23 May 2017
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Business News
Introductory meeting for interested participants taking place in Cork in June 6th
@FoodWorksIRL #FoodWorks2017
Food Works, Ireland’s leading accelerator programme for food and drink start-ups, is seeking to identify a number of high potential start-up food teams from Munster with a strong business idea to take part in Food Works 2017. Budding food entrepreneurs are invited to explore their suitability for the programme at a series of upcoming regional meetings, the next of which will take place on June 6th in Cork.
The programme, run by Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc, aims to foster and encourage innovative new product ideas which satisfy a genuine market need while supporting the growth of the Irish food industry on a global scale.
Bayview Beverages was founded by Conor Coughlan from Kinsalebeg in Waterford in 2016. The first product from the company is Black Twist, an original coffee spirit drink for adventurous coffee lovers. Conor has a background in chemistry and food science and has a love of artisan coffee and an interest in brewing techniques. He just completed the most recent Food Works programme which ended in January 2017.
Speaking about the Food Works programme, Conor said, “I wanted to work with the best people in the Irish food and drinks industry to help me really develop Black Twist and take it to the next level. Black Twist takes a unique approach to combining coffee and spirits but consumers make purchasing decisions in a matter of seconds. Therefore, it was really important to me that consumers understood the offering and its benefits. I was confident we had a good product but Food Works really helped refine the concept and the delivery of our message”.
Food teams from the Munster area who are interested in finding out more about the programme are asked to register for an introductory meeting on www.foodworksireland.ie. Following this meeting, those who are interested in the programme are asked to complete a formal application, from which a number of finalists will be shortlisted to take part in an industry-led boot-camp where the successful final programme participants will be selected.
Food Works is an intensive programme which guides participants from the initial concept phase through to the development of a winning food product with international appeal and global export potential. This includes the provision of a full range of practical business supports designed to provide participants with an investor ready business plan. This includes consumer market research, one-to-one mentoring, technical advice, commercial viability testing in addition to access to fast track access to research and development (R&D) facilities, possible investors and state funding.
For further information on Food Works visit www.foodworksireland.ie
