youth in not only the culinary arts and cultural foods and knowledge and healthy eating – which is all connected to our model,” Sarley said, “but also we’re thinking about the potential of perhaps doing a garden where they could learn farm-to-table practices, because my husband is an agricultural farmer. So there’s some really good potential for that site, and for our partnership with Tasty Hub.”

Both Long and Sarley noted that those ideas are preliminary. For now, the Tasty Hub (itself a for-profit business) needs to get off the ground and running. At this point, it’s up to food people, new or seasoned, to get involved. 

Long said that people can rent the kitchen by the hour or secure a longer-term lease agreement with Tasty Hub. There are overnight parking spaces for three food trucks, and other vendors, like food stands, can store equipment onsite, too. Once applications are approved and all the necessary bureaucratic stuff is good to go, folks can get on a schedule to use the kitchen, sell food onsite, or do some other cool food thing at the Tasty Hub. Three businesses have already started the process.

Long said to contact her for the application by email at atasteofbim@zoho.com or by phone at (707) 298-7099. You can also keep an eye out for the Eureka Chamber of Commerce newsletter in the coming week, which will detail how to apply.

“Here’s your opportunity now to do what you’ve been dreaming of,” Long said. “I’m excited and I can’t wait to see how it will help people bring their business ideas to fruition.”