The FoodWorksSW Innovation Centre

The Food WorksSW is a dynamic food and drink innovation centre. From start-ups to established businesses, we have the facilities and advice to support your journey. With development kitchens, tailored technical support, food-grade business units, meeting rooms and a business lounge, you’ll have a trustworthy one stop shop to help your business grow. We connect producers and industry experts across the South West and wider by creating a focal point and regional centre of excellence for the food and drink industry.

Meet the Team

Our Site Operators, Future Food Partnership CIC and its team of technical experts have many years of experience providing technical and product development support to businesses.

We know that setting up and operating a food and drink business can be difficult at times due to the growing number of regulations in the industry.

It may be that you don’t have the technical expertise in-house, or that you simply don’t have the time to manage compliance. You may want to expand your current offering but don’t know where to start.

A woman with curly red hair and glasses smiling in front of a wall with the words 'THE FOOD WORKS' and a large bowl graphic.
A man in glasses and a striped shirt smiling in front of a sign that reads "The Food Works" with a graphic of a bowl of food and gears.

NPD Manager

Director

  • Experienced NPD Manager with a proven ability of delivering products from concept to launch in areas such as party food, desserts, soups, sauces, ready meals, drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), dairy and plant based to B2B and D2C.

    With a demonstrated history of working in the food production industry, strengths include NPD/EPD, process development and scaling up production. Zoe has a Bachelor of Science (BSc) focused in Food and Nutrition from London South Bank University and demonstrated her skills when she was a judge for the Great Taste Awards in 2024. Zoe brings creativity, technical expertise and a passion for innovation to every project she leads.

  • Director of Future Food Partnership CIC the operator of Food WorksSW in Weston-super-Mare.  Has worked on Food WorksSW for more than 10 years having led the development of the Centre for North Somerset Council from concept to scope of activity and then build completion. 

    Then joined the operator at the time as Commerical Manager before setting up the CIC to take over the operation of the Centre in 2024.  

    A Chartered Engineer having worked in project management and delivery for more than 30 years covering engineering, regeneration, community and environmental schemes across the South and West of England. 

A woman with long wavy hair wearing a black top standing in front of a wall with the words 'The Food Works' and the words 'plan' and 'innovate' underneath.
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Technical Manager

Technical Manager

  • Beth has over 20 years’ experience in food safety and microbiology, having worked with industry-leading food manufacturers before turning her focus to supporting small food businesses.

    She joined The Food Works SW team in 2025 and is now a qualified SALSA auditor. Beth specialises in HACCP development, allergen management, and food safety training, helping local producers stay safe, compliant, and confident in their processes. Her favourite part of the job is getting out on site, meeting passionate producers, and helping them solve problems through practical support and hands-on audits that make a real difference.

  • Rachel qualified as a medical microbiology scientist in the RAF before heading up microbiology at a food testing laboratory. Rachel then moved into the food industry working within technical management, laboratory and hygiene at Bakkavor. A wealth of experience working with various product ranges from ready meals, prepped fruit, fresh pasta, soups/sauces across different factories.

    Rachel is lead auditor qualified and joined The Food Works SW in 2020 as site manager. Now semi-retired, Rachel remains a key member to our technical support team.  

A young woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes stands in front of a backdrop that says "The Food Works" with words like "plan", "innovate", and "change". She is wearing a black top, earrings, a necklace with a star, and a lanyard around her neck.
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Facilities and Hospitality Coordinator

Facilities Operations Manager

  • Ella has been working in hospitality over the past 3 years; she began in Costa alongside college from 2022 before completing her college course in 2024. She now works here as our hospitality and facilities co-ordinator.

  • Matthew has over 15 years of experience in the hospitality & catering industry, both front and back of house. Before The FoodworksSW,  Matthew was a UK Operations Manager for a private healthcare firm amongst other roles gaining valuable experience.

    Matthew joined the team in 2023 and has quickly progressed to his role today - looking after the facilities and day to day operations of site.

Smiling woman with wavy blonde hair standing in front of a sign that says "The Food Works" with colorful gear and bowl graphics in the background.
A smiling young woman with long, light brown hair stands in front of a wall with large text that reads 'The Food Works.' The wall also features icons of a gear and a bowl, with words like 'plan' and 'innovate' below. She wears a lanyard with the 'Food Works' logo.

Marketing and Events Coordinator

Marketing and Partnerships Manager

  • Beth has always worked in the hospitality and marketing industry, she began waitressing alongside college from 2021 before completing her digital marketing apprenticeship early 2025 and now works here as our marketing and events co-ordinator. 

  • Becky has worked in hospitality and marketing roles for over 15 years. University and her English Language degree brought her to the West Country in 2009 and her love for the area has kept her here ever since. Becky is a real foodie and this passion brought her to The Food Works SW team in 2021

Future Food Partnership CIC

Logo for Future Food Partnership CIC with a lightbulb graphic containing a plant inside.

Future Food Partnership CIC aims to be a community interest company working on behalf of Food and Drink businesses, with a particular focus on the Southwest of England to provide access to facilities, support and services that will help the startup, develop and grow their business through the provision of industry knowledge and expertise.

The Future Food Partnership CIC is managing the Food WorksSW site, facilities and services on behalf of North Somerset Council for the benefit of regional food and drink businesses.  Our work includes:

  • Managing facilities and equipment that will provide

  • Shared development space for trials and production

  • Units to support small business growth

  • Access to equipment to support trials and products scale up

  • Provide easy access to industry specific advice and services to enable business growth through technical and product development support.

  • Encourage investment and funding to support innovation and development in the food and drink industry, to develop new products, scaling up through use of new technology and knowledge to improve productivity and reduce environmental impacts.

  • Provide relevant training, improving opportunities and access to industry careers and employment, including working with education providers to improve understanding of industry needs and career choices.

North Somerset Council

North Somerset Council logo featuring a lion's head and feathers with text.

The Food WorksSW is a Council initiative which aims to:

·        Create a food and drink sector cluster at J21EA to put North Somerset on the map, attract inward and foreign investment and the sector.

·        Support food and drink manufacturing businesses to grow, innovate, invest in new technologies, support job growth and training through the facilities on technical support on offer.