Three steps to success with The Food Works South West!
Over the last few weeks, we have been working with Zoe Plant from The Food Works South West to deliver a 3 part project for students of Ravenswood School! This work in provisions out of Bristol has been funded through the Careers and Enterprise Company & The West of England Combined Authority.
We started on site at the school with a group of five Year 10 student’s exploring designing their own brands and logos. Students looked at a range of logos, discussing which they recognised and what features they liked about each one. After an overview into Zoe’s career and learning about her legendary prawn sandwich recipe it was time for the challenge!
Students were set the task to design their own cookie. It was amazing to see the creativity of the young people as they used what they had learnt about branding to bring their ideas to life. Each design was unique and it was exciting to see the detail and care put into each plan.
After a break for lunch, it was time for part 2 where we moved to the catering room. We worked to a recipe to get the basis of the cookies and then students used a range of ingredients from dried fruit, coloured icing, chocolate buttons, strawberries and more to bring their designs to life! Everyone was committed to completing their designs on time and were very happy to take their produce home to eat. This first day of the project was inspiring for the young people with one student telling us that it had made them “feel differently about their future”. Continuing, they said they “didn’t think they would be able to plan and design a product but now feel this is something they can do”.
The excitement didn’t stop there as Part 3 was in store!
Students arrived at Food Works South West premises for a tour and to meet some professionals who are following the same process the students had undertaken with their cookies. Zoe took us round lots of different areas showing us the dairy, meeting rooms, the bakery and bottling areas. We all looked the part in our PPE of white coats and hair nets and even got to sample some pie from the baking workshop!
We then took a walk over to visit some of the tenants who rent spaces at Food Works for their businesses. David from Peppadew UK showed us the process from start to finish in the creation of their product! We got to try the product at different stages and see the employees filling the peppers with cheese! Students had a go at using the packing machine to make the product vacuum sealed and had a walk through the freezers.
The final stop was with Simon from Field Doctor who showed us his kitchen and all the equipment within. We learnt about the processes for his ready meals and the workings of his business. We then got to see the finished product and he showed us how the labelling machine worked. It was amazing to see the inner workings of two companies on site.
As we rounded up the day students were inspired about the possibilities for the future and had an understanding of what careers in food development looks like!