Pilotworks, a coworking space for the food industry, unceremoniously shut its doors on Saturday, separating over 175 small business owners from their goods and equipment.

Multiple Pilotworks members told Gothamist that they found out about the abrupt closure in an email the company sent around Saturday evening, over an hour after staff forced members to leave the Brooklyn facility. Now, those displaced small business owners have until Wednesday to collect their belongings and inventory, without any concrete assurance that the company plans to reimburse them for time they can't use, for their security deposits, and for unpaid distribution invoices.

Pilotworks officially opened kitchen doors in 2016, securing $13 million in series A funding in 2017. The idea was to provide burgeoning small businesses in the food service industry with kitchen spaces and facilities they could rent while they launched their ventures. David Roa—co-founder and CEO of Superlost Coffee—was one such business owner, and used Pilotworks' Brooklyn facility for coldbrew production over the past nine to 10 months. He was startled to receive word from the company at 6:42 on October 13th, announcing that the start-up had run out of money and officially closed its doors at 5 p.m. that day.

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48 hours ago I used my new shared kitchen to bake up more cakes and pies and brownies and treats than ever before and sold out at @chicagoveganmania just 15 min before closing time—feeding literally everyone who came to my table. Less than 24 hours later, I got this email. After only shy of two months settling in to my new space, I was informed that @thepilotworks is shutting down immediately, meaning myself & the hundreds of other small businesses using their kitchens have less than a week to grab all their belongings and vacate before the doors close for good. Sometimes I feel like this life is testing me...trying its hardest to push me past my limits, drain my spirit, and force me to my knees. Things happen over and over that seem impossibly timed or senseless, things that make you sit there with your jaw dropped thinking what the actual fuck. But I can tell you right now, after everything I’ve been through these past four years fighting to run this business ethically & with integrity, I’ll be DAMNED if I give up now 💕 I’m taking the next few days to move my stuff out and figure out what my next steps will be. And in the mean time, I’m sending so much love to all of you for making me feel so happy yesterday that the shock of this didn’t damage my spirit one single bit. Seeing your smiling faces and all your heartfelt posts about my treats yesterday was everything. It meant the absolute world to me ✨ I know I will find a silver lining in this. There just has to be 🖤 #veganbakery #pilotworks #wip

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"There is no easy way to state this, so we will be direct: After failing to raise the necessary capital to continue operations Pilotworks is forced to cease operations effective immediately," the email read, specifying that the closures affected all Pilotworks kitchen locations: In Brooklyn, Newark, Chicago, Providence, and Dallas. Members can pick up their belongings between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. After that, they're SOL.

"We realize the shock of this news and the disruption it causes for your business," the company said. "We wish there was another option. We worked up to the last minute to secure funding, though at this juncture, with insufficient capital and none forthcoming shutting down all operations is our only recourse."

By the time Roa saw the message, staff had already cleared out the communal kitchens housed in the Pfizer building between Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. Although he was not present at the time, members have been talking and coordinating since the closure: Security reportedly interrupted pre-paid kitchen time and escorted unwilling members from the premises, obligating them to abandon their products in the middle of the cooking process.

"People wanted to get stuff out!" Anjali Bhargava—founder of Bija Bhar, which makes Resilience Turmeric Elixir and used a temperature-controlled space in Pilotworks to grind and sift spice powder—told Gothamist. Bhargava wasn't present for the shutdown, either, but has spoken to other members who were. "A lot of people had events and markets on Sunday, and couldn't access their inventory or make their products." That, of course, costs money: For the stock wasted on products entrepreneurs couldn't actually sell; for the orders they're now unable to fulfill; and for kitchen space they purchased but cannot use.

A Pilotworks membership contract, obtained by Gothamist, states that the "Company may terminate this Agreement upon ten (10) days' notice to Member." By all accounts, it would appear members had no notice at all, and are now left to wonder whether or not they'll be reimbursed for any of the rental fees they paid Pilotworks. Roa explained that membership pricing varies based on the package a business selects. In short, members pay for 20 hours per month upfront, on top of a security deposit and various usage fees (for things like storage and refrigeration). Pilotworks tracks the amount of time members spent in facilities and tacked on a prorated fee after they exceeded the 20-hour baseline. Roa says he paid $32 an hour, and has no idea if he'll recoup any returns on unused kitchen time.

Bhargava estimates that she paid Pilotworks between $800 to $1,000 per month, and that she paid $1,072 for October. She also paid Pilotworks to distribute her goods to various co-ops, health food stores, and grocers. Even before the shutdown, she says, Pilotworks had failed to pay her money she is owed for sales distributed by the company: One of the outstanding invoices dates back to February, and she has not been given an answer as to whether or not she'll be seeing the sum Pilotworks owes her again. Members have been notified that they can collect whatever inventory they had earmarked for distribution from a warehouse in Queens.

In a closure announcement posted to its website, Pilotworks invites concerned parties to route their comments and queries to questions@pilotworks.com. Both Roa and Bhargava, however, maintain that Pilotworks has so far not responded to member emails. Gothamist has also contacted Pilotworks and its recently appointed CEO, Zach Ware, for comment, but at time of publication, we had not heard back on any of those requests. The lack of transparency, according to Roa, ranks high on the list of the shutdown's most frustrating features.

"People wouldn't be as outraged and angry if we heard anything from the leadership," he said. "It was done very sketchily."

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Calling all displaced food producers in Brooklyn! We hear a large kitchen has shut down with no notice to producers. We are here to help!! We are offering discounted rates to new producers. Also, any referring companies that bring new producers that sign on will receive a free shift(s)! Hana Kitchens is also a food incubator with years of experience. We’re here to help small and mid size new and growing businesses. We’re over 12,000 Square Feet with tons of equipment, and ample dry, fridge, and freezer storage. Reach out to nicole@hanakitchens.com or email our website: www.hanakitchens.com. We know how disruptive a sudden notice like this can be, and we’re here to help ASAP!! #pilotworks #pilotworksbrooklyn #commercialkitchen #commercialkitchenrental #brooklynfood #brooklynkitchen #foodincubator #foodstartup #brooklynincubator #kitchenrental #kitchenincubator

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The affected business owners have been meeting to strategize and pool resources, and put together a website—SupportIndependentFood.com—to help one another weather the disruption, and get in touch with local kitchens willing to offer space to Pilotworks foodpreneurs. A full list of the displaced companies is below:

Superlost Coffee

718 Heat Factory

A Cake Baked in Brooklyn Aida Snacks

Anke's Fit Bakery

August Catering and Events

Auria's Malaysian Kitchen Ava's Lifeline

Awkward Scone

Bad Seed Foods

Baked Cheese Haus Bartelby & Sage

BeReal XO

Better Almond Butter

Bija Bhar

Bite

BKE Bushwick

Black and Bolyard

Blank Slate Kitchen

Blended Day

Bliss Street Creamery Bonberi

Breukelen Rub

Brooklyn Biscuit Company Brooklyn Quality Eats Brookyn Brewed Sorrel Brrrito Daves

Brutus Bakeshop

Btarts

Buckwhat Foods

Caked by Phya

Chew Worthy

Cinta Soul

Clarendon Cuisines

Co Ba Cooks

Craft and Savor

Creative Concepts NYC Crown Jewel Beverages Culture Cream Cup-o-Cockles

Cupeesh

Damihue

Dank Bread

Dolci Di Livia/Dippin' Rings DOSENYC

Drink Jamu

Eat Chic

Eat Drink Think/The Wasted Baker Egunsifoods LLC Elemental Catering

Eye of the Tiger

Farm to People

Food Period

Fora

Forward Roots

Fresh Taste Incorporated Genuine Foods

Get Fed NYC

GoJuice

Grab 'Em Snacks Grandpa's Garden LLC Greening's Fine Foods Grillfire Gourmet

Hany ElDiwany

Healthy Food Cater Hediger Habit LLC

Hog in Black

Hot Spoon Preserves Hungry Island Foods/ Bitchin' Butter

Hungrybird Eats

I Eat Lao Food

Island Medley

Island Pops

Jalapa Jar

Jars of Delight

Jess Puddin'

Jillicious Food and Events Jon Good Chocolates Julia Mae's Southern Bakery

Just Soul

Keepers

Keto-Snaps

Khao'na Kitchen

La Dulce Baker

LAVVA

Le Traiteur

Leave it 2 Leva

Lemontree Foods Inc Lickety Split Banana Pops Lifted Cold Brew LilCoquito

Limoncello

Little Cloud Bake Shop Mac and Son

Malai

Mama Lam's

Mean Street Kitchen

Memphis Seoul

Metabrew

Mi Casa Foods

Milli

Misfit Juicery

Monk Food

Mrs. and Mr. Bakery

Ms. Jackie's

My Sweet

Nikkiikkin Sugar Studio Nolita Natural

Nomad Trading Co

Oak and Honey

OCKA Treats

Oganikk Superfoods

Oni Sauce

Only Hors D'Oeuvres Ventus Trading Corp (DBA Ludwig C)

Orgeat Works

Oven the Rainbow

Paras Organic

Pescatore Seafood

Petit Gastronome

Pistache NYC

Pop Pasta

POPTEA

Portions NY

Promethean Fire

Providore Kitchen/ Pastel NY

Pure Peppers

Real Good Dairy

Red Velvet NYC

Relax & Eat LLC

Robin Blue Hospitality Group, LLC

Rocket Broth

RubyLu Confections Salad Pangea Catering Salted Baked Goods Sanzo

Sattvika Foods

Scoops in Cahoots

Seek Food

Senor Lechuga Hot Sauce Shaquanda Will Feed You SImple But Honest

Smalls

Smushed Organics

Spice Grove

Squared GF

Sunflower Breads

Sunny's

Sweet Dames

Sweet Dough

Sweet Pistachio

Sweet Root Foods

Swig & Swallow

Thaibird

The Bruffin

The Key Patisserie

The Meringue Bakeshop The Old Fashioned Baking Co

Tiny Home Creamery

Top Badger

Twisted Truffles

TYME

Ube Kitchen

Umikah

Unicorn Hummus Vagabond Espresso Veggie Grub

Watermelon Road

Weekly

What We Eat

Wild Flour NYC Williamsburg Meals WOLDY | KUSINA Wooly's

Xua

Yoshie's Organic Cake Zesty Z