After about a year of serving gluten-free arepas out of a shared commercial kitchen, Carúpano Kitchen is getting its own front door. The Venezuelan restaurant plans to open its first brick-and-mortar location by mid-November at 1040 Fourth St. N. in St. Petersburg, moving into a 1,070-square-foot space that previously housed a catering kitchen and urban canning company.
From Incubator Kitchen to Its Own Storefront
Carúpano Kitchen originated about a year ago at Foodie Labs, a commercial kitchen and restaurant incubator in St. Petersburg, according to WhatNow. Owner Andrea Osorio debuted the concept there with her mother, Diann Cedeño, and her wife, Lauren Haley, in 2025, as reported by St. Pete Rising. Once the new location opens in mid-November, the Foodie Labs spot will close, the outlet reports.
Until then, Carúpano Kitchen is still serving at Foodie Labs Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., per I Love The Burg. The incubator itself is built for exactly this kind of leap, offering eight commercial cook stations, a main baking station, a demonstration kitchen, and space for up to six virtual restaurant residencies, according to a report from the site's earlier coverage of the facility's debut.
Arepas Stay Front and Center
At the new location, Osorio plans to keep the menu largely intact while expanding breakfast and lunch offerings, per WhatNow. The restaurant will operate as a counter-service spot with limited seating, designed to serve guests on the go, and Osorio has said she does not intend to greatly expand the menu beyond its current focus on arepas.
The menu centers on arepas, naturally gluten-free Venezuelan corn cakes, alongside gluten-free empanadas filled with beef, chicken, cheese, seafood, or cazón, St. Pete Rising reports. The corn-based doughs are gluten-free across the board, and the housemade sauces are dairy-free and vegan, according to I Love The Burg. Diners have also gotten a taste of Osorio's slow-cooked wine-reduction short-rib arepa, which she shared in a feature with Bay News 9.
A Name Rooted in Family History
The restaurant takes its name from Carúpano, a small fishing town on Venezuela's coast and Osorio's hometown, where her grandmother grew up and ran her own arepa restaurant, according to St. Pete Rising. The new space will carry a design inspired by that coastal town, per WhatNow. Osorio founded Carúpano Kitchen to share her family's Venezuelan culinary heritage with St. Petersburg, and the restaurant's own website describes the concept as a love letter to her mother's cooking, her family's history, and the flavors of the Venezuelan coast, according to Carúpano Kitchen.
Osorio has described St. Pete as homey and unique, and has called the business a small women-owned operation, per WhatNow. She has said support for small businesses is crucial to keeping the city's culture alive and thriving, and has urged the community to back small businesses, Hispanic-owned businesses, and women-owned businesses as the restaurant aims to make a bigger impact in St. Petersburg. Fans can also keep up with the move through the restaurant's Instagram account, @carupanokitchen.
Part of a Broader Hispanic Business Boom
Carúpano Kitchen's expansion lands amid a period WhatNow describes as one of growth for St. Petersburg overall, and it fits into a larger pattern across the region. More than 600,000 Hispanic-owned businesses contribute over $90 billion to Florida's economy, according to the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, as reported by WUSF. In Pinellas County specifically, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce had grown to nearly 100 members, with one chamber official noting that employers were actively seeking bilingual employees.
Carúpano Kitchen has also built its following through pop-ups around town, including regular appearances at Golden Isles Brewing Co., I Love The Burg notes. That community visibility, paired with the incubator model Foodie Labs was built to support, has helped carry the business from shared kitchen stations toward its own address on Fourth Street North.
