Who We Are
Our Mission
Growing Food Startups. Growing Community.
Food businesses create good jobs with relatively low corresponding educational requirements. A lack of affordable food grade spaces available for rent and the high upfront cost to build out a food grade space creates a significant barrier to growth for food entrepreneurs. The Hatchery removes these barriers to growth and creates good jobs in the City of Chicago.
The Hatchery Chicago enables local entrepreneurs to build and grow successful food and beverage businesses and provides job training and placement programs, which in turn create sustainable economic growth and new job opportunities.
Based on ICNC’s experience at their incubator over the last 30 years, the team projects that the small business owners who will rent the 54 private commercial kitchens will create or maintain 900 jobs during the first five years. Those jobs will generate $25 million in pre-tax wages in its first five years of operation.
Awards & Recognition
Our Facility
The new Hatchery facility includes a broad range of kitchen spaces and services to meet the needs of growing food and beverage businesses.
The 67,000 square foot facility is one of the largest food incubation spaces in the U.S. with:
Interested in a tour?
Explore The Hatchery facility while learning more about our mission and programs. Perfect for CPG companies, consulting groups, student groups, and more, book a tour and consultation to receive a private, guided tour through our state-of-the-art incubator. Following the tour, you'll receive a one-hour consultation where we can answer your questions and share best practices for operating a successful incubator. West Side organizations will directly connect with our partner Allies for Community Business.
Features of our facility Include:
Space for 75-100 food industry entrepreneurs in a 67,000 sq. ft. facility
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54 private food-grade production spaces
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Cold, dry, and freezer storage, loading docks, and food truck allocation
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Shared kitchen
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Event space
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Co-working space and meeting rooms
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On-site training, coaching, and industry-specific support for entrepreneurs
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On-site parking
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24/7 access, security on-site
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Event space that can be rented out capacity of 100-200 people. A/V equipment
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Headquarters for Allies for Community Business, who is a joint venture partner of The Hatchery and non-profit that provides capital, coaching and connections to entrepreneurs
