Discovery Day at The Food Works SW

Food and drink innovation centre The Food WorksSW will be throwing open its doors and holding a Discovery Day on 22 February to show food and drink brands all that it 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 free event at the North Somerset centre will showcase each of its specialist bakery, dairy and drinks kitchens with talks from invited guest speakers, including Butcombe Brewery’s Development Chef Jasper Prickett and Ellie Brown, Founder of Kinda Co., who will highlight how their business has benefited from time spent at The Food Works^SW and also industry experts Greg Parsons, owner of Sharpham Dairy and Chair of Food Drink Devon and Gabriel David, Managing Director of Royal Warrant holder Luscombe Drinks. Since its opening in October 2021, it has helped over 150 businesses. New products such as gelato, water kefir, vegan cheese, chilli sauces, high protein cookies and frozen ready meals have all been developed in their kitchens.

In addition, Discovery Day attendees will also hear from representatives from brands aligned with each speciality kitchen who will offer industry insight, and their in-house technical experts, Zoe Plant and Rachel Goff, will 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 session.

Specialist sessions will run throughout the day with an optional tour of Food Works’ meeting rooms, conference facilities and commercial and trial kitchens. The centre’s coffee shop and business lounge will also be open on the day for people to use.

Greg Parsons, Owner of Sharpham Dairy said, "I'm delighted to be part of The Discovery Day and I'm looking forward to meeting other food businesses and sharing my own business journey with them.  The event is also a great opportunity to see and hear first hand how Food Works can help food and drink products take crucial next steps in their development".

Becky Hale, Marketing Manager at The Food Works^SW said, “We’ve designed the Discovery Day 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”.

Zoe Plant, Food Works’ New Product Development and Innovation Manager, added, "We're looking forward to welcoming people to The Food Works and opening up our kitchens. We'll be showcasing some of our specialist equipment too, like our chocolate tempering machine and drinks carbonator. 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.”

The only centre of its kind in the south west, The Food Works^SW is based in the heart of the Weston-super-Mare Enterprise Area, less than 30 minutes from Bristol. It has state-of-the-art facilities including five product development kitchens which are available for flexible short-term contract hire for food and drink businesses of all sizes to test, develop and manufacture their products - prices start from just £96.90 per day (inc VAT).

Technical support packages are also available. A team of food industry experts provide technical support to businesses navigating their way through a range of food disciplines – from new product development, and quality assurance hygiene, to food safety and efficiency. 

For more information on The Food Works^SW Discovery Day, visit foodworks-sw.co.uk, or follow @foodworks_sw on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.