Ambitious individuals, with an interest in building an international food or drink business in Ireland, are being sought for participation in Food Works 2015, a business development and training programme designed especially for food & drinks start ups jointly run by Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc. Food Works 2015 was officially launched today at the new Wicklow Wolf Brewery in Bray, Co, Wicklow. The company participated in Food Works 2014 and has just opened the 3,700 square foot brewery. Wicklow Wolf plans to create 16 new jobs over the next few years to support its growing business.
Speaking about Food Works, Quincey Fennelly, co-founder of Wicklow Wolf said, “Once we made the decision to produce beer on a commercial level, we decided to look for help from wherever we could get it. The Food Works programme was recommended to us and we were delighted to be accepted to take part. It was very challenging and brought us on many occasions outside our comfort zone, but, it really helped us to become more disciplined about planning our business for the future for both the domestic and the export market. I would recommend it to anyone who has a good business idea who has the ambition to develop it into a strong food business capable of exporting around the world.”
Over the past two years, following a competitive process attracting in excess of 150 applications, a total of 43 start-ups from dairy, snacks, meat, seafood and beverages have participated in the Food Works programme.
Rachel Nolan, co-founder of Nobó and a participant in Food Works 2013 said, “The Food Works programme has been invaluable in helping our business to reach its full potential. After first launching into stores 8 months ago, our first product ‘Frozen Goodness’ is now available in over 100 stores around the country. This will be increasing significantly over the next number of weeks as the product is rolled out to SuperValu stores nationwide. We were delighted to recently receive two Great Taste Awards in the UK and to be included in the Great Taste ‘Top 50 Foods’ in the UK and Ireland out of 10,000 products entered and tasted. We are also excited at the possibility of seeing ‘Frozen Goodness’ on freezer shelves in other countries before the end of 2015.
Food Works 2015
Applications are now open for candidates interested in being a part of the 2015 Food Works programme. Ideal applicants are ambitious food or drink entrepreneurs, or companies trading for less than 4 years that wish to target export markets and scale their business. It is envisaged that the company will have an innovative product either already developed or in development. The Food Works programme aims to help these young companies to realise their full potential to achieve significant scale and become major international businesses in markets across the globe while creating new jobs at home. Successful companies will be introduced to suitable investors to help them to fund a scalable business during the programme.
Interested participants are invited to learn more about the programme at a number of regional information seminars
- · 15th October – Radisson Hotel, Athlone – 5.30-8pm
- · 21st October – Tayto Park, Ashbourne– 5.30-8pm
- · 4th November – Cork Institute of Technology– 5.30-8pm
To register to attend the seminars, or for more information on Food Works 2015, visit www.foodworksireland.ie.
