Food and Drink Innovation Centre The Food WorksSW Hosts Inspiring Discovery Day

From L-R: Andy Venn, Mark Moody, Simon Gregory, Jason Nickels and Christian Crawford

The South West’s leading food and drink innovation centre, The Food WorksSW welcomed UK-based businesses on Thursday 5th March for its latest Discovery Day, offering a hands-on opportunity to explore its specialist facilities, connect with industry experts and learn how in-house expertise can support product development, testing and scaling for growth.

Sponsored by South West Chartered Accountants Bishop Fleming, the free event featured a line-up of guest speakers from across the food and drink sector, that included Jason Nickels, Master Distiller at Salcombe Distilling Co., Mark Moody, Marketing Director at Trewithen Dairy and Ehrmann UK, and Andy Venn, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Somerset Charcuterie, who shared practical insights from their own business journeys.

Visitors also took part in guided tours of the centre’s specialist bakery, dairy and drinks development kitchens and heard from Vince Adams, Regional Chair of the Society of Dairy Technology, Joe Thomson, Managing Director of Firebrand Brewing Co., and Aidan Watts and Ben Ayres, co-founders of Majic Protein who all spoke about their industry experience and gave advice.

Alongside the guest talks, the centre’s technical experts, Zoe Plant, Rachel Goff and Beth Winters, introduced visitors to specialist equipment and talked about the guidance they can offer on product labelling, compliance and SALSA food safety certification, inspiring businesses to take ideas from concept to commercial reality.

Andy Venn of Somerset Charcuterie highlighted the value of early support from the centre: "If The Food WorksSW had been around when we first started, we would have definitely used their expertise from day one. They helped us get SALSA-ready, checked our labels, reviewed our technical setup and now continue to support our business with quarterly health checks. It’s an incredible resource for growing businesses."

Joe Thomson in the drinks kitchen

Vince Adams praised the centre’s dairy facilities: "The Food Works’ dairy kitchen is equipped with fantastic pilot-scale kit suitable for businesses of all sizes. Standard cheese vats are large, using 10’s of thousands of litres, often resulting in high levels of waste, but with the 200L vats here, even large cheese businesses can trial products efficiently and sustainably."

Joe Thomson highlighted the drinks kitchen’s capabilities: "Cans have become a huge part of our business, and The Food Works’ new canning line allows small drinks businesses to expand without investing in expensive equipment. You can bring your product here and can it, bridging the gap from small-scale to commercial production."

Attendees in the business lounge

Simon Gregory, Director of The Food WorksSW, concluded: “Our latest Discovery Day gave food and drink businesses a real, hands-on look at how we can support them at every stage of their journey. By structuring the day around our specialist kitchens, attendees could see first-hand how our facilities, expertise and industry connections translate into tangible results. With our recent upgrades, including a new photography studio and upcoming canning line, businesses left inspired and equipped to explore what’s possible here.”

Fully funded support available to help businesses become retail-ready

Visitors also learnt about The Food WorksSW’s partnership with the West of England Food and Drink Support Initiative (FDSI), a fully funded programme designed to help food and drink producers, manufacturers, hospitality and food service businesses across Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire start, grow and thrive. Delivered by The Food WorksSW, the programme offers expert technical and business support, workshops and practical guidance to help businesses become retail-ready. Eligible businesses can apply at www.foodworks-sw.co.uk/westofengland.

Funded by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority and the four West of England councils, the programme includes support with food safety and HACCP plans, certification advice such as SALSA, nutrition and labelling guidance, recipe development and product scale-up. Businesses can also access The Food WorksSW’s development kitchens, including up to two days’ kitchen hire and hands-on product development support from the in-house team.

Aerial view of The Food WorksSW

About The Food WorksSW

Created by North Somerset Council and operated by the Future Food Partnership CIC, a not-for-private-profit Community Interest Company, The Food WorksSW supports start-ups, established brands and hospitality businesses to innovate and grow.

Since opening in 2020, the North Somerset centre has supported more than 350 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.

Located in Weston-super-Mare, less than 30 minutes from Bristol, the centre is the only one in the South West. Facilities include five development kitchens with specialist 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 scale up to food safety and efficiency.

For more information on The Food WorksSW, visit foodworks-sw.co.uk, or follow @foodworks_sw on Instagram, Facebook and X.