The common perception is that eating healthy is more expensive than fast food, or even food made with conventional ingredients. Musk intends to reverse those perceptions. The three principles by which he’s founding The Kitchenette are to use only seasonal ingredients, to purchase locally whenever possible, and to restrict the menu to ingredients that are certified organic. Pricing will be an ongoing challenge, but Musk plans to work with local farmers for bulk purchase deals for both vegetables and meat.
Kimbal Musk was trained at the French Culinary Institute in New York, and he later launched The Kitchen, a successful chain of community restaurants in Colorado and Illinois. The Kitchen is based on the belief “that gathering around the table and sharing good food and drink is what connects us as family, friends, and a community.” In an environment designed and managed to encourage conversation and engagement, customers share tables and even food.
The Kitchen Community is a non-profit that extends the philosophy of The Kitchen to children. The group constructs “learning environments” called Learning Gardens that employ activities and lessons from Science, Engineering, Art, and Math to design, plan, and manage small gardens in existing schools.
According to the organization’s website, there are almost 300 Learning Gardens across the U.S., primarily in Colorado and Illinois. More than 100,000 kids participate in Learning Garden programs daily. The Kitchen Community is fully immersed in school communities, working with teachers and administrators as well as children.
When The Kitchenette opens in Memphis in August, this Musk will attempt to disrupt existing conceptions of restaurants, challenging both fast-food and conventional-fare establishments with food that is fast, inexpensive, and healthy. It looks like market disruption is a Musk family trait.
