Food Innovation Centre

Park Royal is home to over 250 food and drink companies, which represents over 30% of the London food and drink sector.  Over the last 17 years, Park Royal Partnership (PRP) has worked to understand the needs of this sector and to provide tailored support.

Feedback from local food and drink SMEs showed a need for a dedicated food innovation centre which would act as a hub for small food and drink businesses.  With the support of the LDA, we undertook a significant piece of research to test the feasibility of this project and proceeded to secure £200,000 from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to part-finance this project.  We have since carried out detailed research to understand the nature of food and drink SMEs across London and what they need from such a centre.

The Park Royal Food Innovation Centre will act as a hub for food processing companies in London, helping them to achieve growth by providing a range of specialist services which will encourage them to innovate in terms of new products, processes, packaging, healthy eating and sustainability.

The centre will include a showcase/development kitchen as well as facilities for networking, training and meetings.  The centre will be located in Cumberland Avenue in Park Royal, however, it will be open to all London based SME food and drink businesses provided that they have been trading for at least one year in London (a condition of the ERDF funding).  PRP already has a database of over 650 food and drink contacts which we are using to promote the project.  This will grow during the course of the project as it attracts more interest from companies across London.

PRP is currently procuring a range of suppliers to deliver consultancy, training and technical support.  Our vision is a bustling centre which brings together the best of tailored business support for food and drink businesses whether it is government funded or commercial.  A food and drink business visiting the centre will be able to take advantage of a range of offerings in one location eg.  expert briefings, consultancy sessions, training courses, use of the showcase/development kitchen and networking events.

We have recently appointed the Food Innovation Centre Manager, Sally Fowler,  who is a food industry professional with over 20 years experience in the food manufacturing industry, including experience of successfully meeting the needs of all the major multiples.

The centre is due to be launched in October 2009 and will operate as a partly-funded pilot project until end March 2011.  After that, the centre may operate commercially or more funding may be secured provided the need for the facility is proven.

PRP welcomes enquiries from:

• London based food and drink SMEs (who have been established for at least one year) wishing to learn more about how they can make use of the Food Innovation Centre
• Companies and organisations who would be interested in supplying services to food and drink clients via the Food Innovation Centre
• Companies or organisations that would be interested in sponsorship or other partnership relationships with the Food Innovation Centre

 Park Royal Partnership Food and Drink Mapping Study Final report.pdf (1.35 MB )

Contact: Sally Fowler