Eugene’s Hot Chicken owner Zebbie Carney said his plan to open a commissary kitchen in Woodlawn will fill a desperate need for the metro area’s growing number of food trucks and other culinary entrepreneurs.

“All the business owners I talk to say we don’t have adequate commissary kitchen space that can foster growth for small businesses,” said Carney, the restaurateur who introduced the Magic City to Nashville Hot Chicken, a popular style that is fried extra-crisp then slathered in spicy sauce.

But officials with the redevelopment nonprofit REV Birmingham also see the multi-kitchen Woodlawn Cookhouse commissary project as a step forward in its efforts to revitalize the neighborhood’s once-thriving business district along First Avenue North.

“REV is all about bringing small businesses to the community of Woodlawn,” said Mary Walton, REV’s client relationship manager. “We are focused on redeveloping this community into a more vibrant space where entrepreneurs can thrive and where the community can come out and live and play and work. Zebbie understands the critical needs in Woodlawn.”

Carney is in the final steps of gaining city approval for construction. He projects opening the first three of the commissary’s five planned kitchens in early 2025.

Food trucks are required to use a certified and inspected commercial kitchen, generally at a restaurant or in a communal setup, as a base to prepare food and clean up at the close of each day’s business on the road.

Carney said his operation, located near Woodlawn High School at 5501 Georgia Road, will rent kitchen space for small businesses operating food trucks, catering companies and bakeries.

The 2,200-square-foot building will be accessible 24 hours a day via keypad entry. Clients block out time online, allowing multiple companies to use each kitchen over the course of a day. Carney estimated the commissary will serve 10 to 15 small business owners.

Food trucks are an attractive way to test the market before committing to the expensive real estate, equipment and staff required for a bakery or sit-down restaurant. “When you start small you get to work out the kinks before you make a huge investment,” Carney said.

Carney recognized the demand for shared commercial kitchen space soon after he first revved the Eugene’s truck in 2015, using the Chef’s Workshop commissary in Hoover. Since then, he’s seen scores of new trucks ply the metro area. But there are only two existing commercial commissaries, the one in Hoover and another in west Homewood.

“It’s a need,” he said.

Space, Training for New Food Businesses

Commercial kitchens play an important role for budding food entrepreneurs. They allow cooks to scale production for larger audiences, allowing their businesses to move beyond small pop-ups to larger farmers markets, or transition from roving food trucks to fixed brick-and-mortar locations.

Eugene’s Hot Chicken is an example. After building his brand from a commercial kitchen through a food truck, Carney had a ready-made audience when he opened his own restaurants in Uptown in 2017 and Hoover in 2020.

The native of east Nashville, Tennessee — where the hot-chicken style hatched – is bringing the concept full-circle. Periodically, he drives his Birmingham-based food truck to events in Nashville, exploring that market’s potential for Eugene’s.

Carney also wants to use the Woodlawn Cookhouse to share some of the business lessons he’s learned by offering hands-on classes for budding entrepreneurs including analyzing profit-and-loss statements, and calculating costs for food and labor.

“People get into this with a passion and don’t understand how much business goes into it,” said Carney, who has a business degree from Tennessee State University. “I always tell people it’s 90 percent business and 10 percent talent. But that 10 percent’s gotta jump off the page.”

Carney’s experiences make his commissary perfect for Woodlawn, REV’s Walton said.

Helping food entrepreneurs gain traction is central to other REV initiatives, including its periodic Woodlawn Street Market and the Woodlawn Marketplace building on Fifth Avenue South. The commissary will be an incubator for fledgling food-business owners, not only from Woodlawn but throughout Birmingham.

“We want to see them thrive,” she said. “We want to see them build their businesses and revenue so they can advance to the brick-and-mortar space if that’s what they desire.”

REV recently awarded Carney an $83,000 grant under its Magic City Match Open for Business awards, which provides gap funding for minority-owned businesses. Applications are open through Aug. 26 for Birmingham Open for Business ready-stage grants. Visit the REV site for more information and to sign up.

“We’re heavily invested in the growth and development and advancement for this community,” Walton said. “And we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that happens.”