Partake Collective is Ready for Its Closeup, Commercial Producer Says

Where can you rent a test kitchen to film a commercial showing people making and taste-testing fresh food?

Partake Collective, of course.

Angela Jones, a prolific producer of commercials, music videos and more, discovered the location earlier this year. To be specific, Angela’s location scout found Partake at Glassell Park, then in Long Beach. When Angela saw the Long Beach location at 456 Park Ave., she knew she had the right spot for a Domino’s stuffed crust pizza commercial.

“There are lots of test kitchens in the Los Angeles area,” Angela said in a recent interview. “But we needed a place that was truly a test kitchen; an honest space with ample parking and a legitimate feel.”

Angela said the concept for the commercial involved getting real people on camera with a new stuffed crust pizza trying to convince them it is a new product (it is). To get the testers comfortable, an actual test kitchen was necessary. The pluses came with Partake’s willingness to accommodate special filming needs.

“They were great,” Angela said. “We used a lot of their equipment. Domino’s is very particular and brought in their own oven, but they (Partake) had everything else we needed, even the cold storage for the ingredients. It was very cost-effective, too.”

Cost is always a concern, especially with smaller production companies. Long Beach (and Glassell Park) has an advantage with filming by being within the Los Angeles Studio Zone. That is a radius of 30 miles from downtown LA. The zone determines what level of per diem and driving compensation union employees receive – Long Beach is calculated at the lowest level.

But Long Beach is 20 miles away from LA, so there still is need for incentives to draw filming dates. Partake has that in spades, Angela said, with the range of kitchen setups and spaces like the food hall, a formal dining area and the chef’s demonstration kitchen.

“And they were so helpful,” Angela added. “There was a lot of value for the price.

“There is a whole world of food product commercials out there,” she continued. “There is a need for specific spaces. I’d definitely come back if I had the right project.”