Univar Solutions Bringing New Food Laboratory To The Hatchery's West Side Business Incubator

CHICAGO (CBS) -- As you get ready to pour your bowl of cereal, did you ever wonder why your food tastes the way it does?

The answer might just come from a cool new food laboratory on the West Side. Morning Insider Tim McNicholas takes us there.

From the ingredients in a new line of oat milk to the kick in your favorite pizza sauce, it could soon be created on the West Side of Chicago, by one of the biggest ingredients companies in the world.

"You will have brand new recipes, you will have chef-inspired recipes that will be created in here," said Lavanya Venkateswar, product manager at Univar Solutions, the newest tenant at The Hatchery – a hub in Garfield Park full of mainly small food and beverage companies.

Just last year we featured a catering startup at The Hatchery called Taylor's Tacos and their journey through the pandemic.

That's the kind of business The Hatchery is used to--chefs and entrepreneurs trying to get their ideas off the ground.

So why did a massive global company decide to open an ingredients kitchen here?

"It's at the forefront of innovation. A lot of new ideas start right here, and for us to be on the ground level participating and helping them bring their ideas to life is really exciting for us," said Kevin Hack, global vice president at Univar.

The company plans to use space at The Hatchery to help create the next plant-based burger, vegan cheese, and more.

But for the owners of The Hatchery, it's about creating more success stories. They expect Univar to be a great neighbor.

"They bring in so much more expertise and know-how to the entrepreneurs here," said Natalie Shmulik, CEO of The Hatchery. "This is an opportunity to allow entrepreneurs to access a great deal of information how to successfully launch and grow a food and beverage business."

For some startups, that might be the missing ingredient.