The Hatchery, a premier non-profit food and beverage business incubator, will be breaking ground on a new $30 million facility and opening their doors to entrepreneurs to help them build their business. The organization was launched by a joint venture between Accion Chicago, IFF and Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago. According to The Chicago Tribune, funding for the project will include investment from the Venture, the City of Chicago is providing around $8 million, largely through tax increment financing, and large food companies like Chicago-based Conagra Brands and Battle Creek, and Michigan-based Kellogg Company have also pitched in an undisclosed amount. Read about more food tech incubators around the country The new digs in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood will have around 67,000 square feet of production space, 56 private food-grade production spaces, cold and dry storage, loading docks, food truck allocation, shared kitchens, ideation and event spaces, coworking, office and meeting rooms as well as house Accion Chicago headquarters.
The organization will also have a 31 member community garden network and resident-led Neighborhood Market that will run year-round housed on their campus. Accion Chicago is purposefully moving there to be a resource and help provide access to loan capital to tenants and members. Once the facility is in place, The Hatchery will be considered one of the largest food and beverage incubators in the country that help founders from the ground up. Another perk for the community is for those in the surrounding neighborhoods specifically West Side residents will be able to attend job training and food classes, among other events. The Hatchery will also host Garfield Park’s Neighborhood Market on campus. The Hatchery hopes to create 150 jobs in year one and 900 by year five. Read more about startups around the country at TechCo The Hatchery photo courtesy of City of Chicago
