The Plant

The Plant is a research and production facility comprising a collaborative community of small food businesses. The Plant demonstrates techniques for reimagining waste as a resource, achieving economies of scale and incubating small businesses. Its goal is to create replicable models for efficiencies that close loops of waste and energy and to encourage others to implement these techniques to combat climate change. In 2010, Bubbly Dynamics acquired this former 100,000-square-foot meatpacking facility and began renovating it slowly but steadily, celebrating features of the original building in accordance with the business’s philosophy of reimagining waste and abandoned resources as assets. Today, The Plant houses over 25 businesses, including indoor and outdoor farms, a bakery, a kombucha brewer, a shared food hub, and other emerging food producers and distributors. The Packingtown Museum is also located at The Plant. Free and open to the public, the Packingtown Museum provides a unique opportunity to connect Chicago’s industrial past to its future and inform contemporary conversations about labor, immigration, food production, community development, and the economy.