Food & Drink Network Meeting

Food & Drink Network Meeting

Notes of Meeting

Wednesday 2nd March 2016

Present:

Jimmy Buchan, Ken Howie, George Noble, Graeme McCaw, Alan Stevenson, Patrick Hughes, Ceri Ritchie, Fiona Anderson, Tanya Sim, Yvonne Cook, Alan Rowe, Irina Bonavino, Claire Gordon, Mary Holland, Lee-Ann Stewart.

Apologies:

Gavin Tannock, Leslie Wilson, Catherine Shaughnessy, Lorraine Smith, Elena Sargeant, Chris Hodgens

Welcome & Introduction

Alan Rowe, Food and Drink Industry Specialist at the Rowett Institute and Chair of the Food & Drink Network, welcomed all in attendance to the first meeting of the year. Alan went over the health & safety for the building. Alan welcomed the speakers and noted that they were offering two different aspects on how to up your presence within the Food & Drink market. Round table introductions were given.

Think Local Review

Patrick Hughes, Senior Food & Drink Consultant at SAC Consulting Food & Drink, joined the group to give a presentation on the Think Local project, reviewing what has already been achieved and the plans going forward.

Patrick started by explaining the Think Local initiative, the project has been in development over a number of years, looking to bring together initiatives on local food and drink in Scotland. Effective delivery commenced in April 2013, with a focus on 5 streams -

Added Value
Farmers’ markets and events
Local food retail & food tourism
Regional development
Collaboration

Think Local has specific delivery objectives including;

Developing food & drink networks and trails
Increasing applications for Protected Food Name status
Supporting showcase events for local and regional food – original objective to deliver 300 events was changed due to the success of Food & Drink fortnight which saw 370 events being delivered.

Patrick noted that the Year of Food & Drink has been beneficial to the delivery of the objectives. Another of the initiatives Patrick noted was the ‘First Stop - Farm Shop’ – this initiative aimed to encourage consumers to use their local farm shops as their first stop for their weekly shopping rather than a top up shop as most consumers tend to use a supermarket for their first stop. This initiative brings awareness and celebrates local farm shops and makes consumers aware of what the farm shops have to offer.

Patrick then gave some information on Food Trails. There are currently two main types of food trails in Scotland; Regional Food & Drink Trails and Sector Specific Food & Drink Trails. Patrick noted that the trails are now diversifying.

Patrick ended his presentation by touching on some of the successes of the Think Local project –

Increased appetite for producers working together for a common purpose
Increased Protected Food Name applications
Food & Drink businesses tapping into tourism potential

The full presentation can be viewed here.

Market Driven Supply Chain Project

Alan Stevenson of Market Driven Supply Chain joined the group to give a presentation on the MDSC project. Alan passed round a leaflet to those in attendance, showing some information and details on the project – the project is designed to help Scottish food and drink companies exploit lucrative sales opportunities in UK and International markets through the development of effective and transformational supply chains.

Funded by Scottish Government & Scottish Enterprise - £1.6m over 3 to 4 years
Builds supply chain capability and capacity, developing practical solutions to overcome barriers in accessing specific key UK and export markets
Aligned to SF&D strategy of premium, health & provenance and SE/SDI’s UK and international market priorities

Targets - increase in turnover:

£6m from new export sales

£6m from new UK sales

Alan also highlighted the below –

70% of businesses still in ‘supply economy’ mode reacting or responding to the winds of change in the market (Gartner Group Research)
Too many are operating traditional approaches two or more steps removed from the market

New Market Driven Supply Chains are emerging that:

Deliver customer value and address complexity
Define and deliver competitive advantage
Change culture and processes within businesses & chain

Alan went over some diagrams, a list of the 24 ongoing projects both in UK and Export markets and some great case studies which can all be viewed here along with the rest of the presentation.

Group Discussion

A group discussion took place and offered the following highlights –

Alan Rowe asked the question of both speakers – ‘has there been much up take in the North East or are we lagging behind the rest of the country?’ Patrick responded that yes there has been a good amount of up take especially on the food trails with lots of businesses being proactive in the North East, where they lag behind is the potential that traditional food businesses have but don’t use. Business see the benefit in collaborations but are taking time to put into action. Alan Stevenson responded that he feels they could do more with the seafood sector as there are good opportunities there and wider opportunities available for all sectors.
Ken Howie of Deeside Activity Park shared his views and some case studies from his own experience of setting up a food trail. Ken noted that it can be a tricky and onerous task but worth it. More information on the trail can be found here.
An active discussion then took place surrounding the topic of marketing and communicating these initiatives to the consumer. The Year of Food & Drink has helped to raise profile and continues to promote through various channels including social media where the twitter hashtag #scotfood creates a lot of attention. A few restrictions were noted such as – poor connectivity causing problems for businesses looking to use technology such as internet and apps for promotion and also tourist signs are very expensive.
The main message picked up during the discussion was that word of mouth and recommendation are the best forms of promotion. Timing and opportunity at the moment is a huge benefit with the joint DMO being put in place and Opportunity North East being launched. There are different types of consumers to market towards and Lee-Ann mentioned the presentation given by VisitScotland at the last joint Food & Drink and Tourism meeting – presentation can be found here – the presentation shows the current trends for consumers and tourists and what to look out for.

FoodFest 15 Update

Mary Holland, Membership Network Manager at AGCC gave a brief update on the FoodFest15 initiative starting with some background information –

In the official Year of Food and Drink 2015, partners prepared a joint funding bid to VisitScotland for a promotional campaign to spotlight, celebrate and promote the natural larder and quality produce of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. Partners include:

Aberdeenshire Council

Visit Royal Deeside
Aberdeenshire Tourism Partnership
Scottish Enterprise
Visit Aberdeen
Banffshire Coastal Partnership
Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce
Aberdeen City and Shire Hotels Association

Partners provided £20,000 of funding which was then matched by VisitScotland.

Although the yearlong project has now came to an end it will actively continue being managed in the short term by VisitAberdeen. Mary noted that one of the objectives within the project was to increase the number of businesses that have a ‘taste your best accreditation’ – in conclusion of the project, this now sits at 16 businesses within Aberdeen city and 63 businesses within Aberdeenshire now have this accreditation.

AOB

Irina Bonavino, Policy Assistant at AGCC, shared the Chambers 2016 Scottish Parliament Election Manifesto which can be found on our website – Irina reminded members that they can voice their views to the policy team who are there to lobby on their behalf. Irina also mentioned that the EU Referendum papers can also be viewed on our website.

Mary noted the launch of a new event for the Chamber which is The Ultimate Business Show, taking place on the 16th of June at the AECC. There are many opportunities including those to attend, sponsor and exhibit. Details of the event can be found on the website, please contact Mary if you have any questions –

Date of Next Meeting

Joint Food & Drink and Tourism meeting to be held in the Summer – date tbc.

Food & Drink meeting in Autumn to be held at the new Rowett Institute building – date tbc.