Kerb seeks shared kitchen and co-working space amid social enterprise push

Street food operator Kerb has unveiled ambitions to open a London-based hub and shared kitchen to accelerate its social enterprise business, Kerb+.

The site, pitched to investors as a ‘Kerb campus’, would provide kitchens, classrooms, and co-working and events spaces for the Compass-backed business to host training programmes, supper clubs, cooking classes and industry talks.

It comes after chief executive Simon Mitchell told The Caterer last year of his aims for Kerb to become “the most impactful hospitality company in the world” through the growth of Kerb+, which the team formally launched in 2023 to support people facing barriers to employment.

The not-for-profit social enterprise is entirely self-funded, drawing a percentage of profit from Kerb Events, Kerb Ventures – which covers the group’s food halls and lunchtime markets – and one of which launched this week at London’s White City.

Speaking at Kerb’s 2025 Impact Report dinner held yesterday (4 June) at the National Theatre, Mitchell said: “I’m quite an ambitious guy. We were like ‘What’s next for Kerb+?’ and what we really need is a home. We had this idea over the last decade. One of the things we are missing is a kitchen, where we would love to run a cheffing programme, where people could go onto work with restaurant partners.

“I’ve seen some amazing spaces in other cities, like in San Francisco, where they run a cookery school for people from disadvantaged backgrounds and then they open up the events space to invite in homeless families. It is so wonderful and we want to be able to offer that in London for Kerb.”

Mitchell has urged anyone who is able to support the project to get in touch, either to provide access to a site or additional ingredients and kitchen equipment.

The project is reminiscent of Mission Kitchen’s shared kitchen development at London’s New Covent Market, which launched in 2021.

“We want to deliver this in the next year or two and this is really going to accelerate the possibilities for Kerb+, both internally and externally,” Mitchell added.

Over the past year, Kerb+ has raised £32.7m in revenue for its 157 members and invested £116,000 in 13 new food businesses via its Streets Ahead programme, delivered in partnership with McCain Foodservice for a third consecutive year.

The call-out for a Kerb campus comes during a period of expansion for the group. Last month, it opened its first food hall in Berlin, and in April, it launched its second site in the UK, Corner Corner in London’s Canada Water.

Kerb was founded by Petra Barran in 2010. In 2012, she launched Kerb’s first pop-up street food market at London’s King’s Cross, which has since grown into a collective of nearly 160 food businesses operating under Kerb Ventures (food halls), Kerb Events (contract catering) and Kerb+ (social enterprise).

Last year, Kerb+ won the Equity and Inclusion award at The Caterer’s inaugural People Awards in recognition for the group’s commitment to community.