This free workshop will provide an overview of The South West Investment Fund, a £200 million fund launched by the British Business Bank in July 2023 to help stimulate economic growth across the Region. The Fund provides loans to SMEs from £25,000 to £2 million and equity of £150,000 to £5 million.

We’ll be discussing how raising finance through the fund can unlock growth opportunities for South West businesses. Covering key topics such as eligibility, the application process and what we as fund managers look for from a funding proposal. We’re here to demystify the process and provide support to food and drink businesses explore potential funding opportunities.

Why should businesses attend?

Businesses should attend if they are looking to raise funding in the short to medium term for growth.

We will cover best practice in how to approach raising finance and top tips in becoming investment ready.

Can only SW businesses attend?

No – however this fund is limited to businesses based or having significant operations based in the South West.

Attendees will hear from each of the three fund management businesses:

Nicola Parker from SWIG Finance (provision of debt up to £100,000)

Nicola joined SWIG Finance in 2019 as a Business Manager. In 2021, she was promoted to Senior Business Manager and leads our busy Business Loans team. Nic has more than 20 years of experience working in financial services and has previously worked for Triodos, The Co-Operative Bank and Blaise Commercial Finance.

Jordan Berg from FW Capital (provision of debt from £100,000 to £2 million)

Jordan joined FW Capital as it opened it’s South West office in June 2023. Working as an investment executive, Jordan works alongside businesses applying for funding through the South West Investment Fund. Prior to this Jordan has worked as a business manager and in business development roles at SWIG finance, Insider and Barclays Bank.

Melanie Goward from Maven Capital Partners (Provision of equity from £150,000 to £5 million)

Melanie joined Maven in September 2016 and manages the team transacting new early-stage and technology growth capital investments across the South of the UK. She leads on investment of the SW Investment Fund for Maven. With over 20 years’ experience as a specialist in early-stage investment, Melanie has completed a range of investments in technology, life science and biotechnology businesses.

Breaking down your questions about packaging including the benefits to certain packaging, sustainability considerations and planning your own labels and packaging

Agenda

0930-0945 - Arrival

0945-1000 - The Food Works SW introduction

1000-1100 - Fountains Packaging

1100-1120 - Case Study - Microencapsulation Services

11:20-12:00 - Tetra Pak

12:00-12:30 - Break

12:30-13:15 - Tidy Studio

13:15-14:00 - Smurfit Kappa

14:00-14:30 - Q&A's and close

Fountains Labels and Packaging

Based In the Sunny South Coast (Poole), we provide a second-to-none printing, print design and digital design service for both labels and pouches.

If its sticks or seals, we do it. We deliver worldwide.

Fountains Labels And Packaging operates at the forefront of UK printing services with a superb, handpicked customer service team and access to some of the most sophisticated printing technology in the world.

What Will Be Covered

In our presentation we will cover the topic of Digital Flexible Packaging, varying from the benefits and how it all works as well as the manufacturing to the finishing process of our digital pouches.

Sustainability will be covered and is a very important part in our presentation and for all businesses involved with packaging.

Last but not least, we will go though a couple of recent case studies from recent jobs and we will have tangible samples to pass around.

Why Should I Attend

You can take home samples which showcase the quality and high durability of digitally printed pouches to give you a starting block if you haven’t already.

It will be well worth your time, especially if you are a business currently transitioning your packaging from labels to pouches.

We look forward to seeing you there !

Microencapsulation Services

Microencapsulation Services Ltd is a Bristol-based company developing and manufacturing controlled release flavourings and vitamins for the food industry.

Peter Sargent is co-founder of Microencapsulation Services and has over 40 years of experience working in technical and production roles in the international flavour and fragrance industry.

Peter will illustrate their retail packaging journey, culminating in orders with Fountain.

Tetra Pak

Since 1951 Tetra Pak has been committed to making food safe and available.

With over 23,000 employees working in 160 countries, we protect what’s good: food people and the planet.

Today’s food and beverage producers need access to cutting edge processing and packaging solutions, along with deep expertise of markets, processes, and technologies.

What will be covered?

Introduction to Tetra Pak - Who are we? Our purpose and Core Values

What we do - Packaging and Services (Full End to End solutions) – Deeper dive into packaging solutions and Core technologies

Looking into the future - The challenge for food and beverage markets – The Sustainability journey

How Tetra Pak can add value to Brand Owners & Producers

Why should I attend?

Help gain a head-start in the market

Better informed of Competitive food and beverage packaging solutions

Tidy Studio

Creating commercial impact through branding & packaging

Learn about the value of creating a strong brand and be more informed about how to use your packaging to promote your brand and stand out from the crowd.

Speaker

Tim Harling is the founder of Tidy, a design and branding studio based in Cardiff. Tidy was set up to bridge the gap between traditional design agencies and creative freelancers. Taking a more personal approach, Tidy works hand in hand with its clients to create meaningful brands that cut through the clutter. Tim has spent 25+ years working in branding for agencies in London, Copenhagen, Bristol, and Bath, and has helped launch several food and drink brands into national retailers.

Smurfit Kappa

We are the No. 1 company in Europe producing corrugated packaging. We offer end to end solutions from paper to packaging to recycling, meaning we can guarantee the sustainability of our products.

Integrated business

We offer an unrivalled portfolio of paper-packaging solutions, which we constantly update with new, market-leading innovations. We have a variety of data-driven tools to ensure packaging is the right fit, arrives safely and drives efficiency in your packing lines. We can help you save costs & reduce risks in your supply chain as well as drive sales by standing out from the competition.

Geographic reach

Smurfit Kappa are truly an industry leader with over 350 production sites around the world, with locations in 22 countries in Europe, 13 countries in the Americas and 1 in Africa.

We have 4 factories in the South West covering all customer requirements. Smurfit Kappa Barnstaple specialises in branded secondary packaging for food and drink products – covering ecommerce, retail, displays and transit packaging.

Our speakers:

Simone Mace, General Manager Smurfit Kappa Barnstaple

Kate Gulliford, Business Development Manager, Smurfit Kappa Barnstaple

Our session:

Ecommerce Packaging for food & drink. Trends and design considerations.

Retail Packaging for food and drink. Trends and design considerations

Secondary Packaging and New Product Development – Best Practice Guide

______________________________________________________________________________

Who should attend?

• Food & Drink Brand Owners / Start-ups

• Existing companies looking to take their brand to the next level.

• Producers/Co-packers

• Retailers/Wholesalers

• Anyone who has a strong interest/ relation to the packaging sector. If you would like to know how digital packaging works and why and how it can benefit your business from, financially; to help grow your business carbon footprint grow which our fully recyclable options.

Tickets for this event are free. Only food/drink businesses are eligble to book a ticket and will be checked.

Since 1951 Tetra Pak has been committed to making food safe and available.

With over 23,000 employees working in 160 countries, we protect what’s good: food people and the planet.

Today’s food and beverage producers need access to cutting edge processing equipment, along with deep expertise of markets, processes, and technologies.

Event Detail: Alex Duckworth – Processing Sales Manager – UK and Ireland will be available to support any enquiries relating to packaging and processing equipment across multiple sectors of the food industry. Alex’s specialist area is Prepared Food: Food | Tetra Pak Global but can take all enquiries and distribute to the correct colleagues once the event is complete.

Who should attend? From small to medium starts up taking their next step in expanding their processing capacity to large processing companies looking to update their current install base of equipment.

About Alex: Beginning work with Robet Wiseman Dairies, Bridgwater in 2007, (now Muller Milk and Ingredients) Alex was involved in varied roles from farm logistics collection through to production manager. Also a member of the first cohort students to enter the Eden programme held at Reaseheath College and gaining his Foundation Degree in Dairy Technology. In 2014 he moved into the supplier side of the food industry working for Diversey Chemicals supporting predominately dairy processing customers across the UK. In 2018 the opportunity to join Tetra Pak became available and he served for 4 years in the Services division supporting customers across the UK and Ireland with processing component selection. For the last year he has been processing sales manager for prepared food covering the UK and Ireland. Supporting the sale of capital equipment across varied sectors from ready meals, dressings, vegetable spreads and desserts to name a few.

You can book a free 30 minute slot in person/remote with Alex by clicking the link below

Join us for an exciting in-person event at The Food WorksSW! Meet the top buyers in the industry and showcase your products. Whether you're a small business or a big player, this is the perfect opportunity to network and make valuable connections. Don't miss out on this chance to pitch your ideas, gain exposure, and potentially secure new contracts. Get ready to impress and take your business to the next level. See you there!

The Food Works SW - Getting Retail Ready

Experts from The Food Works SW support businesses of all sizes from start ups to well established international companies through the support on offer here. Opened in 2020, we are the only centre of it's kind in the South West with onsite development kitchens, food techincal support and food grade business units.

Do you currently sell direct to customer at markets and through your website? Are you wanting to explore B2B relationships? We hope to give you the confidence to feel ready to approach buyers and take any fear away from what can be a daunting, big step for your business.

This talk will focus on New Product Development and how to get your products retails ready focusing on scaling up whilst ensuring consistency, nutritional analysis, labelling and touching on compliance.

TOUT's

TOUT’S are a family owned, independent convenience store and forecourt striving to offer the very best convenience shopping experience. They are driven by a passion for people and food, especially when it comes to locally sourced and manufactured produce. Stocking over 70 local suppliers based in Bristol, Bath and Somerset, TOUT’S provides the best of both worlds when it comes to convenience brands and local specialist foods. They currently operate 3 stores in North Somerset, with more in the pipeline.

Part 1 - Selling Into Retail

The TOUT'S vision is to offer the very best convenience shopping experience anywhere in the country, driven by a passion for people and food. We are a brand our customers love and trust, through focussing on our local sourcing and our local community.

Livvy and James will cover everything which falls under the trading umbrella. We will touch on what we look for in a product and brand when sourcing new suppliers, and what ultimately helps a product to trade successfully within our stores.

Part 2 - Creating a digital strategy for SME’s

Emma will focus on the marketing and digital promotion side of what makes a popular product/brand for our customers. This will touch on areas such as imagery, content marketing including email and effective branding. She will speak about how SME’s can maximise their reach through digital tactics and channels.

Taylors of North Somerset - Case Study

Delyse started her business in 2022 and has grown from making her product in her home kitchen to now having her own premesis on site at Uncle Pauls Chilli Charity in North Somerset. You can now buy her products across the region including in TOUT's! Delyse will talk about her journey, some of her top tips and her experience of approaching retailers.

Agenda

09:30 - 10:00 Arrival and refreshments

10:00 - 11:00 The Food Works SW - Get Retail Ready

11:00 - 12:00 TOUT's - Selling Into Retail

12:00 - 12:10 Break

12:10 - 12:30 Taylors of North Somerset - Case Study

12:30 - 13:00 Q&A's

Join us on Thursday 22nd February for our Discovery Day to explore all we have to offer here at Food WorksSW, whether you’re looking to test and develop a product, need technical advice or want to take the next step in growing your business. 

Our Discovery Day is free to attend and is designed to give businesses and individuals an insight into the facilities and expertise at our state-of-the-art food and drink innovation centre. Hear from industry experts including Jasper Prickett, Development Chef of Butcombe Brewery, Greg Parsons, owner of Sharpham Dairy and Chair of Food Drink Devon, and Gabriel David, Managing Director of Royal Warrant drinks brand Luscombe.

You'll get a taste of our reputation for product development, innovation and discovery, and find out how our development kitchens for bakery, dairy and drinks products and fully-equipped trial kitchen can help businesses of any size scale up production, introduce new lines, produce short runs and pilot improvements. In addition, our in-house technical team will be demonstrating equipment and on hand to explain the expert advice and hands-on technical support on offer at the centre.

Specialist sessions will run throughout the day with an optional tour of our meeting rooms, conference facilities and commercial and trial kitchens after each session. Our coffee shop and business lounge will also be open on the day for people to use.

You can choose from three product-focused sessions:

Session 1: The Dairy Kitchen

10:15 Arrive / Refreshments on arrival 

10:35 Welcome to Food WorksSW

10:45 - 11:45 1st session starts - The Dairy Kitchen

11:45 - 12:15 Optional tour of Food WorksSW

Session 2: The Bakery Kitchen

12:00 Arrive / Refreshments on arrival 

12:20 Welcome to Food WorksSW

12:30 - 13:30 2nd session starts - The Bakery Kitchen

13:30 - 14:00 Optional tour of Food WorksSW

Session 3: The Drinks Kitchen

14:00 Arrive / Refreshments on arrival 

14:20 Welcome to Food WorksSW

14:30 - 15:30 3rd session starts - The Drinks Kitchen

15:30 - 16:00 Optional tour of Food WorksSW

The café in the business lounge will be open throughout the day, offering locally sourced food. 

FLASH SALE - 25% OFF TICKETS

Join us for an exciting event dedicated to the art of capturing delicious moments through photography and videography.

On Tuesday 20th Feb 2024 at 09:00, our event will bring together an industry expert, who has mastered the art of capturing food and drinks in the most enticing way with you and your business.

During this event, you'll get a chance to learn insider tips, tricks, and techniques to enhance your food and drink photography and videography skills.

Immerse yourself in a world of mouthwatering visuals as we explore the latest trends, tools, and technologies used in this creative field. Connect with like-minded individuals, share experiences, and gain inspiration from the experts.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to take your food and drink photography and videography to the next level. Mark your calendars and get ready for a visually appetizing experience!

This exciting and very limited workshop will focus on the following:

• Stop motion Video

• Food/Product photography

• Brand story images: producer with their products.

The class will be small ensuring you get enough time to focus on you and your product. The day will start with the basics of good lighting & styling. You'll bring your product with you and then go into still life photography & how to turn that idea into stop motion. We will then help each other take a photos of you as founders with your products to share their brand story.

0900-0930 - Arrival

0930-1230 - Basics of good lighting and styling. Still life photography.

1230-1300 - Lunch

1330- 1600- Stop motion session. Bringing brand story to life.

1600 - End

Ticket information

Places are very limited for this event!

Tickets are £130 per person and this includes an introduction, a 6 hour session with Anna and a 30 minute lunch break.

You will need to bring your smartphone/camera, products, any relevant props with you to photograph. If you have any photographic equipment you'd like to use then please bring them e.g ring lights/tripods.

Refreshments and lunch are provided.

Food and Drink Forum Associate - Wingfield Consultants

You have a brand, range, and products? Great! Are you getting the customers you need to grow? Join Simon Wingfield (30+ years' retailing experience as a buyer) to take you through how to do it.

Whether you are an artisan producer creating a premium product for the fine food market, or an innovative challenger brand looking to disrupt an existing market, having a sound route-to-market strategy will be critical to your success.

Join Simon Wingfield to walk you through the fundamentals:

• Satisfying demand

• Defining target sectors

• Exploring the competitive landscape

• Taking a personalized approach

• Scoping the customer journey

• Identifying marketing channels

• Developing a sales strategy

• Determining SMART KPIs

• Optimizing messaging, targeting and price
  Considering your customers

• Thinking ahead.

Simon will be available for Q & A at the end of the webinar.

A free workshop will be hosted by Jacqui Slatter from SALSA Scheme and Rachel Goff from The Food and Drink Forum to demystify food certification and help you prepare for an audit. A business case study will bring to life what is needed to become certified.

The seminar will go through the options and benefits of following a food safety system or scheme to improve consistency in your processes and to help with plans to move into retail or wholesale. The sessions will look at audit requirements, the scope of the SALSA Scheme, changes coming and common non-conformances.

SALSA

Jacqui Slatter is the Development Manager with SALSA Scheme. Jacqui will provide an overview of the scheme, changes that are coming this year, differences between SALSA and BRC along with how to move between the two schemes.

The Food Works SW

Rachel Goff is the Senior Technical Manager at Food WorksSW and has worked with several regional businesses on their systems to successfully get them through their SALSA audit. Rachel will provide an overview of what to consider and examples of what others have done.

Mochi Bros

Osama, founder of Mochi Bros, a mochi gelato sandwich, will talk about his experiences, what he's learnt and helpful tips for anyone looking to start the process.

Food and drink producers are invited to join The Food WorksSW at their state-of-the-art innovation centre in Weston-super-Mare for this in-person marketing and communications event on Tuesday 7th November, from 10.30am until 1pm.

The event is designed for SMEs and will cover how to cut through and get your brand noticed with experienced speakers from PR, marketing and publishing.

Coffee and pastries will be served on arrival, followed by talks from RAW PR, Denhams Digital and Salt Media.

RAW PR is a leading food, drink and lifestyle PR agency working with global and regional brands within the UK. PR and digital marketing specialists Harry Hook and Cheska Hull will focus on how to create PR campaigns that get people reading and talking about your brand, show how content can bring your brand narrative to life across print, digital platforms and social media, and why influencers should be a key part of your brand communications.

Charles Mills is the CEO of Denhams Digital, a strategy-led creative agency based in Exeter who offer incisive problem-solving and strategy for brands such as BBC Food, Ella's Kitchen, Tesco, Bottlegreen and Riverford Organic Farmers, alongside film, animation and design. A highly experienced communicator, he made his name originally as Head of Marketing at the Victoria and Albert Museum (where he commissioned the iconic "Ace Caff" campaign) and the Royal Horticultural Society. He then spent ten years leading the digital and corporate communications division of the TV company Twofour where he worked with (among others) GSK, Audi, the British Heart Foundation and the Royal Navy.

Salt Media publishes the region's leading food magazine and guides, and is one of the South West's top design, marketing and contract publishing companies. Nick Cooper, Director at Salt Media will be talking about storytelling, how to tell your story and how to be memorable.

10:30-11:00 Coffee / Pastries / time to network

11:00-11:45 RAW

11:45-12:15 Denhams

12:15-12:45 Salt Media (Publishing)

12:45-13:00 Q&A

Starting up a new business is really daunting, there is so much to think about and make sure you get right from the outset.

That's why The Food Works is running this free in person workshop for those of you that are looking to launch their new business but aren't sure where to start.

We want to break down the process and make it a simple and stress free process.

We've teamed up with The Hive and Tidy Studio to put together a failsafe programme that will give you the knowledge and tools you need.

Schedule

0930-1000 - Arrival

1000-1100 - The Food Works - what do you need to launch your food/drink business?

1100-1200 - Foundations for business success with The Hive

1200-1215 - Break

1215-1300 - Tidy Studio - create your brand

1300-1330 - Q&A session

The Food Works SW

The Food Works SW is a dynamic food and drink support centre that guides food and drink businesses of any size through a variety of services. We can help you launch, develop, scale up, manufacture, get ready for audits, inspect your labels, the possibilities are endless!

With onsite development kitchens and a team of technical staff, The Food Works SW is a one stop shop for all your food/drink business requirements.

The Hive

The hive combines two not-for-profit organisations under one brand and is a culmination of 35 years of business support for start-up, micro and small businesses in North Somerset.

The benefit of the hive is that we have everything that you need to grow your business all under one roof. The support you need stretches with you. Your journey is our journey. So, if you need funding advice to start your business, we can help. When it’s time to find your business a home, we have many options available which will be cost-effective. Our business support will be wrapped around you at all stages. We have offices, business support and a fantastic and friendly community.

Tidy Studio

Be the brand in demand.

What’s the difference between a good brand and a great one? At Tidy Studio, we believe it’s the courage to do things differently.

Based in Cardiff, we are a small brand and packaging design studio with big ideas. Together we create meaningful brands that cut through the clutter. We love working with businesses who seek to challenge the status quo; businesses who value original ideas and want to stand out from the crowd.

We are purposely small, allowing us to focus on what really matters to our clients – Awesome work. Truly understanding their commercial needs, maximizing their budget, and creating the biggest impact.

We love working with start-up companies and entrepreneurs; for most the work is more than a job it’s their livelihood and that inspires us to deliver wholeheartedly.

We have teamed up with Sweet Thyme Foods to give you this invaluable insight into retail. We will be facilitating this online webinar presented by Emily from Sweet Thyme Foods.

The webinar will cover:

- how to catch the buyers eye

- what they’re looking for

- routes to market

- margin requirements

- how to support the listing

About Sweet Thyme Foods

Sweet Thyme Foods support challenger brands by getting them listings. They have a particular focus on premium chains, such as Whole Foods Market and Planet Organic, as well as wholesalers and many, many independents. Emily started the company over 4 years ago and they’re now a team of 6. Read more about their work here https://www.sweetthymefoods.co.uk/

An event bringing together food and drink suppliers and local buyers. A number of free training sessions and webinars will take place on the day.

As part of this event Rachel Goff, Senior Technical Manager at The Food and Drink Forum, based at the Food WorksSW is one of the guest speakers delivering a workshop on Allergens and Food Labelling.

Food labelling is a vital part of food and drink production and getting it right is critical not only to you, but retailers and consumers of your products.

Through this workshop we will explain the UK labelling legislation for producers, including nutritional information that needs to be shown on products and how it works in practice with product examples. We will also cover allergen awareness as part of the labelling requirement particularly in light of Natasha’s Law introduced in 2021.

Getting this right will also help you as this is a vital source of information for consumers when choosing food products and making comparisons between different brands.

Who Should Attend?

Sole traders, start ups and established business owners and anyone involved in product development & manufacturing of food and drink products.

The event is sponsored by Sedgemoor District Council and Somerset West and Taunton Council in collaboration with the Food Works.

To view all of the talks and workshops in this event click here.

15th and 17th November 2022  9am-5pm

We’re offering one-to-one human resources (HR) surgeries with Karen Watkins from Rowan HR. 

The sessions will provide a mix of practical advice and guidance to help you deal with any HR challenges that may be stopping you from taking your business to the next level.

The sessions will provide an opportunity to talk to Karen in confidence about any issues you may be facing:

• Perhaps you’d like to explore the most effective contracts and employment status to engage and retain staff as you grow?

• Ideas on how to restructure your business after the last few years of uncertainty.

• Or maybe you just need some practical help or advice with managing performance of teams and individuals.

Whatever it may be, grab a 30min slot on either day.  No question too small or silly to ask!  

These session are being provided through the North Somerset funded support programme and so free, and there is no commitment required beyond the discussion with Karen to take up any service.

If you would like to book a session on either day then contact the Centre Team  enquiries@foodworks-sw.co.uk  or call 01934 315381, these can be face to face in the Centre or over the phone.