GUIDANCE FOR EVENT ORGANISERS APPLYING FOR

YEAR OF FOOD AND DRINK 2015 FUNDING

  1. Background

The Year of Food and Drink is a chance to spotlight, celebrate and promote Scotland’s natural larder and quality produce to our people and our visitors and to capitalise on the momentum created by the previous Year of Food and Drink and Homecoming Scotland 2014. It is a Scottish Government initiative being led by EventScotland and VisitScotland.

1.1TheYear of Food and Drink2015aims and objectives are to:

  • Enhance Scotland’s reputation as a Land of Food and Drink
  • Increase use and promotion of Scottish produce across the tourism and events industry
  • Increase level of satisfaction with food and drink amongst visitors to Scotland
  • Increase level of satisfaction with food and drink amongst event attendees
  • Increase contribution to the overall value of the sector from tourism and events

1.2The proposed outcomes are:

  • Raise awareness of quality Scottish produce at home and abroad
  • Further adoption of a “Food Charter” by events across Scotland and increased uptake by tourism businesses in VisitScotland’s Taste our Best quality accreditation scheme.
  • Increased level of satisfaction (with food and drink amongst visitors to Scotland) demonstrated through existing market research channels
  • More event attendees rating the quality of food and drink as high or very high
  • Increase in visitor spend on food and drink

1.3It is therefore essential that the Year of Food and Drink programme of events:

  • Features a quality, carefully sourced local catering offering
  • Is accountable to EventScotland for their catering offering
  • Promotes Scotland as a Land of Food and Drink
  1. Application Information and Guidance:

2.1Potential applicants are advised to contact EventScotland to discuss their applications in advance of submitting an application form.

2.2If your event is already supported via another EventScotland funding programme or if you are planning to submit an application to the National Programme and you wish to apply for support towards specific new food and drink activity for 2015, please contact EventScotland to discuss beforecompleting an application form.

2.3Applications will also be accepted from events wishing to take part in Whisky Month – this will be for whisky related events taking place 1 May – 31 May 2015.

2.4Support will be offered to the eventswhich best demonstrate the proposed new activity will align with and contribute to the identified objectives and outcomes. Ideally the activity will be sustainable and provide a legacy that will enable the event to improve, enhanceand/or better promote their quality local food and drink offering on an ongoing basis.Funding will not be provided for core or capital purchase costs.

2.5Event applications will be assessed on the basis of numbers of attendees at the event itself, coupled with their potential reach through TV and media to push the messages of the Year to as wide an audience as possible.

2.6It is aimed to support a wide geographic spread of events taking place throughout 2015.

2.7It is not intended that an award from this fund will provide all of the funding for any event. Applications must demonstrate a viable budget showing additional income from alternative sources. Any award cannot be used to fill a budget gap created by the withdrawal of another funding source, nor can it substitute funding that would be invested by the local authority in the event.

2.8As a guide, applications from £2K up to a maximum value of £10k will be considered.

2.9Successful applicants will be asked to attend a Food and Drink Workshop as part of their funding agreement with EventScotland – the content for which will be produced in partnership with Scotland Food Drink and Scottish Enterprise Experience Scotland project. Dates and locations for workshops will be provided during the contract process.

2.10Successful applicants will also be asked to adhere to the principles and quality benchmarks provided in the Food Charter as far as possible and to report back on this in the run up to and after the event.

2.11All events receiving funding awards through this programme must carry out visitor research, to include specific questions relating to the food and drink offering at events, and complete an outcome report on a template as provided by EventScotland.

2.12Event funding for 2015 from The Community Food Fund will be channeled through this programme and, as such, application information may be shared with colleagues at SRUC as part of the assessment process. By submitting an application you are agreeing for this information to be shared as noted. This means that events applying for funding for food and drink related activity will only need to submit one application for support during 2015.

2.13For additional guidance and information on using local produce at your event, please visit and download the Taste for Events Guide. Additional case studies and food and drink information can be found at EventScotland.org. A list of Scottish suppliers is available at:

2.14A calendar of themed months is attached as an appendix to these guidelines. This has been produced by Scotland Food and Drink and Think Local. Events do not have to strictly align with this calendar, however it is aimed at helping to promote the provenance and seasonality of Scotland’s produce, through engagement with the food and drink and tourism and events industries. Events aligning with and promoting these months will contribute to raising awareness of Scotland as a Land of Food of Drink.

Application Deadlines:

3.1If your event is not already supported via another EventScotland funding programme, and if you are not eligible to submit an application to EventScotland’s National Programme in 2015, please complete an application form and submit to EventScotland by the following deadlines:

3.2For events taking place 1 January 2015 – 30 June 2015 (including Whisky Month events taking place during May)Submit by Friday 3 October 2014

3.3For events taking place 1 July 2015 – 31 December 2015 Submit by Friday 6 February 2015

APPENDIX A

Year of Food and Drink – Monthly Themes

As part of the Year of Food and Drink, a number of monthly themes have been developed, to focus on seasonality, industry development, provenance and reputation. The monthly themes are listed as follows:

Month / Theme / Outline
January / Traditional Foods / Building on the New Year traditions of steak pies and shortbread, and through to Burns Night with haggis.
February / The Food of Love / Foods associated with Valentine’s Day including oysters / other seafoods, steak and chocolates.
March / Brewing & Distilling / Celebrating Scottish beers and spirits (gin, vodka, liqueurs)
April / Award Winning Food / Focus on Scotland Food & Drink Awards entries and previous winners
May / Whisky Month / Retained focus on whisky as in previous years.
June / The Future of Food / Highlighting youth development including RHS and end of school year, with focus on skills and innovation
July / Summer Berries & Fruits / Particular promotion of berries and Pick Your Own
August / Delicious Dairy / Yoghurts & ice cream, creams, milk, butter & cheeses
September / Celebration / Building on the food fortnight theme, events and products that celebrate provenance and celebrate our food and drink
October / Sustainable Shores / A focus on fishing, seafood and salmon with a sustainability theme.
November / Hearty & Heartwarming / Especially meat dishes, vegetables and grains (including barley, oats and rapeseed) – broths and stews
December / Grand Finale / Premium foods for Christmas, including cheeses, relishes, pates.

A number of potential levels of involvement are envisaged:

  • Leading delivery of a monthly theme, supported by others
  • Supporting the delivery of a monthly theme led by another representative body
  • Delivering product related activities at various points throughout the year e.g. Burns Night, Christmas, Valentines, Whisky Month etc.
  • Supporting or delivering an event within one of the themed months
  • Delivering a campaign within one of the themes e.g. Scotch Lamb for St Andrews Night, Seafood for Valentines, Pick Your Own berries in July etc.
  • Aligning existing activities to promote seasonality and availability
  • Focusing on Below-the-Line promotion to boost sales

Ultimately the messaging will be more successful the more the industry engages and promotes collaboratively, so input into the process is welcomed and actively encouraged, as is the desire to drive key monthly messages.

What does this achieve?

The intention is to gain as much industry support as possible to improve messages on seasonality and on provenance. In this way, we can put across consumer messaging relating to the larder available from Scotland, and when it is best to focus on putting the message across.