October 11, 2018 Industry news
We have had a busy few weeks at GS1 UK, meeting new food start-ups at some fantastic industry events.
The Food Exchange
The Food Exchange, run by our community partners Enterprise Nation, was a great place for food start-ups to pick up tips on how to lay the right foundations to grow their business. There were presentations from successful foodie brands, including:
- Love Corn where their enthusiastic CEO Jamie McCloskey gave the audience six tips to follow during pre-launch, based on his own ups and downs when launching his own super successful snack brand
- Rebel Kitchen’s MD, Adam Thompson, discussed the importance of thinking about sustainable credentials as part of new products’ long-term impact
- Co-Founder of Foraging Fox, Frankie Fox, and The Northern Dough Co’s Sales and Marketing Director, Amy Cheadle, both shared insights into their journeys from small household kitchens to the shelves of national supermarkets
The event also gave start-ups the opportunity to pitch to and get feedback on their products from major retailers like Planet Organic and Selfridges.
Our team was on-hand throughout the day to answer questions on the importance of authentic barcodes, how to enrich product data to support business growth and how retailers are using unique identifiers to deliver a better customer experience.
Bread and Jam
At the two-day Bread and Jam event, we had some fantastic conversations with new foodie brands on the benefits of being a GS1 UK member, and how the industry is changing the way product data is managed through productDNA.
We showcased our iGepir app, which provides the registration details of a barcode by scanning it with the app. This is a great tool to confirm that your barcode is authentic and registered to your company – vital component in growing your business.
As with The Food Exchange, there were a number of sessions to pitch at major retailers throughout the two days, including Whole Foods, Sainsbury's and Cotswold Faye. There were also some fantastic presentations from Ocado’s Rose Price on "The Future of Retail", Pip & Nut’s Pippa Murray on "Building a brand on a shoestring" and Young Foodies’ Chris Green on "The top 10 questions when starting out in food and drink".
Where next?
The GS1 UK team will be at Food Matters Live on the 20 -22 November and at the Young Foodies Christmas Party on 6 December. If you are also attending, come and say hello!
In the meantime, if you would like to find out more about how productDNA can help you manage, update and share your product data with grocery retailers, click here to register your interest.
Related
GS1 UK partners with the Young Foodies to support SME growth