diff --git a/post_deploy.sh b/post_deploy.sh
index 4aa667c..3054edf 100644
--- a/post_deploy.sh
+++ b/post_deploy.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
+# Create data dir if it doesn't exist
+mkdir -p /data
+
 # update application cache
 php artisan optimize
 
@@ -27,6 +30,9 @@ fi
 
 php artisan migrate
 
+# own the data folder to www-data
+chown -R www-data: /data
+
 # start the application
 
 php-fpm -D &&  nginx -g "daemon off;"