Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Steve Shapiro of Candlelight Cuisine chops fresh fruit at the Co-op Kitchen, where he shares space with other caterers.

Something's cooking in the cooperative kitchen

By Suzanne Cristallo

The exciting aromas of cooking foods or baking goods, the identity of which may be recognizable only to the most practiced of gourmets, are likely to drift over the parking lot behind the La Cañada building in Los Gatos at any time of day or night.

With all due respect to the several restaurants in the area, they are not responsible. The scents come through an unobtrusive double-door opening to Victory Lane with a sign that reads: Three in One Foods and Cooperative Kitchen.

The kitchen is in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is shared on a cooperative basis by a pastry chef, a baker and three caterers who juggle their schedules to accommodate each other and their customers.

"We emphasize respect for each other," says co-owner Anna Maria Moreno, who with her husband, Anthony, has operated the Los Gatos kitchen for 212 years. It is their second cooperative kitchen venture. They have had one in Santa Clara for six years, where they prepare food for private preschools and elementary schools under the auspices of Three in One Catering.

The secret behind the success of a cooperative kitchen is economics. "We lease our kitchen to others who are just starting out and can't afford to dish out the $50,000 or $60,000 that building your own kitchen requires," Moreno says.

"The kitchen enables me financially to run a business by reducing my overhead," says Steve Shapiro, owner of Candlelight Cuisine, a catering company.

The 38-year-old Bronx, N.Y., native spent 11 years in human resources for Lockheed International with cooking as a passionate hobby. "So eight years ago, I changed," he says. He went through a six-month accelerated program in culinary arts, worked for a caterer and a restaurant for a while, then became head chef for an artist-in-residency program in Woodside.

The curators of corporate galleries visiting the artists ate his food. They liked what they ate and asked him to do openings, which found him catering more and more.

"Anybody wanting to cook should start this way," he recommends, "unless they have an enormous amount of capital."

Adrienne Cox of Creative Confections is doing it. So is Don Curl of Mr. C's Catering.

"The Los Gatos kitchen works well because we have great tenants," Moreno says.

Three in One Foods and Cooperative Kitchen, 10 Victory Lane, Los Gatos. 280-0639. Candlelight Cuisine, 774-9231. Mr. C's Catering, 946-2440. Creative Confections, 226-6874.

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