Applications are still being taken for the Food Academy Start Programme which will run over a 2-month period in early October 2014. The programme aims to provide participants with the knowledge required to establish successful food production businesses, working to a standardised format as established by Bord Bia, Local Enterprise Offices and Musgrave Retail.
The programme is targeted at those individuals who have an idea for a food or drink business or who have already set up and are in the early stages of running a food or drink business based in the Dublin region.
Participants will be trained on core technical issues including raising and managing funds for business, how to price food products while taking into account the costs of routes to market e.g. distributors and retailers margins, new product development, food safety and food labelling following the most recent EFSA and FSAI guidelines, packaging options and formats and managing staff and HR law.
Participants will focus on growing sales for their product range through branding and pack design and identifying the routes to market suitable for their product range e.g. markets, the retail sector, the food service sector, direct sales (including online) and the export markets. This will include preparing for buyer and distributor meetings, working on marketing plans, raising brand awareness through PR, the internet and social media. By the end of the programme the participants will have all of the tools and knowledge necessary to launch and build a successful food business in Ireland and start looking at the export market and an instruction to the buyer from Musgrave.
Programme Details
The programme will commence on 3rd October 2014 and will conclude on 12th December 2014.
Further details on the Food Academy Programme can be found here
How Do I Apply
If you are based in Fingal, please complete the application form below and return to info@leo.fingal.ie before 18th September 2014. We will then contact you soon after.
Download the application form here