The festival, now in its sixth year, was launched by La Cocina, a non-profit organization which provides low-income, mostly immigrant women cooks with support and affordable commercial kitchen space - a must for any growing food operation. Many of the festival's more than 80 vendors were La Cocina clients, serving up their creations alongside established, award-winning restaurants and food trucks from across the Bay Area. Caleb Zigas, La Cocina's executive director, said the festival is a celebration of San Francisco's "entrepreneurial spirit" and an opportunity to "share space and eat with people from all over." [...] La Cocina provides the nascent business with access to its large, affordable commercial kitchen space and continues to provide business and marketing support. Zigas, La Cocina's executive director, said the organization hooks up its entrepreneurs with food vendors, such as Whole Foods, or developers with restaurant space. The first festival was too popular for its own good: so many people showed up that the lines were much longer than anticipated and many left poor reviews on Yelp. [...] it's grown even more: the organizers expected 80,000 people to show up on Saturday.
Reported by SFGate 11 hours ago.
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