News September 2025
Three pieces of news landed in the same week this September, and together they say a lot about where CCK is two years in.
Two Golden Whisk nominations
The Golden Whisk Awards are the shared-kitchen industry's own awards, presented each year at the Shared Kitchen Summit. CCK was nominated in two categories in the 2025 cycle — a first for a Western New York kitchen, as far as we can tell, and a nice thing to be able to say about a converted cafeteria that launched with no name and no marketing budget.
"How this retro cafeteria became a launchpad"
The Summit's organizers also profiled CCK on their blog this week, under the headline How This Retro Cafeteria Became a Launchpad for Buffalo's Food Entrepreneurs. It's the story of the building — the red quarry tile, the beige ceramic walls, the auditorium, the kitchen that once served GM trainees on trays — and of what happened when a real estate company bought it during the pandemic and found a dormant commercial kitchen inside.
The piece also tracks the growth: long-term members up from about seven to more than thirty in a year, solo founders who are now hiring, a muffin maker going wholesale and then opening a storefront. A companion video interview is on YouTube.
When you book your time slot, the kitchen is yours.Paul Stephen, in the feature
Food trucks at the Driving Range
And in the Clarence Bee: the Town Board approved a permit for food trucks in the parking lot of the Clarence Driving Range at 9030 Main Street. The range is busy all summer, has never had a full lot, and has never sold food — so the idea was to give our food-truck members a reliable place to set up on Main Street, at no charge. The Driving Range became the first of what we now call CCK Hotspots.
Sources: The Food Corridor, Sept. 18, 2025 · Golden Whisk Awards · Clarence Bee, Sept. 18, 2025