The largest food and drinks centre in the South West has officially opened its doors in Weston.
The Food WorksSW has announced its first set of open days for the food and drink innovation centre will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and July 16.
After completing the first phase of the multi-million-pound development during lockdown, the centre is ready to welcome guests.
The open days will allow attendees to view the 12 purpose-built food-grade units, which are between 1,000 and 1,500 sq.ft, and four development kitchens, meeting and conference space, technical support, development kitchens, business units and café space.
The centre will be run by the Food and Drink Forum as part of a 15-year contract.
The £11million project, based at the Junction 21 Enterprise Zone, has long been in the making after North Somerset Council won funding from the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.
Senior technical and site manager, David Nute, has been working with the on-site team throughout the lockdown to keep supporting food and drink businesses in any way they could.
David said: “It has been the toughest of times for so many industries and the food service sector has been hit particularly hard.
“That’s meant lots of businesses have had to offer new products or services, and takeaway or delivery options and implement new systems within days that would usually take months.
“We’ve been on hand for technical and legislation advice as well as providing temporary product development space. We’ve also helped over 50 businesses with our free business support webinars covering a wide variety of subjects including pricing, labelling, supply chains, marketing and exporting.
“We are very much looking forward to meeting business owners who are interested in working with The Food WorksSW team and can start making use of the fantastic facilities onsite.”
Open day bookings are essential to meet social distancing requirements and are being taken for one-hour time slots throughout the course of the three days from 9am-4pm.
To reserve a space, email enquiries@foodworks-sw.co.uk
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