Food and drink - and why it's so important to Gloucestershire

What’s the UK’s biggest manufacturing sector and at times its fastest growing? Food and drink. Prof David Hughes spoke to the sector's Gloucestershire firms and revealed the key to future success.

Dear readers,

We hope you’re had a great week.

It’s a week which saw the biggest careers fair of its kind ever take place at Gloucestershire Racecourse.

We did a big interview with the business that was the headline sponsor of the Circle2Success event, US technology firm L3Harris, in which one of its UK bosses, Ian Menzies, told us why it was a very good time to be in the market for a job in his sector.

We also covered off news of a special bootcamp due to be staged by one of the Founding Partners that helps make this digital magazine possible.

Randall & Payne’s Will Abbott is due to stage one of his regular business bootcamps to support county businesses next week, but after the bombshell of the Budget’s National Insurance announcement he has just announced a second gathering for business leaders.

In this second session he promises to reveal a sure-fire way for you to negate some of those extra costs as a result of the changes to NI.

You can read all that here.

Today, we deliver you some business briefing notes and a little heads-up of some events due to take place this weekend, but the real focus is the result of our trip to the latest Food for Thought event.

Staged in support of the Made in Gloucestershire initiative, which aims to foster a support community for small food and drink businesses in Gloucestershire and to help them grow, it made us think just what it was all about and why.

It’s about the fastest-growing sector in the UK, that’s what, how important it is to Gloucestershire and why Food for Thought could be the key to the success of the SMEs we have here in the county.

We usually paywall our Friday editions, but not today! You can thank our Founding Partners, Founding Members and paying subscribers for that.

Have a great weekend.

Andrew Merrell (editor).

NB: Raikes publishes probably the best-read business-related email ‘newsletter’, pound for pound, in Gloucestershire.

If you have a story, an issue, a news item, a charity or an interview you want us to write about or investigate, challenge the powers that be on, then please email me: andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

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Your briefing notes…

😋 Gloucester Food Dock has announced that the last unit in its successful waterside stable of eateries will be taken by Roots + Seeds Café & Kitchen, which already has a restaurant at Cirencester Park. The new venue will be open for breakfast through to the evenings, with head chef Sam Idoine creating menus using locally sourced produce, including Roots + Seeds very own garden. The business was co-founded by Toby Baggott and Sam Lawson-King.

🫡 Ian Mean, awarded an MBE in 2023 for his services to the community of Gloucestershire, is stepping back from his role at Business West. Mean will continue his work with the county council’s new economic growth board, the Forest of Dean Economic Partnership and Gloucestershire Hospitals Organ Donation Committee. Phil Smith, managing director of Business West, which represents chambers of trade West-wide, praised Mean’s “phenomenal contribution, commitment, drive, energy and dedication”. Gloucestershire, said Smith, continued to be a key focus.

💷 Are apprenticeships really as cost-effective as claimed?

With rising National Insurance and other costs, apprenticeships could be a smart solution for affordable business growth and staff development. Tatiana Ameri of Gloucestershire College explains why taking on an apprentices is a good return on investment for firms - even more so since the NI rise announced in the Autumn Budget. Ameri runs through the argument in favour and explains how the college can arrange most of the process for you. You can read the full article on our Expert Insight page.

💷 HR Champions Ltd, a provider of HR services and leadership and management training and development in the region, has announced the transfer of its HR support division to HR People Support. The acquisition was effective from 27 November is said to allow HR Champions to focus on the continued growth and development of its core training offerings.

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Ideas for the weekend?

Friday: 🎭 Pantomime season is here. Aladdin plays at The Everyman, Cheltenham, today, tomorrow and onwards until Sunday 12 January.

🎄 Tetbury is staging a Christmas fair tonight, from 6.30pm.

Saturday:

🎭 More pantomime. The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury. Cinderella runs from Sat 30 Nov to Sat 4 Jan, with multiple showtimes.

⚽ 🏉 Gloucester Rugby play Northampton Saints and Cheltenham Town play Cheltenham Town. Both away at 3pm. Gloucester City play Pool Town at home at 3pm.

Sunday:

🏉 Gloucester-Hartpury play Bristol Bears at Kingsholm at 2pm.

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* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors Hartpury University and Hartpury College, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.

If you upgrade to paid you’ll be part of this community interest company too. In an era when local journalism is all but gone and websites are covered in pop-ups andadvertorials, lists and unedited press releases, we are dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire, to championing the county, in particular its businesses, charities, education and training providers, and to helping create an even stronger community. If you upgrade to paid you will be able to see past the paywalls often on our second and third email editions of the week, that lock all our archive after two weeks and lock our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series that follows the financial fortunes of our biggest firms by turnover. You will be able to comment on our stories too. You’ll be helping make this CIC sustainable.

If you sign up now you can take advantage of our 30 per cent off offer - and become a member for a year for just £84, which works out at £7 a month or £1.62 a week! Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members, and overpay!

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Food and drink - and why it's so important to Gloucestershire

What’s the UK’s biggest manufacturing sector and at times its fastest growing? Food and drink. Prof David Hughes spoke to the sector's Gloucestershire firms and revealed the key to future success.

By Andrew Merrell.

Professor David Hughes (pictured above) had just finished his near hour and a half lecture on the food and drink sector when he stepped to one side and revealed the real secret to success for county SMEs.

Hughes had just addressed delegates at the latest Food for Thought event, the latest in a series backed by The Growth Hub, Made in Gloucestershire, the county council, Social & Social and Encore PR, and designed to support county food and drink businesses.

It’s a sector much overlooked, despite every single person’s reliance on it and the county’s long list of exciting and exciting food and drink related firms, part of a sector that nationally is among our most economically significant.