£3.5m to help food and drink firms’ hungry for success

Food and drink manufacturers looking to expand, take on extra staff, develop new products and access financing will be aided by a £3.5million programme, part-funded by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Food Enterprise Advisory Support Team, or FEAST programme, will be delivered in the D2N2 LEP’s area by the Nottingham-based Food and Drink Forum; an industry-led, not for profit body set-up in 1998 to support and develop the food and drink sector, and represent it at a regional and national level.

FEAST will run for three years, beginning this summer (2016), and cost £3.5m.

The Forum will provide half the programme’s costs and the other half will come from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) portion of D2N2’s allocation of €251m in European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF). D2N2 is the private sector-led partnership of business, local authorities, higher and further education providers, and community and voluntary organisations which promotes economic growth and jobs across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

FEAST’s services will support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food and drink manufacturing sector by providing:

• an annual review of the sector’s performance, available to all businesses;
• technical and business advice;
• business mentoring;
• tailored events for sector businesses, designed to share and promote good practice, and develop business partnerships;
• an apprenticeship programme for the sector, to support job creation and skills development;
• capital grants for SMEs looking to expand.

D2N2’s Growth Hub will help those running the FEAST project to engage with SMEs in the area. The Growth Hub supports new and established SMEs with help in business strategy and growth, marketing, networking and accessing funding for expansion; using its regional and national business networks to enable businesses to find the right help.

Peter Richardson, Chairman of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, said:

“Food and drink manufacturing is one of the UK’s most innovative sectors but smaller companies often don’t have the resources of big global brands to gather market intelligence, innovate and address technical issues.

“The FEAST programme is designed to help SMEs keep their competitive edge and develop their businesses. D2N2 is proud to be making a major investment in this three year initiative in one of its eight key sectors.”

The FEAST funding follows similar major investments in two other three-year projects by D2N2, again through its European Regional Development Fund monies, earlier this year.

Companies interested in benefiting from the project can contact the D2N2 Growth Hub for further information on 0333 006 9178 or by email to info@d2n2growthhub.co.uk