West of England Food and Drink Support Initiative
Helping Local Food & Drink Businesses Grow
The West of England Food and Drink Support Initiative (FDSI) offers tailored support to food producers, manufacturers, hospitality, and foodservice businesses across the region. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling up, FDSI provides expert guidance to help you overcome technical and product development challenges.
What's Included?
Up to 8 Hours of FREE Support
Eligible businesses can access comprehensive support at no cost
Delivered by The Food Worksˢʷ
The support is delivered by the experienced and specialist team at The Food WorksSW. The Food WorksSW is a specialist food and drink innovation centre in Weston-super-Mare with on-site technical support, product development kitchen and food-grade business units.
The support can be delivered at The Food WorksSW or one of the pre-selected community kitchens across the region or at your premises, depending on the type of support you need.
Who's Eligible?
This scheme is open to start-ups, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are food and drink producers, manufacturers, hospitality, or foodservice businesses located in:
- North Somerset
- Bristol
- Bath and North East Somerset
- South Gloucestershire
Real Business Impact
Over the past 9 months, The Food WorksSW has supported a wide range of businesses. Examples include:
- Extending shelf life and improving packaging for baked goods
- Nutritional analysis and ingredient declarations
- Costing updates to improve margins on drinks
- Scaling up chocolate bar production with profitability checks and labelling reviews
Read case studies from North Somerset businesses like Hullabaloos and Nutricare to see how they’ve benefited.
From Festival Lemonade to National Brand
What started as hand-squeezed lemonade at a Somerset food festival has grown into Hullabaloos – a successful natural soft drinks brand with eight flavours and national distribution. Discover how Randa and Leigh transformed their festival side-hustle into a thriving business with crucial support from The Food Works SW, from achieving SALSA certification to professional photography and technical advice.
Building a Wellness Brand from Scratch
Born from personal experience with Crohn’s Disease, Nutricare is a functional wellness brand creating nutritionally complete, gut-friendly products for recovery and digestive health. Discover how solo founder Pawel Sternik transformed his concept into early-stage prototyping with support from The Food Works SW, accessing professional kitchens, expert guidance on compliance and formulation, and a secure IP-protected environment – all free of charge.
Ready to Grow Your Food or Drink Business?
Register for the West of England Food and Drink Support Initiative to access your free 8 hours of expert support.