A need for space: incubating food businesses
Brooklyn’s growing sector of small food makers has meant more jobs for the local economy over the past few years. As part of this growth, Brooklyn itself has become a brand for artisanal food makers who have set up in small kitchens and incubator spaces across the borough to make their tasty creations. To say that the Brooklyn brand is hot is an understatement.
In December, we at the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce highlighted this growth. The so-called Brooklyn “Food Chain” – starting with the food manufacturing and wholesale distribution, and including grocery stores, specialty stores, restaurants, and coffee shops – account for 12.5 percent of the borough’s 472,000 private-sector jobs.
According to the Brooklyn Chamber’s Winter 2012 Brooklyn Labor Market Review, food accounts for one out of six of the 49,000 businesses in Brooklyn – with nearly 59,000 people employed by 7,800 businesses. In 2011, Brooklyn’s food manufacturing sector had an estimated annual total output of $2.2 billion. If you consider the borough’s food manufacturing as a single sector, its 2011 job numbers were surpassed only by the health care industry.