We just made a sweet deal

Some days, my job is just so rough. Today, for example, I was forced to visit with Soraiya Nagree who, along with her husband Azim, co-owns two interlocking businesses, both food focused. What this meant, among other things, is that I wasn’t allowed to leave without taking some brownies with me. (I know, I know, get out the violins.)

Soraiya and Azim have got The Kitchen Space, on Austin’s East side, near 12th Street, a commercial kitchen that small local food businesses can rent by the hour with no long term commitment. Does that sound familiar? I about started clapping my hands when I found out there is a food variation of coworking right under my nose.

Inside of The Kitchen Space, Soraiya runs Luxe Sweets, which will soon supply LaunchPad Coworking with lots of excellent baked goods — we’re even talking about an exclusive LaunchPad Coworking delicacy. We’ll be in good company — Luxe Sweets already supplies lots of local places with scones, muffins, cookies, brownies and loaf breads. So if, say, you’re in a hurry to try out their stuff before we open, you can pop into one of the following: Halcyon, the Triannon in West Lake, Little City, Hot Mama’s, Café Mundi, or Jo’s Coffee.

Soraiya is only 28, but she’s been in the business for a couple of years after partaking in a local Cordon Bleu Program that is part of the Texas Culinary Academy. And she’s actually known, since she was very little, that the sweet life is one she would pursue.

“My mom tells the story of how we went to France when I was 8 or 9. I came home from the pastry shops and said, ‘Mom, that’s what I want to do with my life.’”

But before pursuing fulltime kitchen chemistry, Soraiya went a different route for a little while. She procured a degree in chemical engineering, which — no kidding — landed her a gig at a bowling ball manufacturer in San Antonio. After three years of that, she was ready to resume the path to fulfill her childhood dream.

Her first clue that things were going to work out, even before she officially opened her business, came one holiday season when her friends beseeched her to make this or that specialty. “I tried to just give it to them, but they wanted ten of each, and they wanted to pay.”

Even when the business opened, it went through numerous iterations, starting out with a focus on customized gift baskets and leading up to the current commercial kitchen/sweets business combo. Still, Soraiya isn’t ready to settle in totally. Ultimately, she hopes to have a classic French café, and she calls Luxe the precursor to that. (I encouraged her to please open that space in my neighborhood.)

During my visit, I took a tour of the place. Cooks from a local company — typically a dozen or so regular food businesses rent space weekly — were in the big kitchen, preparing savory entrees, which Soraiya loves smelling since she gets a little tired of inhaling sweets all the time.

There’s a smaller prep kitchen, too, and a bakers’ kitchen. Clients also have access to a small business office and are allowed to store cold and
dry ingredients so they don’t have to lug in all their supplies each time they use the space.

Things are working out well. Besides the steady renters, Soraiya has reached the point of production where she’s hired others to help her with some of the baking. This means no more midnight shifts — something she once did regularly in addition to keeping day hours. She’s still at The Kitchen Space more hours than she can count but now she can go home at night and dream of her future café.