In the small town of Rochelle, about 80 miles west of Chicago at the intersection of Interstates 88 and 39, business is booming. The Greater Rochelle Economic Development Corporation has attracted companies like Nippon Sharyo, Boise Cascade, Tyson Foods, and Hormel.

This rural community consists of about 9,000 people, and its economy is bolstered by frozen French fries, bacon, ethanol, fabricated steel, hydroponic tomatoes, and the production of passenger cars for METRA. Each year, about 16,000 freight cars pass through Rochelle, picking up and delivering grain and other goods. Rochelle will soon gain another local gross domestic product from a boutique whiskey that is distilled in a former downtown theater.

Rochelle is also home to a 1,200 acre intermodal rail park operated by Union Pacific. This park is used as a shipping point to send goods to the Pacific Rim.

The growth doesn’t stop there. The future for Rochelle as an industrial star in Illinois and the Midwest looks bright. Rochelle is working to bring a $1.6 billion auto assembly plant from Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp., which could employ 4,000 people, to the town. Bidders from more than a dozen states are looking at the same prize, but Rochelle is already prepared. The town has 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans set aside for the new plant.

Rochelle is proving the common melody played by political and business elites wrong. Illinois is not a diminishing state, but instead outshining surrounding states in certain areas thanks to cities like Rochelle.

CHICAGO – A Chicago food incubator is planning to open a new $30 million facility in the East Garfield Park Neighborhood of Chicago. The Hatchery, an organization that helps local restaurants grow and expand, announced it will open a 67,000 square foot facility in the impoverished West Side community.

The Hatchery is a joint venture between Accion Chicago, the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago and the IFF, a Community Development Financial Institution that helps entrepreneurs with financing. The purpose of the Hatchery is to put all three areas needed for business success in one place: access to production space, financing and resources.

The Hatchery estimates the new facility will create up to 150 jobs the first year it opens, 2018. They also estimate that by year 5, almost 900 jobs will have been created locally.

The new facility will have everything local entrepreneurs need to start their business and live the American Dream. The facility will include 56 private production spaces, storage, a shared kitchen, event space, meeting rooms, training for entrepreneurs and Accion Chicago’s new headquarters.

Construction on the facility is planned to begin this fall and should be complete by the fall of 2018. The new facility will be located near the Kedzie Green Line station at Lake Street and Kedzie Avenue.

Chicago has a long history with beer. The first brewery opened in Chicago in the same year or shortly after the city was incorporated. Today, Chicago is home to more than 150 breweries. Increasingly, breweries from around the nation are distributing their product within Chicago.

The latest to join the craft brew scene in Chicago is Blue Point Brewing, based in Patchogue, New York. Blue Point beers are now available in bars and retailers and will soon be available at the United Center and Wrigley Field. Other recent arrivals include Toppling Goliath from Decorah, Iowa, Odell Brewing from Fort Collins, Colorado and Short’s Brewing from Bellaire, Michigan.

Out-of-town breweries, such as California-based Lagunitas and Milwaukee-based Like Minds Brewing have opened breweries and taprooms of their own in Chicago, making the Second City a second home.

The chief economist of the Brewers Association told Crain’s Chicago Business that due to the large size of Chicago’s beer market, newcomers do not need to seize an extensive share of the market in order to be successful. Craft beer drinkers tend to switch brands more frequently than previous generations, making variety an important component among retailers. Overall, craft beer comprises 13 percent of the U.S. market.

Craft beer buyers tend to favor local products in their purchasing decisions, so in order for an out-of-town beer to be successful, it must be distinct. With local favorites in Chicago such as Half Acre Beer Company and Revolution Brewing, and new breweries like On Tour Brewing Company opening frequently, out-of-town beers have extensive competition.

The Illinois FILM Office released numbers that show Illinois’s film industry continues to grow, with estimated spending in 2016 reaching $499 million. Working with 345 different projects supporting over 13,000 jobs, spending by the film industry was up 51 percent from last year.

Illinois has become a center of film and television thanks to various factors from the tax incentives available to the wide-ranging talent. That talent has grown so much that Chicago has been named one of the top 10 cities for the third consecutive year to live as a filmmaker.

NBC currently has three shows in its lineup with more coming this spring that are filmed on location in Chicago; “Chicago Med”, “Chicago PD” and “Chicago Fire”. “Chicago Justice”, which dramatizes the people of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, airs in March.

Fox’s Emmy-nominated “Empire” is set in New York but filmed in Chicago.

The film industry in Illinois is not just confined to traditional cable networks either. Netflix and Amazon film shows in Chicago with Netflix filming “Easy” and “Sense8” and Amazon filming “Patriot”.

A large part of the growth can be attributed to Illinois’s 30 percent tax credit on all film expenditures. The tax credit is only one in the nation that sets a diversity standard in an attempt to generate opportunity in economically disadvantaged areas.

For more information about the Illinois Film Tax Credit and all Illinois has to offer to the film industry, you can visit the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s film office.

Koval Distillery, the largest craft distiller in Illinois, will quadruple its operation in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood thanks in part to a new state law that enabled it to boost production and make a stronger investment in the local economy.

Koval president Sonat Birnecker Hart told the Chicago Tribune that the distillery is committed to staying in Chicago.

With the purchase of the building Koval has been using on North Ravenswood Avenue, the company will increase its 11,000-square-foot operation to more than 45,000 square feet. This purchase will allow the distillery to combine its multiple locations under one roof and to increase its production from 70,000 gallons to 100,000 gallons each year.

A new state law in Illinois increased the production cap for craft distillers from 35,000 gallons to 100,000.

Koval was established in 2008 and produces organic whiskey and spirits. The company makes its products from scratch, contracting with local farmers to grow their grain and milling it on site. All of Koval’s whiskeys are “single barrel expressions” to ensure a pure flavor. The company has won numerous awards, including a gold medal for its bourbon whiskey at the International Whisky Competition and a platinum award for its rose hip liqueur from the Spirits International Prestige Awards.

Koval employs about 40 workers and expects to hire more after the expansion. It also plans to build a new tasting room to attract tourists and show visitors how spirits are made.