Mill Scale Metalworks, the Lockhart outfit known for its heirloom-quality barbecue smokers, is gearing up for a major expansion backed by a proposed $500,000 incentive package. The project is pitched as a way to ramp up production and grow the company’s retail and wholesale footprint from its Lockhart base, landing at a moment when local officials are working hard to attract food and beverage manufacturing jobs and investment to the city.
According to the Austin Business Journal, Mill Scale expects the expansion could generate roughly $1.8 million in new revenue during its first year and is linked directly to the $500,000 incentive proposal. The outlet reports the deal as part of the company’s broader push to scale up production for restaurants and pitmasters across the United States and overseas.
Founded in 2018, Mill Scale builds live-fire grills and custom offset smokers for competition, commercial and residential customers, according to Mill Scale Metalworks. The company runs a retail showroom at 800 N. Commerce St. in Lockhart and regularly promotes events, including its Lockhart Rising gathering.
History of local incentives
An Opportunity Austin incentive log shows Mill Scale previously landed a Chapter 380 package in 2022 that featured a $50,000 rebate for electrical equipment and a $25,000 sales-tax rebate spread across five years. Lockhart City Council documents indicate the city amended that Chapter 380 performance agreement in January 2025, tweaking job targets as economic forecasts shifted and bringing expectations more in line with Mill Scale’s actual operations.
Lockhart's growing food-manufacturing cluster
Local development officials point to recent deals as proof that Lockhart is carving out a niche in food manufacturing and processing. Those include a performance-based equipment grant of up to $179,500 for Hill Country Foodworks. Regional partners have also backed larger efforts: Caldwell County approved performance-based incentives for a Sensei Ag greenhouse and warehouse project in Lockhart tied to an investment of about $51 million, according to local economic-development announcements.
How incentives typically work
Under Texas law, Chapter 380 agreements let cities offer grants, rebates or similar inducements to spur local economic development. A Texas economic-development guide notes those deals are typically performance-based, pegged to benchmarks such as jobs, payroll or capital investment. In practice, that means any payout tied to Mill Scale’s latest proposal would almost certainly depend on meeting specific targets in a signed agreement and following any required filings with state authorities.
Final terms for Mill Scale’s expansion are expected to come back to a City Council or Lockhart Economic Development Corporation meeting for formal approval; the Austin Business Journal reports the proposal is now moving through that process. More details should surface in upcoming meeting packets and company filings, and Mill Scale lists its retail address and contact information on its website for anyone looking to reach the shop directly.
