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Taste of the West Academy launch

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Tuesday 19th January 2010

 
Taste of the West is delighted to be launching the South West region’s first Food & Drink Academy. It is a meeting place dedicated to all involved in the production, processing and marketing of quality food and drink from the West Country.

The Academy will run workshops, seminars and masterclasses to share knowledge and instigate routes to market for all producers in the West Country. The seminar programme starts this Spring and is open to all members and non-members of Taste of the West. Among them will be a session on how to grow a food or drink business, with advice from former Tesco executive Mike Seymour and Peter Greensmith, who has worked with Cow & Gate, Three Barrels Brandy and Baxter’s Soups.

John Sheaves, Chief Executive of Taste of the West says: “These days, producers need to gear up and become very ‘market savvy’. There are a lot of superb producers in the West Country, keen to penetrate markets such as multiple retail, foodservice, hospitals and schools. This can be a real challenge for small and medium sized producers. The Academy will help them to rise to this challenge”.

Taste of the West has a unique co-operative structure, as it is a not-for-profit organisation belonging to its 800 members throughout Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

“The Academy’s remit will be to look at five clear business priorities,” says John Sheaves. “These are: business strategy and planning; sales and marketing; technical aspects; sustainability and routes to market.”
Another surefire winner from the Food & Drink Academy will be a masterclass with Taste of the West’s most recent Producer of the Year, David Barker of Styles Ice Cream, Somerset, whose business now employs 70 people. David will deliver a lecture on how to get the most from a marketing budget on Tuesday 9 March 2010 at 3.30 pm at Styles Farm, Rodhuish, Minehead, Somerset.

“I’ve had so much help and support from Taste of the West in the past when I was growing my business,” says David. “Now I feel it is time for me to put something back and help others in the same way. It will be a pleasure to mentor other smaller businesses through the Food & Drink Academy to support our region’s excellent food sector.”

For the first time, Taste of the West can also offer, via the Food & Drink Academy, valuable market research data to the sector via Kent Business School which uses Tesco’s Dunnhumby data (Tesco Clubcard data). Using professionals to interpret and analyse the data for the sector, seminars will provide valuable insights to consumers’ purchasing behaviour across a range of demographic data sets.

“This data is anything but dry and dusty,” says John Sheaves. “It will be an absolute eye-opener for West Country producers as to what customers and buyers expect and want from the region’s food producers and hospitality sector.”

This data will only be available as part of the workshops being delivered at the Academy.

Taste of the West’s Food & Drink Academy workshops will take place between February and June 2010 in Exeter, Bristol and Bournemouth. To book and for all enquiries, contact Belinda Berwick on 01392 440745 or by email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it


Notes to Editors:
The following workshops will also be delivered between February and June 2010 in Exeter, Bristol and Bournemouth :-

¡´ What's Ahead for Business in the UK Food and Drink Industry

¡´ Improving Your Company's Organisational and People Performance

¡´ In Pursuit of Food and Drink Innovation

¡´ Introduction to Category Management - Understanding Your Customer

¡´ Building Competitive Advantage in the Food And Drink Industry


These one-day workshops will all be delivered by : -

Paul Drabble, CBG Learning Academy

Paul Drabble has spent over twenty years creating new business growth strategies and organisational capability for food and drink companies worldwide. He has partnered and worked alongside many of today’s most recognised organisations such as McDonald’s, Shell, Exxon Mobil, British Airways, Cadbury, Coca-Cola, BAA, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

¡´ HOW TO GROW YOUR FOOD OR DRINK BUSINESS

This two-day workshop (split over two separate weeks) will be delivered by :-

Mike Seymour of Seymour Williams Associates

Mike Seymour is a well-respected retail professional with extensive experience in the management of all areas of a large blue chip company; Tesco. Mike has managed a wide variety of suppliers both in the UK and globally for Tesco. He has a wealth of experience in the technical management of suppliers, new product development, business development, budgeting, pricing, promotions, logistics and operations.

and

Peter Greensmith of Greensmith & Macleod

Peter Greensmith runs Greensmith & MacLeod, a consultancy that specialises in building growth strategies and cost effective marketing solutions. During his corporate career he ran and developed a number of businesses. These include Hall & Woodhouse Drinks Division (including Badger Ales), Cow & Gate baby foods and he also developed Baxter’s of Speyside, Campbell’s, Three Barrels Brandy. He now works with a number of clients helping them to grow their businesses and has endorsements from many of the UK’s major retailers.

All workshops are priced at £500 VAT and a timetable of dates can be obtained by contacting Taste of the West. Contact Taste of the West on 01392 440745

Through the Train to Gain Leadership and Management Scheme, £500 of the cost of the workshop is recoverable. Who can benefit? Any owner, director or manager who wishes to fully exploit their capabilities. To be eligible for full funding companies will need to employ between 5 and 249 staff including owners, directors, full and part-time employees. Contact Taste of the West on 01392 440745 for further details.


Taste of the West is the Regional Food Group for South West England, it has developed a comprehensive programme of industry support since its inception in 1991. This was initially set up using public funding from Defra and various local authorities. Since 1991 this has developed into a strong promotional programme for quality food and drink businesses in the south west region. Taste of the West employs a collaborative approach to industry support, working closely with other providers and developing support networks for businesses which provide a level of resilience.




Release Date: 14/01/2010