Bristol’s food and drink entrepreneurs are now able to get free business and technical support to help them set-up or run their businesses under a new scheme.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has teamed up with regional industry-run group Food WorksSW to launch the Food Enterprise Support Scheme (FESS). 
Individuals thinking about starting a food and drink business, or those who have just launched can receive four hours of support, while established businesses can receive five hours of support through the scheme.
The guidance and advice will come from The Food WorksSW technical team, who provide hands-on food technical support to businesses of all sizes across the South West.
Among topics covered are legal labelling, HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point), food safety and hygiene, recipe nutritional analysis, SALSA/BRC (safe and local supplier approval/ brand reputation through compliance) support, internal audit, product development and innovation, shelf life extension, environmental health support, product costing and shelf life extension.
West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris, who leads WECA, said: “We have some amazing producers growing wonderful food which is then cooked up into tasty treats. 
“But food and drink are a heavily regulated sector and that’s why I’m delighted that alongside The Food Works we can offer extra training courses on food safety, how long food products can stay on the shelves and on the financial side of running a local business.”
The Food WorksSW senior technical and site manager Rachel Goff added: “We can’t wait to start delivering support through the FESS scheme.
“Many individuals enter the food and drink sector with little to no technical knowledge, which means it can be a really daunting sector to enter.
“But through the scheme we will be able to share our knowledge and experience to allow pre and start-up businesses to confidently, and safely, launch.”
He added that some established businesses were really struggling to take that next step and expand as they wished to due to the daily pressures of just running the business.
“Through the FESS scheme, our technical managers can help to alleviate this by offering support in any area of food technical,” he added.
“We can be really flexible, delivering the support onsite or remotely, and can work around staff shift patterns if required.”
Food WorksSW is part of The Food & Drink Forum, the industry-led group supporting and developing successful food enterprises as well as representing the industry at a local, regional and national level.
To find out more about the Food Enterprise Support Scheme visit: https://www.foodworks-sw.co.uk/fess-project/ or call The Food WorksSW team on 01934 315381, or email enquiries@foodworks-sw.co.uk
