July 2023 Newsletter

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Latest News The last few months have seen increased activity amongst the site itself as well as technical support delivered by our experienced team. The tech team have been out on the road delivering support to businesses as local as Langford and also down to Minehead. You can read more about the tech team below. We met Well fruited (above), our competition winner and look forward to working with them next month. In this issue we’ll also be looking at our development kitchens, some of our member activity as well as what funding is available at the moment. In other news we’ve now installed outside seating to extend our business lounge outside so you can enjoy some of this lovely weather whilst on site. Don’t forget the lounge is free and open Monday-Friday 9-5 for any business to use! The Food Works SW Technical Team Our on site tech team deliver support on site at The Food Works SW, remotely or will travel to your business. Rachel and Zoe have been busy working on label checks, internal audits, HACCP, recipe engineering, SALSA preparation, gap analyses, risk assessments and shelf life extensions with businesses including Field Doctor, Et Voila, Cheddar Pizza Co, Miles Tea and Rolys Fudge. Zoe’s blog “I recently worked with Outlaw Cookie Club developing gluten free cookies in our bakery. The team tried out various flours on different types of cookies, including sweet pizza’s, cookie cups and traditional cookies. Across the two day’s they were here we were lucky enough to try these and I can confirm they were delicious! It was difficult to tell the difference between their standard versions containing gluten v’s the gluten free ones! I love seeing how far product development has come on to accommodate coeliac and other dietary requirements. I also completed nutritional analysis for their whole range of cookies. Roly’s Fudge came to Food Works for a site tour, Roly’s Fudge were one of the runner’s up from the competition back in March/April. I’ve also been working with local schools too. I went to Churchill Acadamy’s World of work day to visit year 10 students. We did a practical cooking session making ramen and then chatted about career prospects in food manufacturing and catering. I also worked with the SEND students from The Hive @ Broadlands Academy, Bristol, on a 2hr baking session for their open day. This task was challenging due to the fact there were no kitchen facilities, so products had to be made in the classrooms. Therefore we chose to make Energy Balls and Rocky Road with the students, with minimal cooking/equipment requirements. The children, teachers and parents all enjoyed the sweet treats made by the students. Next month I’ll be working with Well Fruited, our competition winners as they claim their prize in our development kitchens, I’m really excited for this!” If you think we can help you and your business, get in touch with the technical team here FoodworksSW Development Kitchens We’ve been busy keeping the kitchens in tip-top condition to ensure they meet legislation requirements and are the expected industry standard. Within the last 2 months we’ve had servicing completed on the fire suppression system, extracts, gas safety checks as well as a deep clean and our routine pest control systems maintained. When you hire a kitchen from us this is one of the benefits, you don’t have to worry about any of these facilities checks, we’ve got them covered. Meaning you can spend all of your time manufacturing, developing or testing your product. Businesses that have used our kitchens lately include Auntie Gems Kitchen, Upside Down Chocolate (pictured above), Food Maker (pictured left), Field Doctor, HIT training and Farm Frites. Learn More about our development kitchens here Member News The famous Taste of the West winners have been revealed this month and some of our business members have been awarded Gold so congratulations to Sunbird Kitchen, Drinks Kitchen and BoBom. Well done everyone! Tim at Tidy Studios, branding and label creator, has created a free guide for those looking to start or scale-up a food &drink brand. It's a feast of knowledge from defining your brand through to getting your product right. Thank you Tim! Access your free guide here. If you have any news you want us to shout about, get in touch! Bread and Jam Festival Zoe attended Bread and Jam festival this month. Bread and Jam is the biggest event and largest gathering of the year for food & drink entrepreneurs. It’s the #1 place to make connections, pitch to UK retailers, and learn trade secrets from industry icons. Following our attendance this year, Zoe says "We have met so many new and old faces as well as some brilliant challenger brands. Some of my favourite products include Iytel CBD chewing gum and Riddim Snacks, a coconut punch flavoured popcorn! I enjoyed talks from Sweet Thyme Foods, Froghop, Charlie Bigham's, COOK and Tessa Stuart. It was also great to see some of our past and existing customers and members such as Tidy Studio The Kinda Co, Mochi Bros and our competition winners Well Fruited. Thank you Bread & Jam for putting on such a beneficial event!" We’ve 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 Get your ticket here Rural England Prosperity Fund The Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) supports the aims of the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper and Future Farming Programme. Funding is available for activities that will have a positive impact on rural business and communities by strengthening buildings, equipment and assets. Business Grants/Greening Grants will be available for between £3,000 and £100,000 – these will require 50%match funding Examples of projects which could be funded are: • Funding (capital grants) for small scale investment in micro and small enterprises - including capital funding for net zero infrastructure for rural   businesses and diversification of farm businesses outside of agriculture • Supporting local businesses looking to launch or grow their products or services • Funding for the development and promotion of the visitor economy You’ll need to look at your local authorities website to find out the details including key dates for applications. For North Somerset please click here For Somerset please click here. For West of England please click here Copyright (C) *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*. 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