WeWork Celebrates Grand Opening of Food Labs Flagship in New York

Expanded Workspace Offering Supports Fast-Growing Community of Food Entrepreneurs and Companies

WeWork Food Labs Community includes More Than 400 Members to Date; Reflects WeWork’s Success at Creating Diverse Workplaces that Enable Members to Grow their Businesses

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WeWork today celebrates the launch of the WeWork Food Labs New York flagship, dedicated to providing food-focused entrepreneurs and companies with collaborative and flexible workspace, custom programming, and global community.

The New York City workspace marks the latest addition to the successful WeWork Food Labs program. Since its launch, the growing program has welcomed more than 400 businesses, ranging from new and emerging players to large and established food industry enterprises developing innovative approaches and technologies to transform the food industry. WeWork Food Labs currently operates workspaces in New York, San Francisco and Austin – with member access to resources and community across locations.

Marcelo Claure, Executive Chairman, WeWork, said, “WeWork Food Labs is a perfect example of how our global network uniquely positions us to create diverse workplace solutions for companies across industries and geographies. This unparalleled offering enables our members to innovate, collaborate, and drive their businesses forward.”

Prabhdeep Singh, Global Head of WeWork Labs, added: “The launch of WeWork Food Labs in New York City demonstrates our unique ability to tailor our workspaces and support leading startups and enterprises in creating innovative food solutions of the future. We look forward to continuing to foster our members’ success and further expand the Food Labs community.”

WeWork Food Labs provides startups and enterprises:

• Innovative & Custom Workspace, intentionally designed with the food community in mind. WeWork Food Labs provides unique amenities and services including a custom R&D kitchen and pantry, classroom, tasting table, merchandising area, vertical farming units, and more.
• Member-Focused Curriculum, crafted by an in-house team of former food entrepreneurs and experts. WeWork Food Labs includes a monthly membership offering and accelerator program, which provides New York-based startups with programming and access to equity investments over a five-month period. Eight startups were selected for the current accelerator cohort in the Fall of last year.
• Global Member Community & Mentor Network, including companies across the food industry - from supply chain and agriculture tech to distribution software, consumer goods, hospitality and more. Members benefit from access to WeWork’s global network and mentorship platform to connect, collaborate and scale their businesses.

Leveraging the Global WeWork Network: Many Food Labs members have used WeWork’s physical footprint to scale their offerings across WeWork buildings.

• Farmshelf, an agtech company that builds smart indoor farm units, installed their product at Food Labs giving members access to an open garden in the workspace. Its products are also used in select WeWork buildings.
• Zoku Sushi, a sushi delivery and catering service startup, quickly scaled its business in Food Labs, leveraging WeWork’s global network and footprint to grow its team and delivery service to over 60 WeWork locations to date.
• Junzi Kitchen, a rapidly growing, fast-casual food company, launched their first outpost delivery centers in select WeWork buildings in New York. The Food Labs team facilitated introductions between Junzi and Zuul Kitchens, another Food Labs member that operates ghost kitchens, to launch Junzi’s first delivery-only ghost kitchen.

Fueling Innovation for Enterprise Members: In addition to early-stage members, WeWork Food Labs has attracted established food companies seeking to collaborate and innovate alongside startups. Among these members are Sabra, Baldor Specialty Foods, and Food + Tech Connect.

• Tomer Harpaz, CEO, Sabra said: “WeWork Food Labs, which is in close proximity to our Sabra headquarters, allows our plant-based ventures team to engage with entrepreneurial food tech and culinary communities as we develop growth-diving solutions for the plant-based category. Having space on-site allows us to give back and share what we have learned through experience with those just getting started.”
• Benjamin Walker, VP of Sales & Marketing, Baldor Specialty Foods said: “We are thrilled to join this powerful community of food entrepreneurs and industry experts. This partnership gives us a seat at the table with the industry’s most innovative minds.”
• Danielle Gould, Founder & CEO, Food + Tech Connect said: "Our partnership with WeWork Food Labs has been instrumental in helping us grow our community of 45k+ food innovators, giving us the space to bring professionals together to explore how new technologies and business models can transform the food industry from farm to fork."

For more information on WeWork Food Labs, visit us at wework.com/food-labs.

About WeWork

WeWork provides members with space, community, and services through physical and virtual offerings. Its mission is to create a world where people work to make a life, not just a living. As of 2019 fourth-quarter close, WeWork had 739 locations across 140 cities and 37 countries, as well as 662,000+ total memberships, including global enterprises. WeWork is committed to providing members around the world with a better day at work for less.