Food consultancy Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations has opened a new headquarters designed specifically for food and beverage product development.

The new facility is located on Goose Island, just minutes from downtown Chicago.

“We wanted to create a space to nurture culinary inspiration and support creativity and collaboration,” says Charlie Baggs, founder and corporate chef. “Yet ultimately, it’s our workspace. And it needed to be functional, so we could turn concepts into scalable solutions for our clients.”

In the 4,200 square-foot space, the kitchen and product development areas adjoin one another to facilitate seamless development from conceptualization to commercialization, according to Baggs. 

The kitchen area is outfitted with cross-functional equipment that can be used by both the culinary and technical teams for recipe/formula development, CPG product prototyping, equipment testing, recipe validation and more.

The kitchen has an open plan, so the chefs can use it beyond food preparation for culinary demonstrations, product cuttings, food photography, video development, and education. 

“It’s a multipurpose space with lots of natural light, so it’s conducive for our creativity. But we can also host our clients, conduct classes, or have catered events here. It’s comfortable and efficient for cooking and versatile enough to accommodate outside collaboration,” Baggs says.