Discovery Day 2025

The Food Works SW announces Discovery Day for businesses

Following the success of its first ever Discovery Day held in 2024, food and drink innovation centre The Food WorksSW is throwing open its doors once again to hold another Discovery Day on Thursday 27th February, from 9.30am until 2pm. The day will show food and drink brands all that the centre has to offer businesses, whether they’re looking to test and develop a product, need technical advice or want to take the next step in growing their business.

The event is free to all UK-based food and drink businesses and will showcase each of its specialist bakery, dairy and drinks kitchens with talks from invited guest speakers, including Paul Webb, co-founder of Black Bee Honey, and Mateusz Wolf, founder of FoodBuzz, who will highlight how their business has benefited from time spent at The Food WorksSW. Since opening in 2020, the North Somerset centre has supported 300 businesses, helping them to develop, diversify and grow their product and menu offerings, and aims to help many more in the coming years through enhanced facilities and resources.

In addition, Discovery Day attendees will hear from guest speakers, including Carol Myott and Hugh Myott of Flapjackery, Greg Parsons, co-owner of Sharpham Dairy and chair of Food Drink Devon, and Barny Butterfield, Founder of Sandford Orchards, who are aligned with each speciality kitchen offering industry insight. Food Works’ in-house technical experts, Zoe Plant, Rachel Goff and Beth Winters, will also be demonstrating each of the kitchen’s state-of-the-art equipment and advising on a range of topics, from product labelling to SALSA, during each talk. 

A tour of Food WorksSW’s meeting rooms, conference facilities and commercial kitchen will also be available upon request, as well as one-to-one business support meetings and discussions with members of the team. The centre’s coffee shop and business lounge will also be open throughout the day.

Flapjackery’s co-founder, Carol Myott, says: "Hugh and I are thrilled to have been invited to take part in the Discovery Day at Food WorksSW. It’s a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow South West food and drink businesses, share Flapjackery's journey and our own experiences, and see first-hand how Food WorksSW helps businesses take those essential next steps in their growth and development."

Simon Gregory, Director of The Food WorksSW said, “Our Discovery Day is designed around our three main specialist kitchens so people can see just how fantastic each of them are for product testing, refining or development, and hear from a range of people from the food and drink industries who have either used our facilities first hand or who can offer invaluable advice. This year, we’re introducing new on-site equipment and facilities including a homogeniser in the dairy kitchen, a canning line in the drinks kitchen, upgrades to our bakery kitchen and a photography suite to capture the food and drink made in our centre.”

Zoe Plant, Food Works’ New Product Development Manager, added, "We're looking forward to welcoming people back to The Food Works for our second Discovery Day. We'll be demonstrating some of our specialist equipment and introducing guests to our new canning line and homogeniser, as well as showcasing our upgrades in the bakery kitchen. The Discovery Day is exactly that - a great opportunity for people to see for themselves all that we have to offer food and drink businesses.”

Created by North Somerset Council and operated by the Future Food Partnership CIC, a not-for-private-profit Community Interest Company, The Food WorksSW provides start-ups, established companies and hospitality businesses with the experience and equipment they need to grow and innovate. Located in Weston-super-Mare, less than 30 minutes from Bristol, the centre is the only one in the South West. 

The Food WorksSW features five specialist development kitchens with state-of-the-art equipment, 12 food grade business units, in-house technical experts, a business lounge and coffee shop (open to all businesses), meeting room and conference facilities and hosts multiple industry training and seminar events throughout the year. The development kitchens are available for flexible short-term contract hire for food and drink businesses of all sizes, along with the meeting room and conference facilities. 

Technical support packages are also available at the centre and are designed to help businesses navigate their way through a range of food disciplines – from new product development and quality assurance hygiene to food safety and efficiency.

The centre has also recently announced its first ever partnership opportunity that will give businesses the chance to support the team, provide advice and guidance to both existing and emerging food and drink brands, and become an integral part of the country’s food, drink and hospitality scene.  To find out more about its partnership opportunities, please visit www.foodworks-sw.co.uk/workingwithus.

For more information on The Food WorksSW Discovery Day as well as the schedule, visit foodworks-sw.co.uk, or follow @foodworks_sw on Instagram, Facebook and X.