September at Kitchen Table Projects

Kitchen Table Projects is buzzing after yet another busy month (this startup lark is pretty hectic, don't you know?!) We attended a couple of key industry events, tried new products, and, best of all, met loads of lovely new people. We also got to add some fab new artisans and insiders to our foodie phone book and celebrated amazing local food during British Food Fortnight. Like we say, busy, busy, busy!

We started September with a bang - spending three very exciting (but equally as tiring!) days at the Speciality and Fine Food Fair at Olympia. We’ve already spoken about how fab this event was, and we certainly walked away feeling full of inspiration and motivation (and food!) to continue forth on our startup journey. For now, we can’t wait for next year.

Food Waste continues to be high on the agenda for many businesses across the UK, so it was really interesting to hear from some of the top sustainable businesses in London at the British Library event we attended earlier this month. Organised by MAS, the event included talks by various restaurateurs and sustainable businesses and discussed the the opportunities there are for small food businesses to make their waste a resource rather than an expense.

Small businesses from across Lambeth came together to find out more about Local Enterprise Uprise, at an event held at Impact Hub Brixton. The evening, organised by Transition Town Brixton, showcased some of the amazing social projects that are happening across Brixton, including talks from the Brixton Pound, Remakery, Brixton Energy and Makerhood, as well as a pledge session to encourage collaboration between businesses in Brixton. It was fascinating to attend and find out more about the social scene in Brixton, and really inspiring to hear from so many successful local projects.

Next in the calendar was a visit to Lunch, also at Olympia. On the hunt for catering suppliers for our Hub cafe, we got exposure to whole host of different products and picked up some yummy samples - but our favourite had to Mr Sherick's Shakes. They've just won the Grocer’s ‘New Product of the Year’ award for their indulgent milkshakes - but don’t just take our word for it, take a look for yourself here!

Then we were up bright and early to attend a breakfast panel discussion on ‘The Art of Food’ at Hub Westminster. Part of London Social Media Week, the panel spent the morning discussing the power of #FoodPorn and how this can be utilised by food businesses both large and small. The panel covered a breadth of expertise from across the food industry, featuring chefs, including Michelin star chef Andreas Antona, Marketing experts such as Oli Ingham (Marketing Manager at Wahaca) and Caroline Kenyon, Director of Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Award. With just about everyone and anyone instagramming last night’s dinner, it was fascinating to hear an expert opinion on the visual power of food, and the effect this has had on the increasing accessibility of high quality food to the general public.

Next, we jumped on a train out of London for a Grub Club Cambridge Supper Club. It was another great opportunity to network, network, network and meet lots of new foodies! It was a fantastic event (not to mention the food - amazing!) which offered lots of different people from across the food industry a chance to meet, build relationships and collaborate. Keep your eyes peeled for their next event.

We had some new visitors in our office for the Hub Brixton open day, including Julian from The Haggerston Times who came to write a piece on collaborative working spaces and the kinds of businesses that use them. We were thrilled to be featured in his article alongside some of the other fantastic startup businesses that we work with at the Hub.

We finished off the month by heading to Herne Hill Market to catch the Blue Patch launch event. These guys are doing some great stuff at the moment; they’re an ethical business directory of UK based sustainable and fair trade businesses, products and services. What’s more, in line with their social mission they invest half of their profits back into renewable energy sources, as well as putting the other 50% towards community projects across the UK. Find out more about the work they’re doing here, or have a browse of their fantastic ethical business directory.

Bring on October!