This time last year, Jazmine Rivera didnât know she would be a cook, let alone own her own takeout business.Â
Rivera was working in social justice at the Mennonite Central Committee, but she needed a change; she wanted to spend more time with her young, homeschooled daughters.Â
She used her first stimulus check to open Afro Boricua Cocina in June, serving West Indian and Puerto Rican dishes with fresh ingredients.Â
But the catch is, Afro Boricua Cocina isnât a traditional restaurant: itâs a ghost kitchen.Â
Ghost kitchens go by several other names, such as pop-up kitchens or shadow kitchens. Theyâre best defined as a business that offers meals and goes through the same routine health inspections as a normal restaurant would, but without having a brick-and-mortar area for guests to dine in. Â