FULLY BOOKED – Product Development Workshop

Developing great food and drink products is one of the hardest things a business can do – and one of the most rewarding. Getting from idea to shelf, menu or market requires commercial thinking, the willingness to iterate and an honest understanding of what your product costs to make and what the market will bear.

This Product Development workshop brings together three businesses at different stages of that journey – from street food to frozen retail, and artisan chocolate to a premium product range. Three honest accounts of what product development actually looks like.

Facilitated by Food and Drink North East (FADNE) and delivered as part of the North East Rural Growth Programme, which is funded by the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (North East MSA).

Product Development Workshop | 9am – 1pm

A practical, solutions-led workshop for food and drink businesses at every stage of product development – from those with an idea they cannot quite get to market to established manufacturers looking to build a more structured approach to innovation.

Three speakers from local businesses, three genuinely different perspectives on what product development looks like in practice – from early-stage producers to established manufacturers. Each brings a different vantage point on the journey from idea to shelf.

Jamie Pagett shares the Redheads Mac n Cheese journey – the transition from street food proposition into food service through frozen products, what that shift required commercially and operationally, and what he knows now that he wished he had known earlier. 

Jane Williams explores how Davenports Chocolates has used brand collaboration to drive innovation – working with Ad Gefrin, Hepple and others to create distinctive products that open new commercial channels.

Emil Stickland shares the Kocktail story – how they developed and refined their product, the decisions behind format, packaging and route to market, and what they know now that they wished they had known at the start.

This session will cover:

• From street food to frozen retail – the product development journey at small scale
• Building a product range that commands a premium and sustains commercially
• How to approach New Product Development (NPD) – consumer insight, pipeline management and launch
• Open discussion with all three speakers
• A 30-minute exercise using real challenges from your own business

The Format

No lectures, no generic slides. Three speakers, an open room and structured time to work on your own product development challenges – supported by FADNE and the people in the session with you. The networking lunch that follows is part of the day.

Product Development Workshop: 9am – 1pm Networking Lunch: 1pm – 2pm

This event is now fully booked. If you would like to join the waiting list, please fill in the form below and let us know what workshop topics you are interested in attending.