A Royal Visit
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal has unveiled a plaque to mark the official opening of The Food WorksSW.
Before unveiling the plaque Her Royal Highness toured the food and drink innovation centre to see the state-of-the-art facilities available to businesses. She met staff, tenants and users of the centre who were able to showcase their products and demonstrate some of the specialist equipment used in the development of those products, including gelato, salsa, kefir water, vegan cheese, deli items, brownies, chilli sauces, high protein cookies, frozen ready meals and curry dishes.
During her visit The Princess Royal also had the opportunity to meet key individuals who formed the North Somerset Together Partnership as part of North Somerset’s response during the Covid-19 pandemic. This group rapidly built key partnerships with community groups, town and parish councils and local faith groups to ensure residents received the support they needed from within their local community.
Neil Douglas, West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) board member, said: “It was an honour to welcome Her Royal Highness to see for herself the jewel in the crown of our region’s fantastic food and drink sector. The Local Enterprise Partnership is proud to support The Food WorksSW centre of excellence – which is helping both start-ups and established businesses alike with the experience and equipment they need to innovate and grow.”
“Today has been a great opportunity to showcase the fantastic food and drink produce on offer, not only by tenants here onsite, but also the South West as a whole," said Rachel Goff, Site and Technical Manager at The Food WorksSW. "It is hugely exciting to see the businesses within our network not only bounce back from the impacts of the pandemic but to thrive and innovate.”
"Food WorksSW is playing a vital part in the council's drive to stimulate growth in the local economy by helping new businesses to start up and giving established businesses the opportunity to grow and innovate," said Cllr Don Davies, Leader of North Somerset Council.
