Expressions of interest in Food Academy sought

LOCAL Enterprise Office Wicklow may run a full Food Academy Start Programme for 2019 if sufficient levels of demand are shown.

Run over a five month period, the programme aims to get local artisan food producers onto the shelves of their local supermarket. Developed by Bord Bía in conjunction with Musgraves through the SuperValu Brand, this programme is run nationally through the network of Local Enterprise Offices.

The target for the Food Academy Start is to provide small food businesses with a solid foundation to progress confidently onto retail shelves. At the end of three days of intensive workshop training and one-to-one mentoring for each business, all participants are given the opportunity to pitch their product to a panel of buyers, including a local SuperValu store owner.

Successful participants are also provided with the opportunity to trial their product in their local stores for a period of twelve weeks. This provides a real advantage to small businesses in terms of real retail experience, as they are in a position to liaise with the store to gain feedback on their product range from both the store staff and consumers. This helps each artisan producer to further develop their product ranges, marketing approach, packaging and distribution for a wider national audience. Visit www.localenterprise.ie/ Wicklow/ to register your interest in the programme.