The first event, hosted by the Business Exchange initiative, is called the Food Exchange and will provide budding entrepreneurs with the chance to pick up pitching ideas for their food businesses and engage with buyers from Sainsbury, Waitrose, Fortnum and Mason and Selfridges.
Elizabeth Slee, spokeswoman for event organiser and funder Enterprise Nation, told FoodManufacture.co.uk. “This could lead to businesses getting their products on shelves, receiving investment or gaining valuable advice.
“It’s all about trying to get big businesses to engage with small businesses and to recognise the opportunities this can have. Hopefully this will help small firms to manufacture on a larger scale.”
Although UK government is not providing any financial support, Slee said it helped swing the involvement of major retailers and manufacturers.
Billions in their banks
“We launched the Business Exchange with the government on January 26 2014; its role is to get pledges from big businesses to support small businesses,” she added. “Big businesses have billions in their banks and they should use this to support small businesses.
“Government and big businesses all recognise that to make the British economy work well – we need to help and support start-ups and small businesses.”
Heinz, Danone and Stella Artois will offer firms access to creative talent to grow their businesses and enter new markets. Nick Tolley, co-founder of coffee business Harris & Hoole, will discuss his experiences with Tesco.
Lucy Woodhouse, co-founder of frozen Greek yogurt lollies Claudi & Fin, which will be launching in Sainsbury soon, will be speaking about her journey from start-up to retail supplier at the Food Exchange.
Woodhouse and her business partner Meriel Durand came up with the idea of a frozen yogurt lolly when she was looking to wean her two-year-old daughter Claudia, but couldn’t find anything like it on the market.
Through the Ice Cream Alliance, the pair discovered small family firm Gallone’s, one of the only British-based companies to have the right equipment to make lollies. They have had the benefit of mentoring from one of Innocent’s nutritional advisers.
Woodhouse said: “This has been my dream for a long time. I’m a bit of a lolly obsessive and I was determined to make this work. Durand and I have spent months perfecting the recipe and finding someone who could produce these on a large scale.”
Slee said large retailers would offer advice on how entrepreneurs could take their businesses from a kitchen-run operation to a large food manufacturing company.
Pledged support
Sainsbury has pledged to support small suppliers to access finance by offering a flexible payment function whereby suppliers can ‘sell’ invoices to a bank to receive early payment.
The retailer has also vowed to double the amount of British food it sources, and is eager to hear from new suppliers and small businesses through its SupplySomethingNew website.
Entrepreneurs that have successfully transformed their products from start-up ideas to mass-manufactured brands with retail contracts will speak at the event.
Slee was keen to stress that even if firms secure a contract to supply a retailer or a manufacturing deal, they should not expect anything overnight.
“Going from a kitchen to a factory obviously takes a lot of time and complications,” she warned. “Going from an agreement to supply to a retailer to actually hitting the shelves can take six to seven months [for re-branding and packaging].”
The all-day-event is taking place on March 26 2014 at The Bakery in Dalston, London and is open for all interested parties to attend. Tickets can be purchased here.