AUSTIN, Texas—Opportunity Austin, the Greater Austin Chamber's five-county economic development initiative, today announced that PREP, the largest provider of multi-user culinary production space in the Southeast, is expanding to Austin with its first location at 1300 East Anderson Lane.

The expansion is the result of a close collaboration between PREP, the Chamber, and the City of Austin. PREP’s mission is to help small to medium-sized businesses build and scale by providing affordable, permit-ready production facilities and value-added services to its member community. The facility is estimated to support more than 200 jobs.

Upon completion in Summer 2020, the PREP ATX facility will feature over 30 private production kitchens, 16 dedicated stations for early-stage entrepreneurs, prep, storage and dump/wash-down stations for mobile food vendors, common amenities including cold and dry storage, loading bays, a teaching & demonstration kitchen, and a co-working space for members to network, collaborate and learn how to optimize their businesses. In addition to turnkey facilities and services, PREP supports its members with ongoing training, education, mentorship, procurement, sales opportunities and access to capital.

“PREP will be a great addition to the Austin region's food and beverage industry, allowing local culinary entrepreneurs access to affordable, permit-ready commercial kitchen space and flexible sizing options as companies grow," said Austin Chamber Senior Vice President of Economic Development Charisse Bodisch. "PREP will serve as a culinary ‘innovation hub’ by promoting collaboration amongst member companies and providing resources for on-site training, mentorship and commercialization. They will also create many food and beverage job opportunities of varying skill levels in the area. We are excited to welcome PREP to Austin as a fantastic addition to the local culinary scene."

Austin was a natural choice for PREP’s first expansion due to the region's vast array of culinary innovators, entrepreneurial spirit and community of residents with a passion for home-grown food and beverage brands.

“We’re thrilled to be joining and empowering the already vibrant food and beverage scene here in Austin," said PREP Director Drew Barrett. "The entrepreneurs in this city are second to none, and PREP’s infrastructure and resources will help accelerate groups building new businesses and scaling existing companies in the region, further solidifying Austin as one of the best places in the country to build culinary ventures."

“PREP’s proposed 55,000-square-foot commercial kitchen facility will address a gap in Austin’s food system infrastructure by providing affordable space for entrepreneurs and small businesses, of which there is currently very little," said City of Austin Acting Global Business Expansion Manager Julia Campbell. "In addition, the project will support the creation of middle-skill jobs, benefits to the local community, and property tax to the City. For these reasons, PREP’s welcomed development will be a significant contribution to the Austin community."

For additional information please contact Drew Barrett (drew@prepatx.com), visit the PREP website at www.PREPATX.com or follow @prepatx.

About Opportunity Austin
Opportunity Austin is the economic development initiative aimed at fostering job-creating investment in the five-county Central Texas region. Top priorities include boosting economic diversification to proactively strengthen the economy, deepening the talent pool through development and attraction, and keeping the Greater Austin region attractive to entrepreneurs, business leaders and site selectors through advocacy on issues such as a comprehensive regional transportation system and regional collaboration. Since 2004, Opportunity Austin has helped bring more than 400,000 total jobs to the Austin region. Learn more about Opportunity Austin here.

About PREP
PREP is the largest multi-user commercial kitchen facility and culinary accelerator in the Southeast, with 83,000 square feet used by entrepreneurs representing approximately 200 companies and housing over 700 jobs. Since its opening in Atlanta in 2014, PREP has helped to launch over 450 culinary businesses including caterers, bakers, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, beverage producers, food trucks, food carts, test kitchens, delivery-only ‘ghost’ restaurants, meal kit companies, central commissary operators, private chefs, prepared meals companies, and more.