On Friday 28 April, Produced in Kent held its first Future Food Forum, a new annual event bringing together independent food and drink businesses, sector specialists, industry, and local Government to discuss how to create a better and more sustainable food system.
The event took place at the Kent Business School, University of Kent, in Canterbury and was well attended by both grass roots and more established brands from across the food and drink sector, from producers through to retailers.
The inspirational speakers included Louis Bedwell from Mission Ventures on how new brands can scale and create a better food economy by being agile and challenging the system. Ben Reynolds from Sustain spoke about the importance of localizing supply chains with benefits such as creating employment, reducing the environmental impact and a greater return for the producer. Phil Diacon from Impact Resilience gave plenty of advice on how to build resilience in your business, and how best to plan for and react to crises.
A Future Food Shop on site showcased exciting new food and drink products, and The Innovation Lab provided a ‘soap box’ platform for inspiring businesses to share what they were doing in sustainability and innovation with the audience.
The event was well received by attendees and the conference program also included networking opportunities and workshop rounds, where participants learned about how to stand out from the crowd via social media and PR, and how to build a business through mindset, time management and customer service. There were also two sessions of “Meet the Buyer: Pitching to Win” with Finnian Dunlop from Macknade and Kent Frozen Foods.
Floortje Hoette, CEO of Produced in Kent, said: “I think we can safely say that the inaugural Future Food Forum was a resounding success with close to 200 food and drink businesses attending, inspiring presentations on the need to collaborate and learn from one another, but also to stand together to drive the message of the importance of a localised food system.”