BiteUnite Co-Working Kitchen and Cafe Brings New Model to SF from Hong Kong | Eater SF

"I encountered a combination cafe, commercial kitchen, and online platform for chefs that aims to bring diners and food entrepreneurs together in San Francisco; founded in Hong Kong in 2016 by Patta Arkaresvimun, it’s now taking applications for its new Mission District home at 600 South Van Ness (on the corner of 17th) after a yearlong buildout and permitting process. From the front it reads as a contemporary cafe — cold brew coffee and kombucha on tap and communal seating — and the cafe opens to the public next Monday, but behind that is a commissary kitchen stocked with fryers, charbroilers, walk-ins, and dry storage. In a third, online dimension, chefs can log into BiteUnite’s site to reserve and pay for stations; Arkaresvimun plans to book the kitchen and communal table to teach evening classes (she’ll share a basil chicken recipe from her native Thailand), and diners can book spots online. Bakers can reserve the 24-hour kitchen (rentals start at $25 an hour) to stock the cafe’s pastry case before morning service. With seating for 49 and a beer-and-wine license in the works, BiteUnite positions itself as more dependable than rotating pop-ups and offers publicity and social media marketing the moment a chef steps in, cultivating a community of chefs rather than functioning as a simple rental kitchen. Before founding BiteUnite, Arkaresvimun was creative director for Philips Designs and Gibson Innovations in Hong Kong and has since relocated with her husband and two children to San Francisco." - Caleb Pershan