For many people working in the food and retail industry, November means one thing and one thing only: preparing for Christmas. Artisans and retailers may have spent much of the past month putting together their festive preparations, but there’s been plenty of events going on to keep the Kitchen Table Projects team more than busy.
November saw us welcome a new addition to our team, Clare, who will be helping out at KTP a couple of days a week. She’s just started a Masters in the Anthropology of Food here in London, and will be helping to further build the KTP community.
We had great opportunity to network with lots of different people from the food industry at the Roythornes Food Business Breakfast. Inspirational business stories were swapped over a yummy breakfast spread, followed by a morning of networking with faces familiar and new. If you work in the food industry then look out for the next Roythornes foodie event - they’re a great opportunity to meet like-minded people and pick up some invaluable insider tips and advice.
Although many of the larger trade shows concerning the food industry take place earlier on in the year, November offered us the opportunity to attend Food Matters Live and BBC Good Food Show. With thousands of the public flocking to see hundreds of producers and celebrity chefs, the Good Food Shows are always a firm fixture in any foodies diary. This year we saw some of our Amazing Artisans exhibiting their delicious wares, including Hershil, from Dips’, who had an amazing time meeting our favourite builder baker, Richard, runner up from series 5 of The Great British Bake Off. We have to admit Hershil, we were pretty jealous!
Then there were innovative artisans aplenty at the Escape the City Mini Food Festival. The event, hosted by special guests Georgia and Ben from the Kitchen Cooperative, and Max, a local soon-to-be-cafe owner, was driven by inspirational stories and pitches from innovative new artisan producers. Some of our favourites included Morse Toad (personalised chocolate messages), Sweet Hangovers Bakery (alcohol infused bakes), CELIA Lager (gluten free beer), The Grape Club (subscription-based wine club), Hello Sunshine (flavoured butter, whose business had been thought up only days previous to the event!) MoJu (fresh cold-pressed juices) and Kakawa Tea (Peruvian cocoa tea). The second half of the evening was given over to the artisans, allowing people to try their products, some of which were launching to the public for the very first time. It’s always fantastic to meet innovative new producers and hear their stories...we look forward to hearing more from all the businesses featured very soon.
So what’s in store for December? Things will be a bit quiet in the KTP office from the 19th December until the 5th of January - although we’ll still be twittering away and contactable by email, so feel free to drop us a line if you fancy a chat. In between consuming copious amounts of mulled wine, mince pies and turkey sandwiches, we’ll be around at a couple of events, too, including the Impact Hub Brixton Christmas Market Party on the 11th of December. Until then, we’ll be working towards the launch of our new website, and preparing some awesome things coming your way in 2015.
We’ve had a great year and look forward to all the exciting things that 2015 has in store. From all the team at KTP, we hope you have a fantastic Christmas and New Year!
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