This document provides information on different models of food incubators. It discusses four key formats: 1) multi-tenant food processing centres, 2) shared-use food incubator kitchens, 3) shared-use agricultural processing facilities, and 4) mobile incubators. For each format, best practices are shared through case studies like the Food Business Incubation Centre in Northern Ireland. The document also covers considerations for operations of food incubators like pricing models, size, and equipment provided. Overall, the document aims to help learners understand different food incubator models and implement best practices.

1. Module 2
Different Models of
Food Incubators
This programme has been funded with support from the
European Commission

2. By completing Module 2, learners will learn how to synthesize
best practices models of food incubators. We share the workings
of four key different formats from which learners can improve
their understanding of the best fit for their circumstances and
acquire valuable insider information. The four formats are:-
1. Multi tenant food processing centres
2. Shared-use food incubator kitchens
3. Shared-use agricultural processing facilities, which are
designed for use by farmers for collective grading, processing and
packaging of farm produce or other commodities.
4.Mobile incubators, e.g. can go to primary producers premises
or other locations and act as’ in situ’ production units
"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an
endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be
held responsi­ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."

3. 2.1 Multi-tenant
food processing
centres
CAFRE - Loughry Campus, Northern Ireland,
UK

4. 2.1 Multi tenant food processing
centres
This format of food incubator provides a number of
independent, own door production units for start up
or growing food businesses.
While the development of such centres are costly and
capital intensive, they provide food companies with
production capacity of scale.
Their operation is best explained by reviewing best
practice examples ….

5. Opened in 1998, t
he Food Business Incub
offers eight
purpose-built, stand alone food
processing factory
units finished to
the highest standards in two sizes:-
•4 smaller units of 175m2 - rent £1250/ month
•4 larger units of 225m2 – rent £1608/month
FBIC is an integral part of CAFRE (College of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise) and DARD
and was developed at a cost of £3.9 million (jointly
funded by Special Support Programme for Peace and
Reconciliation (SSPPR) and DARD).
Case Study Food Business Incubation Centre
(FBIC) Loughry, Northern Ireland, UK

6. Each of the eight units are ‘stand alone’ and contain:
•a segregated arrival bay, ambient store and chill
•a temperature controlled production area
•a dispatch bay and chill
•a low pressure cleaning system, air handling system,
compressed air supply, 180Kw electricity supply (3
phase and single phase), water
•office, changing rooms and toilet facilities
Communal facilities include
•packaging, chill and freezer storage facilities
•blast freezer
•canteen services, board room and meeting rooms
•technical assistance when required
•environmental management systems

7. FBIC offer a very unique proposition. On the same campus,
there is a 4,000m2 hi-tech Food Technology Centre which
incorporates four mini food processing areas; meat, bakery,
fruit & vegetable and dairy sectors and is designed to
accommodate best practice in food manufacture.
This unique facility is equipped with an extensive range of
modern pilot and industrial scale food processing and product
development facilities.
The Food Enterprise Development Programme is a 6 month
programme to provide enterprise skills. It also gives
participants limited production runs to test-market demand
for a new product using the unique food technology facilities
and resources at the Food Technology Centre .
The overall progression pathway is presented as ….

8. Key Learning Points
While the original concept was that companies would
‘incubate; their business for circa 6 -18 months, the reality
of getting a food business off the ground is that is can take a
startup up to 3 years to get a new product to a level of scale.
•From 1998-2010 the average ‘stay’ was 29 months.
•The current company profile is 4+ years.
Typical of most food incubation centres, occupancy levels
fluctuate, they start at a low base and build over time.
•Up to 2010 average occupancy rate was 50% (4 units)
or less.
•2010 onwards 78-100% occupancy (7 to 8 units).
•2011-2015 100% occupancy + waiting list
The bottom line - Occupancy Rate over last 5 years
is 80%.

9. Key Learning Points
FBIC completed an interesting analysis of their enquiries.
From 250+ enquiries:-
•100 made declarations of interest
•41 progressed to the submission of a business case
•24 businesses have taken up units
The reasons why companies did not take up a unit:-
• Size of units -smaller units are required for start
ups.
• Cost of units
• Location
• Too big a step

10. Key Learning Points
FBIC identified their main challenges as:-
•Debt Management
•Costs
•Exit Strategy and planning for same
•Marketing

11. Innovation pathway at Loughry
Stage 1:
Food Innovation Centre
Concept/Idea
Investigation and
kitchen scale
production.
Stage 3: Food Enterprise
Development Programme
A six-month programme allows companies
to manufacture and sell their products
produced in the Food Technology Centre
and determine the feasibility of their
business before committing to major capital
investment.
Stage 2:
Food Technology Centre
Pilot processing and
scaling up.
Stage 4: Food Business
Incubation Centre
Time bound
commerical
manufacturing.
Stage 5:
Commercial manufacture
Outside Loughry

14. A Tenant
Perspective
Sean Mc Gloin,
Food Hub tenant
(Ireland) and
advocate of Multi
Tenant Food Centres
www.thecheesehub.ie
Sean’s approach is
best summarised as
….

16. The Cheese Hub was established in 2012 by Sean
McGloin as Ireland’s first dedicated subcontract
cheese ripening/ maturing and cutting & packaging
service.
With a modest investment of € 25,000, it converted
and equipped 2 units in The Food Hub as a cheese
maturing facility for the premium cheese market.
Spanning 1,600 sq ft, the facility consists of a food
grade “ageing cave”, a processing room and
packaging room with an overall capacity of 35 tonnes
of cheese.
It created employment for 3 staff - 1 permanent and
2 part time

19. Why food
incubators make
sense on every
level ?

20. The business could not have progressed
without access to food grade facilities – the
investment would have been too much.
Sean highlights that it is than production
space, it is a community and a support
group! From borrowing a forklift to
collaborating with an alcohol producer to
take their waste boiling water, the benefits
are very practical.

24. Why did The SHED Locate in Drumshanbo,
Co Leitrim, Ireland ?
•The People – “Meitheal”, attitude &
community.
•Ready to go food grade infrastructure –
The Food Hub and lorward looking Local
Authorities who worked with us: Leitrim
County Council.
•The road less travelled – “its all real”.
•Great location to build a “brand”
•Competitive costs & “hungry/helpful”
local suppliers.
•Access to resourceful, ambitious &
enthusiastic local work force.
•Access to Dublin – 2 hours

25. Some final thoughts
The inclusion of highly attentive management seems to
provide the basis for business incubation
and support across the 3 critical needs of
their tenants:
• business training
• access to capital
• technical assistance
But that management comes at a cost. How can it be
resourced?
See Module X

26. 2.2
Shared
Use
Food/
Kitchen
Incubators
Newmarket Kitchen, Ireland

27. A kitchen incubator is a culinary
production facility
that can
accommodate
multiple tenants
and is dedicated to
growing early stage
wholesale, retail
and/or catering
food businesses.
While the concept of a shared-use
incubators is not
new, the growth of
different kitchen
incubator formats
demonstrates
increasing diversity
and creativity of
approaches and

28. The main selling points of shared use kitchen
incubators
•They provide the essential kitchen infrastructure to allow
specialty food businesses like processors, farmers,
caterers and street food entrepreneurs the opportunity to
start from a recipe and grow a business.
•They help remove the restrictive barriers of the high cost
capital investment associated with leasing or purchasing a
kitchen and kitchen equipment.
•Legislation is making it increasingly hard for producers to
operate out of their domestic facility.
•They can reduce the risk of failure by removing
start up barriers associated with no, or low
skills in managing and maintaining a commercial
kitchen.

29. • They allow people to separate business and home life.
• They instil a sense of community, natural networking
and practical information sharing on areas such as
sales and marketing, support, packaging or labelling
Research conducted by University College Dublin, UCD
for an Irish kitchen incubator (in 2014) provides
interesting insight into the barriers to scaling their
food business.
Of 100 businesses interviewed:-
80% cited lack of capital
37% cited inability to scale production in
current location
36% cited inadequate equipment at home

30. Interestingly, they questioned potential barriers to
adoption
Raw meat and bakery
section would have to be
kept separate as I have
no idea who used the
facility before me, did
they use nuts or gluten?”
People have different
standards of cleanliness.
Place needs to be kept
clean and someone should
be employed to keep track
of who comes and goes
and how they maintain
their space
A kitchen incubator is a
good idea but cost is the
biggest issue and the
price would have to be
all inclusive and not
have any hidden
charges”

33. Union Kitchen, UK

34. Added Value
More than being just rental space, food incubators can
offer full-service business assistance whereby
participants have access to information and training
regarding all aspects of starting a business. They can
help would-be entrepreneurs with understanding the
food business, navigating licensing and other
regulations, and making connection with both suppliers
and customers. Other value added resources include
branding, marketing account, insurance, and financing
mechanisms.
The decision of which value added services to
provide should be based on the needs of the local
businesses and partners as well as on space
availability and cost benefit analysis – use the
research guideline and tools in Module 1.

35. Operations
Typically, kitchen incubators are very lean operations
with few employees and modest operating budgets.
Costs - rent or mortgage, salaries with lesser amounts
to utilities and maintenance.

36. Largest Operating Costs Are Rent and Salary
The highest operating costs for incubators are rent/mortgage, salaries and benefits, and other costs, with utilities,
maintenance, insurance and debt service making up smaller, but still significant portions of costs
20
%
18
%
14
%
7
%
6
%
27
%
30
%
Average Total Operating Cost by Type
Maintenance
Utilities
Other
Rent/Mortgage
Salaries and Benefits
Debt Service
Insurance

37. Operations
Revenue - generated from renting shared or
permanent space, or through a variety of smaller
revenue producing activities. Rental fees are by far the
biggest revenue source for incubators. The “US
Kitchen Incubators: An Industry Snapshot” report
share income breakdown as ..
Average Percent of Total Revenue by Revenue Source
Leasing Shared Space
58%
28
%13
%9
%
Othe
r
Leasing
Permanent
Space
24%
Event Space
Rental Retail /
Market
Classes
/
Training
9%
Non-
Food
7%
Copacking 6%
Distribution 6%

38. Insights into Operations
•High demand is likely at the end of the week which could
lead to logistical headaches and the facility lying idle during
off peak times.
•Fluctuating demand for some users –
– “It is impossible to plan longer than on a short term
business, I could be cooking for 100 people one week
and 800 the next”
– “It is all dependent on orders, at times it can be
overwhelming”
•Success can lead to stagnation ! Satisfaction with facilities
could result in a reluctance to switch to an alternative.
•Marketing lead times can be longer than you expect–
building awareness takes time . Ensure you have an
adequate marketing and PR budget from the outset.

40. 9. Space for production and meeting/offices
10.Wide hallways for moving pallets/bulk storage
11.Floor drains
12. Structural stability to support fridges/freezers/storage
on 2nd floor & up (depending on floor area)
13.Changing rooms and bathrooms
14.Wifi connectivity
To be truly successful, food incubators need to be more
than landlords, hence:-
Tenants will also need/expect
•Support services e.g.
photocopying, reception
(depending on size)
•A sense of community Canteen
facilities
•Meeting and training rooms
•Events and education
Tenants would benefit from
•A product development kitchen
•Onsite food technologist
•Group purchasing schemes
•Logistics support
•Extra storage facilities (not
necessarily food grade)

41. Operations – Pricing
The very basis of the shared use kitchen model is that it is meant
to be flexible...and affordable. The most important factor for your
target customer is often price and convenience. Therefore, it is
important to create a variety of packages to suit different member
needs. From casual use to fixed arrangements (e.g. one, two or
three day a week passes), your timetabling need to be flexible and
fair. Also offer 24-7 access where possible.
Can’t decide what to charge?
Assess the membership fees of other incubators, and combine
that information with the local knowledge you’ve gained through
market research (Module 1). This will help you determine a
reasonable price point for member packages as well as short-term
daily, weekly and monthly bookings.

42. Operations – Size
Insider Tips …
Kitchens need to be of sufficient size to accommodate more than
one user at a time. The key to developing a revenue stream that
can fund staff expenses and utilities (the two single largest
expenses) is simultaneous, multiple occupancy and keeping the
facility open 24 hours a day.
Storage – Most facilities have underestimated the amount of
storage space their tenants will require. Aside from limiting
storage income, inadequate storage facilities result in fewer
tenants than a facility can reasonably accommodate

43. Operations – Size
Insider Tips … Anchor tenants provide stability to the facility –
especially in the early days.
Most successful kitchens have what have become known as
anchor tenants. Anchor tenants are distinguished from other
tenants in two important ways.
1)Anchor tenants are notable by the substantial number of hours
of kitchen time they rent. In exchange for the certainty of large
blocks of time, facilities offer favourable rates to these tenants.
2)This block of rented time usually underlies a business that is
well managed and successful. Anchor tenants are renting large
amounts of kitchen time because they are successful. Successful
tenants develop into sustained rent
revenue for the facility and provide role models for
others starting off.

44. Operations
There are 3 different pricing models can be applied:-
In the US, the pricing formats used by incubators break down as
1. Hourly fee
charge only
for time used
2. A basic
monthly fee +
per use charge
3. Blanket fee
that covers all
usage
60% charge
an hourly
fee- charge
only for
time used
30% charge
a basic
monthly fee
+ per use
charge
10% charge
a blanket fee
that covers
all
usage

45. Equipment Provided A typical shared used kitchen
incubator would offer the following
equipment schedule at a minimum:-
• Preparation Tables
• Industrial scale Mixers
• Industrial scale Food Processors
• Hob cooker – 8 rings minimum
• Oven – Convection and Rack Oven
• Walk-in Fridge & Freezers
• Dishwasher
• Water boiler
• Pots, pans, utensils
Photos: Newmarket Kitchen

47. Learning from Best Practice Kitchen Incubators
Newmarket Kitchen, Dublin La Cocina San Francisco
Hope & Main LA Prep

48. Best practice kitchen incubators
Newmarket Kitchen, Ireland
http://www.newmarketkitchen.com/
An
interesting business model,
for profit but with a strong
social entrepreneurship ethos.
Snapshot (November 2016)
Founded: 2015
Sq. Feet of Kitchen Space: 5,500
Members 23
of whom % of Minority Operated: 25%
% of Female Operated: 60%
Members + Alumni: 30
Jobs Total Onsite (Nov 2016): 54
Jobs Created (incl. Alumni): 65+

49. https://youtu.be/SLvUdqzJjzk
Their selling proposition is interesting …..

50. Newmarket kitchen
Newmarket Kitchen provides members with both core and
value-added services
Newmarket Kitchen gives food entrepreneurs a leg up into the food industry providing
better likelihood of survival and growth opportunities
Core Services
Value-Added Services2.
1.

51. Newmarket kitchen
Newmarket Kitchen serves a wide range of members
• Central commissary and office
• Secure, overnight parking
• Easy access to van cleaning and
maintenance
• Frozen cold and dry storage
• Event and catering opportunities
• Supply rental discounts
• Staffing and logistics solutions
• High-volume production and access
to markets
• 20- and 40- quart mixers
• 5 convection ovens
• 24/7 access to the building
• Distribution to coffee shops,
markets, and other retail
opportunities
• Bulk and pallet storage
• Packaging and labeling space
• Distribution services
• Staffing solutions
Catererers Bakers Packaged Food Producers

52. Newmarket kitchen
Newmarket Kitchen is different
• Being For Profit our interests are aligned with those of our Members
• Incentive to cultivate and develop successful members that act as brand ambassadors
for Newmarket Kitchen
• Members are in it for the money. Newmarket Kitchen exists to drive business to them and us
• Added 54 jobs and numerous new businesses to Wicklow and Dublin area community
and economy
• Our small contribution to turning around the massive job losses seen in Bray in recent years
with the closure of big employer’s like Dell
For Profit Mission with Aligned Incentives
Community Impact



53. Newmarket kitchen
Challenges faced and overcome

54. Newmarket kitchen
Current challenges
USA population 318 million = 200 Food Incubators
1,500,000 people = 1 Food Incubator
Ireland population = 5 million
Relative to USA = 3 and 1/3 Food Incubators to 5 million people

56. Newmarket Kitchen Best Practice by Example
Newmarket Kitchen Membership begins with an intensive 4-
week orientation. This serves not only to educate new
members on proper use of the shared kitchen space and
equipment, but also as a crash-course in small business
ownership. Topics covered include food safety, access to
financing, hiring, licensing, and finances.
Newmarket Kitchen also offers ongoing classes for members,
for example through an entrepreneurship class that covers
marketing, legal issues, strategy, and management.
Finally, Newmarket Kitchen offers technical assistance to
members as needed, including preparing them for
health and safety inspections through mock
inspections.

57. It is clear the US is leading the way in Kitchen Incubators
https://makefoodyourbusiness.org/
Hope & Main, Rhode Island, US is
a not for profit operator of over
6,600 sq. ft. of production space. It
offers a true incubator experience
and targets early-stage food/food-
related businesses that are not yet
ready to occupy professional
facilities of their own.
Every space is outfitted to function
independently, allowing makers to
prep, cook and clean within the
same space
each shift.

58. Hope & Main
Each kitchen is staged to accommodate various processes,
including gluten free, artisan baking, bottling, catering and more.
The equipment inventory is ever-evolving based on needs of
members.
Added value through
•Acceleration programmes combined with investment
•Expertise
•Selling opportunities
Online application process:-
https://makefoodyourbusiness.org/apply/

59. https://youtu.be/pQNVwQN1zag

60. Incubators as Social Innovators
The mission of La Cocina, San Francisco is to cultivate low income
food entrepreneurs as they formalize and grow their businesses by
providing affordable commercial kitchen space, industry-specific
technical assistance and access to market opportunities. They
focus primarily on women from communities of colour and
immigrant communities. La Cocina is a home for 30 up-and-coming
businesses.
Their vision is that entrepreneurs gain financial security by
doing what they love to do, creating an innovative, vibrant
and inclusive economic landscape.
http://www.lacocinasf.org/

61. L.A. Prep, Los Angeles
L.A. Prep has 54 licensed food production spaces, each is
leased exclusively to one tenant. It is rich with added value
with on-site access to :
• flexible cold, dry and frozen storage;
• a demonstration kitchen;
• co-working space
• staffed warehouse to assist with receiving and logistics
• Food Safety Intern on site
They have an interesting presentation of the services available
across the various membership types:-

62. L.A. Prep, Los Angeles

63. Innovative European Approaches
http://cphfoodspace.dk/
Copenhagen Food Space
has been developed in a
former abattoir in the
meat packing district
Now home to a
community of
entrepreneurs, creatives
and all sorts of people
who work in the food
industry
#kitcheneurs

64. 2.3 Shared-use agricultural
processing facilities

65. 2.3 Shared-use agricultural processing facilities
• Typically referred to as Food Hubs in the US, this type of
incubator is typically provides shared aggregation,
processing, marketing and distribution of products. to
realise greater control and financial return.
• USDA defines a food hub as “a business or organization that
actively manages the aggregation, distribution, and marketing
of source-identified food products primarily from local and
regional producers to strengthen their ability to satisfy
wholesale, retail, and institutional demand.”
• Promoters span various types of cooperatives such as
farmer marketing cooperatives, producer, worker owner,
purchasing/shared services, and consumer coops.
• Main objective - realise greater control and financial
return for farmers, growers and producers

66. Shared-use agricultural processing facilities can:
• Provide a link between farmers, producers, and buyers.
• Give individual farmers and producers the means to
market and sell their products together as one larger
entity, allowing them the opportunity to sell to high-
volume buyers.
• Offer farmers and producers the ability to receive fair
and consistent pricing for their products.
• Provide larger buyers with a supplier that can not only
meet high levels of demand, but can also consistently
provide fresh local foods.
• Educate buyers about food and facilitate information
flow and sharing.
• Help farmers extend their season which, in turn,
helps provide buyers with
a more consistent supply of

67. Facility clients add value to food through one of two primary
means:-
1)Processing either raw or processed food into a packaged
food product that is sold either wholesale or retail.
Examples of food processors include jam makers, cider
makers, bakers and manufacturers of a variety of packaged
foods, such as condiments (pesto).
2)Processing for catering.
They fulfil an important role. In many cases, individual
farmers and producers do not have enough product on their
own to satisfy a large buyer, such as supermarket chains,
restaurants or institutions (e.g. health, schools, and
government institutions). Consolidation as a group
provides volume and economies of scale.

68. Successful value-added food processing centres tend to
share the following characteristics:
•They are large facilities (recommended at 5,000 square feet or
more) with a wide range of food processing systems able to
accommodate multiple users at the same time
•They are regional in nature, able to serve multiple counties
and communities, with a minimum geographical service area
radius of circa 80kms.
•They rely on the participation of multiple service providers
and are usually intensely collaborative in nature.
•Their mission typically includes training and educating its
clients to professionalize their operations – they play the role
of food-business incubators
•They require at least one full-time executive/facility director.

69. Successful value-added food processing centres tend to share the
following characteristics:
•To succeed, these projects must have a relatively large number of
users, with at least one or two anchor tenants using the facility 10 or
more hours a week.

70. Equipment schedule :
Given the shared processing capability, they are typically well
equipped with major pieces of equipment used for food processing
and preparation including:-
Convection ovens Industrial mixers
Gas ranges w/ovens Roll-in rack oven
Cutter mixer Steam kettle
Reach-in rack dryer Cider press w/holding tanks
Deep fryers Juice pasteurizer
Single-head piston filler Weigh-filling machine
Fruit elevator and grading table Blast freezers
Vacuum sealer Label printer
Shrink-wrap bottle sealer Label applicator
Receiving Scales
Walk-in freezers and coolers (large scale )

71. Income Generation: Rental Fees
Typically the fee structure is based on a graduated
rental rate fee :
€xx / hour first 40 hours
€xx/ hour 41-80 hours
€xx/ hour 81-plus hours of rental
Some operate a per-unit produced cost structure, rather
than on an hourly basis e.g. for cider production, which
is set at a rate per per gallon. However, this can be seen
to discourage production efficiency from clients.

72. Income Generation: Processing Fee
Given farmers may not have the time or expertise to do
the processing themselves, some facilities offer co-
packing services which charges farmers processing
services.
In this approach, farmers retain ownership of the value-
added food products to wholesale or retail themselves or
sell same through a co-operative structure.

73. Income Generation: Storage Fees
Storage fees are an important component of the project’s
overall cash flow, accounting for up to 25% of all fees.
These fees are very important as they tend to be more
consistent and predictable on a month-to-month basis,
whereas fees generated from production hours can vary
widely.
Different storage fees for pallets apply between dry, chill
and freezer. Typically they are charged on a monthly
basis.

74. Insider Insights
•These project can receive substantial grant support based on
the premise that they serve as an economic catalyst for farm-
based producers and add value to primary production.
•The number one challenge facing this business model is
attracting and keeping clients. Converting enquiries into
tenants is a time consuming yet crucial task if the facility is to
sustain it’s operations. A key lesson learned is that farmers
need intensive outreach in order to recognize the opportunities
in value-added food production.
•Given the high level of equipment, it is not surprising
that keeping the facility and equipment needs
constant attention - access to maintenance
personnel or expertise is very important.

75. Insider Insights
•Lead project managers need to combine knowledge of
mentoring food businesses, facility maintenance, construction
and grant writing.
•A supportive board of directors with a high degree of
creativity and strong relationships with the key development
and funding agencies.
•A problem can arise to find an architect team to understand
what the project entailed.
•There can be a considerable time lag between engaging the
architect and tendering the project, during which time
material costs can increase.

76. 2.4 Mobile Food Incubators

77. Mobile Fruit Processing Unit
A mobile fruit processing plant is a compact, movable
juice extraction system designed for insertion on to the
back of a moving heavy-duty truck.
It is a fully integrated unit built on a skid mounted frame
complete with non-slip durbar plate floor, canopy frame
and heavy duty tarpaulin cover.
The concept of operation is to be able to transport this
facility remotely, over long distances to where ever
required, for on-site processing in the growing
area of fruit .

78. Mobile Cheese Making
Units
This is a self-contained
production facility, entirely
housed in a semi trailer. It’s an
economical means to produce
various dairy products on a
small scale – on the farm or
remotely as a means of dairy
promotion. While primarily
focused on cheese, it can also
be used for bottled milk,
yogurt, ice cream, and butter.
In the UK, a branded unit
called The Little Cheesery was
launched in 2013.
http://www.thelittlecheesery.com/

79. Mobile Cheese Making
Units
See technical specification on
http://www.thelittlecheesery.com/?/specifications
And another example-
https://www.slideshare.net/jongia/mobile-cheese-making

80. 2.4 Mobile Food Incubators
Mobile Food Incubators are commercial kitchens on
wheels offering a licensed kitchen for producing
commercial products, testing new recipes and product
and teaching food safety. Often, they go to primary
producers premises and act as’ in situ’ production
units.
They are equipped to meet all the specifications for a
commercial kitchen and are charged our per day.
They are often product specific and examples include:-

81. Mobile Food Incubators
Mobile Food Incubators are commercial kitchens on
wheels offering a licensed kitchen for producing
commercial products, testing new recipes and product
and teaching food safety. Often, they go to primary
producers premises and act as’ in situ’ production
units.
They are equipped to meet all the specifications for a
commercial kitchen and are typically charged out per
day.
They are often product specific and examples
include:-

82. Mobile Butchery Unit
A Butchery Unit can be built in various lengths, but generally
comprises of two compartments within the unit – a chiller and a
processing area and they can be divided either equally or off-set to
suit the requirement of the business. These units are generally
designed with
•Two compartment units with carcass chiller and butchery/de-
boning area.
•Meat rail options available, including aluminium twin track system.
•Size range from 4mtr x 3mtr up to 14mtr x 3.6mtr
•Temperature controlled chillers to suit product throughput
•Wash down systems are fitted and can include hand wash basin,
equipment sink, knife sterilisers, hot and cold running water
•All units are ready to be connected to services on site
•Single or three phase units

83. Mobile Abattoirs

84. Example Floor Plan for Mobile Poultry Unit Layout

86. 2.5 Business Structure of a Food Incubator

87. Business Structure of a Food Incubator
The business structure of a food incubator —will
determine many aspects of the operation, including it’s
funding mix/ sources of capital, tax liability,
information flow and sharing, and it’s approach to for
growth and expansion.
Food incubators can have as much, if not more, variety
in their operational structure as other businesses. A
food hub can be privately held or publicly held; can be a
non-profit or for-profit. Ownership can be divided, just
as any other business, into sole proprietorships,
partnerships, corporations, cooperatives, or
LLCs (limited liability
companies).

88. There is no single clear choice for the “best” or
“preferred” structure or operational model when
forming a food incubator. The “best” for any
individual situation can be chosen by closely
examining the needs of the food hub owners and
stakeholders, as well as the business environment in
which the food hub will operate.

89. For-profit private enterprises
Advantages Drawbacks
The interests of the owners and
members are closely aligned
profit generation is king.
Greater independence, not
working to anyone else’s
agenda
Less grant funding to establish
Return on investment means
that reinvestment can be
limited

90. Not For-profit private enterprises
Advantages Drawbacks
More generous capital funding
Opportunities and often can
avail of paid staff through
various schemes
Entirely focused on food
sector, community and societal
benefit
Typically champions
community engagement and
education
Can accept donations or
sponsorships
Can be divergence between the
promoter and the profit focused
members.
Often built on community and
voluntary effort, which can,
over time run out of steam!

91. Stages of Food Hub Lifecycle
Each growth stage of an organisation has opportunities and
challenges
Development Startup Growth Expansion Maturity
Development Startup Growth Expansion Maturity
Viable Business
Plan
Cash Liquidity Sacling Revenue New Markets New Markets
Defining
Market
Customers/Sales Scaling
Customers
New Products New Products
Business
Structure
Managment Growth
Management
Expansion
Management
Innovation
Management
Funding Market Presence Competition Increasing
Competition
Increasing
Competition
Financial
Management
Financial
Management
Financial
Management
Financial
Management
Financial
Management