SFI's December 2025 Newsletter

The Official Newsletter of the Street Food Institute

Here’s what has happened in the last few months and what’s to come!

Entrepreneur Highlight

Say Hello to one of SFI's Student Businesses!

Staff Spotlight: Silvia Terrazas Ochoa

Naming Rights Campaign

by Street Food Institute

Barelas Central Kitchen will soon be home to SFI

Street Food Institute breaks ground on new home in Barelas

Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal

BY ALAINA MENCINGER / JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
PUBLISHED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 19TH, 2022 AT 10:05PM
UPDATED: SATURDAY, AUGUST 20TH, 2022 AT 12:05AM

Elizabeth Bibiano, owner of vegan New Mexican restaurant Vegos, can’t say enough about her time at Street Food Institute.

“The access and resources, the plethora of knowledge — wow, holy cow,” Bibiano said.

And soon, more New Mexican foodies will be able to access those resources as Street Food Institute breaks ground on its new facility, Central Barelas Kitchen. The new building will triple its size.

When Bibiano went through the program, she said there were only a handful of other students. Now, Street Food Institute leaders said they hope it will be able to support 20 or more hopeful restaurateurs after it moves out of the Central New Mexico Community College space it currently uses.

The nonprofit, which provides business and culinary training to New Mexicans looking to open food businesses — ranging from food trucks, catering businesses, brick-and-mortar stores and wholesale businesses — celebrated the groundbreaking of its new facility on Friday. The organization has been training food-loving students since it opened in 2014.

The new 11,000-square-foot building, Barelas Central Kitchen, is scheduled to open in summer 2023.

The two-story building, which is a collaboration between Street Food Institute and nonprofit Homewise, will feature a commissary kitchen, culinary classroom, as well as office space and studios for local artists. Johanna Gilligan, senior director of community development at Homewise, described the space as an “ecosystem focused on helping small businesses.”

“This just makes my heart burst,” said Frossene King, an alum of the program and owner of wholesale bakery Kalamata 505, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony and served baked goods.

Other alums, including the respective owners of Hippie Dayz Brew and Juicy J’s food truck, were in attendance at the event.

Jacob Chavez, a recent graduate from the program and owner of Juicy J’s, said that Street Food Institute helped him with everything from filling out health permits to transforming the landscaping truck his dad bought into a mobile juice bar. He opened his food truck just last month.

“They’ve helped me really along the way,” Chavez said.

Tina Garcia-Shams, executive director of Street Food Institute, told the Journal that watching food entrepreneurs grow throughout Street Food Institute’s 12-month program is like being a parent.

“It’s like, you know, you watch them slowly take those first steps. And they’re nervous and they’re scared and they’re not sure,” Garcia-Shams said. “But they start to get that confidence and you see their confidence grow. And you see when somebody tastes their food and tells them how great it is, the pride when that happens.”

Garcia-Shams has been working at Street Food Institute since 2017. She said the new facility should increase the number of prospective business owners the program can support.

“There’s only so many businesses they can fit in the current space,” Bibiano said. “… They’ll fill those seats like crazy.”

The program has been housed at CNM since 2017, although the partnership between CNM and Street Food Institute goes back much further. Even though the program collaborates with CNM’s culinary department, Street Food Institute is open to everyone, whether or not they are CNM students.

The curriculum at Street Food Institute has three phases: a theory phase, where students learn about running a business; a practical phase, where they develop recipes and hone their cooking skills in the kitchen; and an internship phase where students cut their teeth in local kitchens.

Karla Moore, owner of Simply Sinful Donuts, started taking courses at Street Food Institute in 2021. She found out about the program when she heard Tania Parillo, owner of Tania’s Tasty Kitchen and alum of Street Food Institute, talking about the institute on a podcast.

“Street Food has been like a godsend to me,” Moore said. “Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to get my brick-and-mortar.”

Moore opened her donut shop on Gold and Third last November. She said that when she has business questions, she still calls up Garcia-Shams.

“We’re just a little organization, but I hope that we have a giant impact,” Garcia-Shams said.

The new building is located at 1411 4th SW, across the street from Barelas Coffee House. The space has a history in food production — it used to be a produce bay.

“We wanted to keep that thread alive,” Gilligan said.

Homewise did a survey of Barelas in 2020 and found that a third of the respondents wanted more job training programs in the area. Garcia-Shams said she hopes that the space will be a gathering space for both students at the institute and Barelas community members.

“It’s not just a building to me — to us,” Garcia-Shams said at the event. “It’s a home. It’s going to be our home.”

by Street Food Institute

Barelas Community Kitchen Celebrate Grand Opening

SFI Would to Thank Fallon Fisher of KRQE for Writing the Article Below

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) –  A non-profit organization that supports entrepreneurs who are looking to launch a small food business and individuals interested in culinary training has a new space in the Barelas neighborhood.

The Street Food Institute‘s new home, the Barelas Community Kitchen, is located on the corner of 4th and Barelas Streets. “It is a space that has multiple types of things that can happen. So it’s a shared kitchen for food entrepreneurs who are looking for a space, a commissary space. There is an education space for our entrepreneurship classes, cooking classes, people that might want to use the space for themselves to teach a class, guest chefs,” explained Tina Garcia-Shams, executive director of Street Food Institute.

The four kitchens are filled with brand-new equipment, including grills, fryers, tilt skillets, steam kettles, proofers, blast chillers, mixers, and more. Apart from the large shared kitchen and a demonstration/education kitchen, there are two smaller kitchens, one dedicated to baking and the other to vegetarian and vegan food.

In addition to the main building, there is also a smaller building facing 4th Street with three retail spaces inside. “So there will be a bakery, a gluten-free bakery operating out of one. Street Food Institute will operate out of one. We’ll have a small market and a small food, hot food production. And then we’ll have a flex space, which will really be used for students that are ready to launch and might want to test out their concepts, get their systems together,” said Garcia-Shams.

Between the main building and the retail space building, there is a small plaza where events can be held.

The Barelas Community Kitchen held a ribbon-cutting event Thursday and is awaiting an environmental health permit before it can start opening up applications to food entrepreneurs who are looking for a space.

The Street Food Institute will also offer a Spanish entrepreneurship class in the summer and other classes, including pasta making, healthy cooking, and traditional cooking.

Garcia-Shams, an Albuquerque native, started the nonprofit 11 years ago and most recently operated it out of a space at Central New Mexico Community College that is set to be torn down. With the help of Homewise, which owns several properties in Barelas, and $2.4 million in funding from U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), she was able to bring her organization into a brand-new space.

“This is a huge leap for us as an organization. We’re very small, like we are not some big organization. And so it’s a little bit overwhelming to think about. But I know we’re ready, and I know I really believe that this is going to be really amazing to be in this space, Garcia-Shams explained.

This article courtesy of KRQE April 9th, 2025

by Street Food Institute

Cooking: A Purpose in Life

SFI Is excited to share that our employee Beatrice Montano has been selected as a Face Of CNM. Beatrice is a prime example of how cooking can help people fight through times of adversity. We are proud to have her on our team and hope that her story will inspire others to find their purpose in life.

We would like to thank CNM for writing the following article that beautifully captures Beatrice's story:

With the support of her family, along with the Street Food Institute and CNM community, Beatrice has turned her life around and is on track for a prosperous future.

A few years ago, Beatrice Montano’s son passed away. As she struggled to cope with the tragic loss, she made some bad choices and her life started veering off in the wrong direction.

“I was in a bad relationship. I got into some trouble and I went to prison for two years,” said Beatrice, now 55.

During her time in prison, Beatrice found solace in her passion for cooking. She would cook meals for the other inmates, took multiple culinary arts courses and eventually became certified in food handling. She knew she was ready to turn her life around.

Her passion for cooking and her goal to eventually operate her own food truck led her to the Street Food Institute and CNM, where she’s working toward degrees in Business and Culinary Arts.

“I love to cook, and I cook everything,” said Beatrice. “I’d love to run my own food truck someday.”

When she was released from prison, Beatrice became a resident of Maya’s Place, a transitional housing facility for previously incarcerated women, run by Crossroads for Women.

“I didn’t want to be in trouble anymore. I wanted to take care of everything in my life,” said Beatrice.

At Maya’s Place, Beatrice learned about community classes offered through the Street Food Institute, a CNM partner that operates the SFI Café on Main Campus, as well as a food truck. She quickly became an intern for SFI, then was hired as an employee.

SFI’s connection to CNM also sparked her interest in becoming a CNM student. She got connected with Academic Coach Latoya Turner-Delgado, who helped her through the admissions process. Now, she’s a full-time student.

“Beatrice came in and we went through the admissions process together,” said Latoya. “I walked Beatrice through the enrollment process from start to finish, utilizing many available CNM and community resources.”

Beatrice said that she’s also grateful to the staff at SFI for fostering her passion for cooking and teaching her new techniques.

“They’re great! I love to ask questions and I can ask the chefs at SFI anything and they will explain it all,” said Beatrice. “They teach me new ways to cook all the time.”

Tina Garcia-Shams, executive director of SFI, said that Beatrice has become a shining star at SFI.

“We are so happy and proud of Beatrice for taking the step to enroll at CNM.  I have no doubt that she will be a great addition to the CNM community,” said Tina.

Beatrice said that being an older student can be a challenge. But CNM’s tutoring services have been a major help in easing her transition into college. She also said that her younger classmates have been supportive and encouraging.

“I’m in class with all these young kids, but every time we get to work together, they help me out with any problems I’m having with the work,” said Beatrice. “I’m confident that I can do this.”

Since immersing herself in the CNM community and deciding to pursue a degree, Beatrice has also reconnected with her once estranged daughter.

“I’m very lucky that my daughter let me back into her life, or I’d never know my granddaughter,” said Beatrice. “I did stuff I shouldn’t have done and I paid for it. I’m grateful that they’re not holding it against me.”

With the support of her family, along with the SFI and CNM community, Beatrice has turned her life around and is on track for a bright future.

“Beatrice has faced multiple obstacles in her life, but her determination is admirable,” said Latoya, the CNM academic coach. “Witnessing Beatrice attend her first week of school was truly a rewarding moment.  She is highly motivated and appreciates the opportunity to receive an education.”

This article courtesy of Central New Mexico College

by Street Food Institute

From Behind Bars to Success in the Kitchen: An Inspirational Story

Street Food Institute is Helping One Women Find Vocational Success in the Kitchen

SFI is proud to announce an ongoing partnership with Crossroads for Women, a program dedicated to empowering women to sustain a fulfilling life within their community post incarceration. Making the transition from prison back into ones community has proven difficult, especially when it comes to finding employment. According to a report by the Prison Policy Initiative, over 27% of formerly incarcerated people are unemployed, where a larger portion of these individuals are women.

SFI believes it is important to continue building our partnership with Crossroads for Women, which brings us to our first success story: Bianca, a twenty-two year old future chef in training. Bianca successfully completed SFI's 12 week internship program and now works 20-25 hours a week as a valued member of our food truck team.

"I’m getting all these new skills and learning different cooking techniques, and I love it! My boss and co-workers make the work environment awesome, and I like the challenging fast pace and variety that come from vending at different locations and events."

We hope that Bianca's story will serve as inspiration to others who face employment difficulties following incarceration. Click to learn more about Bianca's journey and the Crossroads for Women program.

by Street Food Institute

Feeding the Need for Community

SFI would like to thank Michael Hodock from The Paper for writing the article below

Published July 23rd, 2025 at 12:00 am

On Fourth St. and Barelas Rd. there’s a small stretch of businesses with a long history of Duke City swagger. The Gutierrez family were the original owners of the buildings located at the corner of Fourth and Barelas until Homewise, a nonprofit and developer focused on providing affordable housing, purchased the property in 2020. Venues on the property have previously existed as DIY art spots over the years, including the Small Engine Gallery, the Donkey Gallery, the Normal Gallery, Tan Gallery, the Tannex, Graft Gallery and La Chancla Gallery and Performance Space.  Right now, the plaza known as “4th and Barelas” contains The Minnow Performance Space, Alpaca Gallery, FourteenFifteen Gallery, La Michoacana Del Norte Ice Cream and, as of May 2025, its newest neighbor, the Street Food Institute (SFI). On July 26, the plaza will host two community-focused events with art, music and a unique food experience. The SFI will host a pop-up event starting at 9 a.m. with free breakfast, live music and health resources. And beginning at 7 pm., a second party will pop off, creating an all-day space for residents to gather, eat good food, reconnect with old neighbors and bring generations together.

“We envision it as a neighborhood ecosystem where people can get together and come have some food, but there’s also business support,” Emily Birch, Operations Director of the SFI says. “There’s also art galleries nearby, so there are a lot of pieces to this. And the neighborhood itself has a rich history of art and food, and we’re just trying to bring that back to light.”

New Concepts, Old-School Neighbors

On a weekday afternoon you might see a group of Rio Grande High School students whipping up potato salad in the SFI’s spotless new two-million dollar kitchen as part of an internship program, but the aroma of fried chicken permeating the building smells like the recipes have been tweaked over the years and

honed to a science. Former students return to the SFI years after moving on to careers in the culinary industry for advice from their old mentors, who are happy to oblige if it means keeping the neighborhood’s food history alive.

The SFI is a nonprofit organization whose main mission is to train food entrepreneurs in starting their own small business. In May, they joined the Barelas neighborhood at their Fourth Street location, but they’re not a new organization by any means. Birch says they were first established in 2013 under a foundation in Santa Fe called the Simon Charitable Foundation. As the program grew and expanded, the SFI spun off to become its own 501 C3 in 2017 and has made a lot of progress in the past few years. Today the SFI offers workforce development training for individuals interested in working in the culinary industry, operates two food trucks and provides catering services for private events. The SFI partners with Homewise to operate its kitchen and plans to open three retail spaces where folks can grab a hot bite to eat by this fall. Birch calls the SFI a social enterprise.

“Although we do some community food truck shifts as well, it’s really part of our training program,” Birch says. “We have a 12-week entrepreneurship class that people cantake, and then they can take an internship with us and gain hands-on experience while helping us do our catering gigs.”

Birch says the commissary kitchen is where all food production happens, and then the cooks load up their food trucks and hit the streets. They post up around town in spots such as the Downtown business district and dish out grub to hungry professionals.

“All small food businesses that are not a brick-and-mortar have to operate out of a commissary kitchen per the City of Albuquerque Health Department,” Birch says. “So that’s kind of where we come in. The need for commissary kitchens is in really high demand right now. So this was a perfect opportunity for us to partner with Homewise, open this commissary kitchen and offer a space for entrepreneurs.”

Since its inception, SFI had been a longtime partner with CNM, and the school had a kitchen space available for them to use. Birch says when they found out that the school was going to tear down that outdated building, the partnership with Homewise was born. She says Homewise was interested in developing the Barelas neighborhood and reactivating the space. So it was a perfect opportunity for the development company to put its foot in the game and bring SFI in to run the kitchen.

“We want to sell staple products, and we have a great relationship with the Rail Yards Market, so we want everyone to be able to afford fresh produce as well,” she says. “We’ll have SNAP and EBT available, but also hot grab-and-go foods that we prepare in the commissary kitchen, and then we’ll sell it out of this storefront. So really, the biggest idea with these spaces is to have food in the evenings, because once two o’clock rolls around, everything kind of shuts down, except for fast food in the area.”

Birch says they are constantly trying to build partnerships for events like the pop-up on the 26th. Homewise typically sets up a table, but the SFI also has a partnership with The Lotus Effect, a nonprofit that provides behavioral health services, and Sandia Serenity Wellness, which gives free vitamin B-12 shots to anybody who’d like a boost. She says their student graduates often provide food for their events, too — whether it’s a dessert or some sort of savory option like fried chicken for sandwiches or smoked brisket for street tacos — creating a test market of sorts for their food concepts where they get real-time feedback from people about their products.

Community cooking classes are free, but due to space restrictions they require an RSVP to take those courses. Their comprehensive cooking and entrepreneurship courses are very affordable, and getting into courses at the SFI has a different process than you might be used to in the age of social media, but there’s an important reason for that.

“We’re still trying to kind of keep these programs available to the neighborhood, and then once we kind of get our processes in place and get a feel for how things flow, we’re going to open it up to the public,” she says. “We always ask for people’s contact information at events and reach out to them personally to make sure they’re still good to go for the class. In this neighborhood, that’s really the best way to get in touch with people, because not a lot of people have email or that sort of thing. So we think that face to face contact is really important.”

If you’re interested in taking classes, it’s probably best to come out in person or contact them directly through their website at streetfoodinstitute.org. Right now, they’re keeping it old-school  — handing out flyers door-to-door in the neighborhood and working with the Barelas Community Coalition to spread the word — but whether you live in a house in the old Barelas neighborhood or don’t live in a house at all, the SFI wants to feed hungry folks in Burque.

“We also have a partnership with an organization called La Planta, and they’ve generously donated staple food products and produce to us,” Birch says. “So when people come through our space during these events, they can get a bag and take and take food home with them. We’re really trying to feed the community. We try to be as open arms as we can.”

Homewise Is Where the Heart Is

Homewise, the nonprofit that owns the property at Fourth and Barelas, helps people become homeowners through financial education, lending and comprehensive home-ownership services. They also develop housing for low and moderate-income individuals. They purchased the property in 2020 to prevent it from being demolished and helped convert the space into the Street Food Institute’s commercial kitchen. Monica Bencomo, the company’s community development creative manager, says she’s been acquainted with the property since she was in her 20s and used to frequent its DIY spaces long before her company became active in the Community Kitchen project. Given the area’s history and the fact that Homewise had already discussed the possibility of adding affordable housing to the property, the partnership with the SFI was a match made in Heaven.

“At one point there were food businesses there in, like, the 1940s,” she says. “The original owners of the property are the Gutierrez family. They had a restaurant there called El Coronado Cafe and they also had the Coronado Chili Products building. So there was the past history of food, and the more recent history, of course, is the artist community. And so it just made kind of sense.”

Bencomo says the pop-up event on the 26th will be a Barelas neighborhood block party, and the tenants of the 4th and Barelas Plaza will be the hosts. Since the folks at SFI will be headed to an event in Santa Fe after the morning event, Flame Kissed Catering will fire up the equipment in the kitchen later in the day to prepare made-from-scratch sausages for sandwiches on homemade bread. Save extra room for dessert, because Big Ass Cookies will be hooking up the hood with colossal confections. As the SFI heads north, Santa Fe’s DJ Luz Skywalker will be headed south to hit the streets of Barelas with traditional salsa, cumbia, reggaeton and old-school jams to satisfy long-time residents, but she might sneak in some darkwave and rocksteady for the artsy types. Many of the vendors are from the Barelas community, including Fairy Julz who specializes in handmade candles, botanicals, crystals and art.

“All of these vendors are small businesses, and we’re not charging any type of vendor fees, because I want to make it as accessible as possible,” Bencomo says. “It’s giving them a space to sell their work, and it’s just gathering. To me, gathering together is important and building community is very important right now, too.”

Birch says the SFI had to put in work to win over the Barelas residents, many of whom have lived in the area for generations, and it’s paid off. If you know the neighborhood, you know they have each other’s backs, and they’ve been historically resistant to other development projects in recent years. That’s why they want to keep it real with the locals first before expanding their services across the state.

“We have a great relationship with the neighborhood that’s taken time to cultivate, because this is kind of a tight-knit community. They were a little wary of us coming in at first, but we’ve done a lot of work to be accepting and understanding of their needs,” Birch says. “After years of construction, noise and disruptions, our big first main event was just a big, huge neighborhood matanza. We had a big party, and we invited everyone. We had tacos and music, and it was just our way of saying, thank you for putting up with us and being patient.”

by Street Food Institute