November 2025 Newsletter

25 Nov

Written by Rebecca Hale

November Updates from The Food Works SW

November 2025 Newsletter

In this edition we’ll recap what’s been going on around the site as well as looking forward to what we’ve got coming up as we enter the festive season.

Arthur David brings Christmas to The Food WorksSW

Local wholesaler, Arthur David, has been utilising our facilities for over 3 years now. As as West Country ingredient supplier for over 60 years, the team at A. David are always looking for ways to give their customers inspiration, particularly with sustainability and innovation in mind. This is why development chef, Steve Shore and the marketing team come to see us every year to use the trial kitchen.

This year Steve, Zoe, Imogen and Georgina also had the added benefit of using our new photography studio. They came along to create content and recipe ideas for their Christmas campaigns on social media.

Having the space to create this content is not something Arthur David have at their own site so we’re happy to be able to be a part of their calendar.

Click here for more information about our photography studio

From festival lemonade to a national brand

What started as a simple lemonade stand at a Somerset food festival has grown into Hullabaloos, a successful soft drinks brand known for its playful branding, natural ingredients and zingy, feel-good flavours. Behind the scenes, Hullabaloos’ growth - led by husband-and-wife team Randa and Leigh Abdullah Hucker - has been shaped by key support from The Food WorksSW, and its regional partners. From accreditation to brand visibility and industry connections, it’s a clear example of what happens when a strong product is backed by the right regional support.

Hullabaloos is a natural soft drinks company we started over 10 years ago. It all began with cream teas and hand-squeezed lemonade at local festivals - just me and my husband, Leigh.

How Has The Food Works Supported Your Growth?

We’ve had brilliant help over the years. Through The Food WorksSW funded programme, we accessed support to achieve SALSA certification, which was essential for landing bigger customers and distributors. A consultant came to us, reviewed our paperwork and processes and helped us prepare for a mock audit. We wouldn’t have secured many of our deals without that support.

What Other Services Have You Accessed?

We’ve had help with professional photography, technical advice and ongoing support. They also sell our drinks on-site and feature our products in their marketing - that kind of exposure really helps build brand recognition.

What’s The Broader Value Of Being Part Of The Food Works Community?

Running a small business can feel isolating, but The Food WorksSW creates a sense of shared support. You realise you’re not the only one navigating these challenges and that’s a huge morale boost.

To find out more about the funded support on offer, click here

Fighting Food Fraud Crime with the FSA

We welcomed the National Food Crime Unit to the site recently to host a food crime workshop. Attendees gained knowledge around practical ways to strengthen fraud resilience across the food industry

Attendees commented on the event saying it was well presented with good information and they left wit points to look at within their own companies policies and procedures.

A great event, thank you to the team at the National Food Crime Unit.

Christmas hours

We will be closed from Wednesday 25th December until Monday 5th January 2026.

Our tenants are now stocked nationwide!

One of our tenants is PeppaCo, an arm of the familiar supermarket brand Peppadew. Their range of filled and crumbed sweet peppers are such a hit. As well as wholesale, they have recently celebrated their success with products being rolled out nationally across both The Food Warehouse and Morrisons! Well done to the team at PeppaCo for all of their hard work - what an achievement.

If you’re looking for party food this season, we can highly recommend these!

Simon and Beth put on their glad rags to attend Food Drink Devon awards

Some of the team attended the awards in Exeter, they had a lovely evening and were so impressed with the entrants. A huge congratulations to the lucky prize winners. Thank you FDD for a brilliant evening of entertainment, celebration and networking.