Companies wanting to start up a food or drink business in the West Midlands now have expert advice on hand at the state of the art Shropshire Food Enterprise Centre.
The food and drink sector is an important part of our regional economy, with some 6,000 companies employing 40,000 staff and turning over £7 billion a year.
Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, has forecast a regional industry growth rate of 2.5 per cent a year over the next five years (higher than the national average) and Advantage West Midlands is keen to support growth in this sector, with the Food Centre playing a key part.
Heart of England Fine Foods (HEFF), which won the Shropshire Council contract to run the £7 million purpose-built centre in Battlefield Enterprise Park, Shrewsbury, moved in on Friday, February 19.
HEFF, the regional food group for the West Midlands, will now be on hand to help up to 12 start-up and growing businesses move in to the Food Centre, which offers premises specifically designed to meet latest food industry standards. This means they can just move in and get cooking.
The Food Centre offers meeting and conference facilities, with quality local food on offer for refreshments. There are plans to install a demonstration kitchen and adjoining foyer cafe to allow businesses to showcase their products to focus groups and potential buyers.
And businesses based there will also benefit from the region's excellent transport links for distributing their products.
HEFF offers specialist supply chain development and marketing advice, such as helping businesses establish contacts and build relationships with food retailers, wholesalers and food-service companies.
Advantage West Midlands has contributed to the funding of HEFF over the past nine years. The Agency continues to fund this work, with HEFF running a £3.3 million supply chain development programme until December 2011.
Karen Davies, Chief Executive of HEFF, said: "We are delighted to be at the heart of this major new food and drink venture and are looking forward to creating a business hub and centre of excellence for the food and drink industry across the West Midlands.
"Our aim is to make this the leading centre of its kind in the country and I would urge food and drink producers to get in touch to learn how we can support them in growing and developing their business to compete in the regional, national and global marketplace.”
HEFF continues to provide support and activities across the whole of the West Midlands, including Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and Birmingham and Black Country, but Shropshire activities will now be based at the Food Centre.
David Roberts, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for local environment and economy, said: “HEFF’s presence at the centre will ensure that food and drink producers based there will enjoy business benefits unrivalled throughout the region, which further promotes Shropshire as the centre for food and drink enterprise within the West Midlands.”
Karen Wright, Food and Drink Cluster Manager with Advantage West Midlands, said: "It's great that HEFF is now based at the Food Centre, which provides an opportunity for businesses that might not otherwise get off the ground due to the major investment usually needed to make other premises 'food ready'.
Anyone interested in starting a business at the Food Centre or using its facilities should contact HEFF on Tel 01743 452810, email office@heff.co.uk. More information is available at the website www.shropshirefoodcentre.co.uk or the HEFF site at www.heff.co.uk.