Food and Drink Wales plan for green growth in food manufacturing available now

Food and Drink Wales plan for Green Growth in food and drink manufacturing has been published this week following a launch by Jane Hutt at the recent Taste Wales conference.

'Doing Better Business - Opportunities for Welsh Food and Drink Manufacturers in Responsible and Green Growth' is written by Iain Cox of Ecostudio, with Welsh Government officials from Food and Drink Wales and with support from the industry.

This business-friendly publication sets out how the Welsh Governments intention for an environmentally and socially responsible food and drink sector is bringing commercial advantages to Welsh food manufacturers.

• it demonstrates how the Welsh food and drink industry is set benefit from the Welsh Government Food Action Plan and Future Generations legislation.
• it features best practice examples from Welsh food and drink manufacturers and trade buyers, including: Parsnipship, Ty Tanglwyst Dairy, Puffin Produce, Fruitapeel, Bangor Mussel Producers and NHS Wales.
• it describes the support available to Welsh food and drink manufacturers, including the Sustainable Business Review. A free online self-assessment that is helping 100s of small food companies to report their sustainable credentials to customers, and numerous trade buyers to meet CSR and legislation by assessing the sustainability of their suppliers.

Iain Cox the publication's author and Director of Ecostudio says:

"The UK marketplace for sustainably produced food and drink provides Welsh businesses with opportunities for growth. Driven by an increasing consumer appetite and new legislation, buyers from retail, wholesale and the public sector are actively seeking suppliers that can help them meet this growing market demand.

This was worth £8.64billion to the UK economy in 2014, up from £6.6billion in 2010*

Doing Better Business illustrates how the Welsh Governments plans for green growth are being put into practice by leading Welsh food and drink manufacturers and it gives a practical insight for how food and drink manufacturers  can take advantage of new opportunities for growth."

*according to UK Ethical Market Annual Report

Contact / further information:

Iain Cox

iain@ecostudio.org.uk

08452 696105

www.ecostudio.org.uk

This publication is available to download on Business Wales website by clicking here

Sustainable business toolkit for food SMEs launched at Royal Welsh Show

The Sustainable Business Review is a new self assessment for food companies led by Ecostudio as part of a 5 year partnership programme funded through the EU and Welsh Government.

Flyers designed for the Show

Susie, Lucy and Iain were at the Royal Welsh Show to promote the toolkit to exhibitors in a busy food hall. Around 50 food businesses are now signed up and we're looking forward to helping them to take advantage of the opportunities that the growing marketplace for sustainable food provides.

Bottles of award winning Welsh bubbly are also up for grabs for businesses that register for the Review by 7 August 2015 (not to mention the free sustainable business report they receive when its complete!).

We'll be announcing the winning companies very soon....pls check back.

We have an immediate requirement for a sustainable food researcher.

You'll be working with us on the Sustainable Supply Chains initiative a Welsh Government funded project that we've been running in partnership with f3 since 2009.

Your role will be to help us develop the Sustainable Business Review - a new self assessment toolkit for food and farming businesses that we are launching to the industry throughout Wales.

This is a 3 month fixed term post until the end of July 2015.

For further information and to apply for the role here.

Sustainably speaking at the UK Business Council for Sustainable Development and Cynnal Cymru

It’s not every day we’re invited to share the floor with representatives Coca Cola, Arriva Trains Wales and the Energy Savings Trust.

Yesterday’s Wales launch of the UKBCSD initiative is about encouraging a shift towards more sustainable behaviour in business, and the Sustainable Development Charter, seems to us like a fantastic opportunity to exchange knowledge with industry from across all sectors.

Our (soon to be launched) self assessment toolkit for food businesses to identify,improve and communicate their sustainability credentials demonstrates how Ecostudio can support the UKBCSD and Cynnal Cymru in enabling sustainable behaviour in business.

With flooding, snow and high winds disrupting travel links and perhaps serving as a (not so) gentle reminder of the role the climate has in our lives. Delegates that braved the elements to get to Cardiff learned about a variety of ways that large organisations and SMEs are winning new business through taking environmentally and people friendly approaches. 

Ways to save energy through using less water, improving safety and increasing customer satisfaction through better signage, using new (plant based) materials that prevent packaging waste and increase brand value were just some of the practical business activities described by an excellent and diverse group of speakers.

Drawing on Ecostudio work and using practical examples. Iain Cox explained the importance of developing sustainable approaches to business, the market drivers and challenges facing micro and SMEs, particularly those in the Welsh food sector.

More about the event including the presentations can be viewed here.

Phase 2 of the Sustainable Supply Chains initiative underway!

Building on the success of our work with f3 local food consultants in 2009-2011 the next stage of the Sustainable Supply Chains initiative will focus on 2 things:

1. to develop a self assessment sustainable business toolkit, and:
2. to support 3 social enterprises to expand their marketplace.

Ecostudio are busy with the research and development for the sustainable business toolkit that'll aim to provide the means for any food business to plan for the future.

We'll add regular updates here so please check back or contact us.

UK ethical products market worth £36bn!

A soon to be published report by the Co-operative Bank will show that the UK market for ethical products is valued at a cool £36bn. It also shows that the average household spending on ethical food and drink has increased from £81 to £244 over the last decade.

This is significant because as more consumers continue to recognise the benefits of purchasing environmentally sustainable and socially responsible goods it mean that smarter businesses will adapt their practices to meet this demand.

It's not all about Fair Trade. Large companies such as Tesco are also responding to meet this demand. This means that their suppliers will need to conform to new sustainability standards if they want to maintain this business.

Can your business afford to ignore this? If you have the will we have the way to help your business achieve sales in the ethical marketplace. What's more our sustainable business programmes will help equip you to embrace the challenges that the future holds.
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....and the winner is...

Last night the True Taste Wales food and drink Awards took place in Abergavenney Market Hall. It is THE event on the food and drink calendar in Wales.

The Sustainable Development award was presented to Kevan Downing, Hospitality Manager of Aberystwyth University.

We're absolutely delighted for Kevan and his team and we're looking forward to working with Kevan and the True Taste to continue to raise awareness of doing better business to the food and drink sector in the year ahead. Please check back for more updates.

Find out more here.

Ecostudio featured in the Observer Food Monthly!

Iain Cox (Ecostudio) was interviewed alongside Professor Tim Lang (Professor of Food Policy at City University London) by the Observer Food Monthly for an article titled: 'Wales leads the way to a sustainable future'.

The article describes the work that is being done to recognise Welsh businesses for their contribution to Sustainable Development. Ecostudio work in partnership with the True Taste Wales to deliver this groundbreaking award.

'Sustainability is about how the food economy works, how the supply chain works, its impact upon the material and biological environment on which the whole of humanity depends' says Professor Tim Lang.

Iain Cox explains what this means to businesses 'It's about making changes, doing business differently and it's about taking risk. It's about businesses being more innovative'

Click here to download the article in full.
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