Stir Up Sunday, the Victorian tradition of stirring the mixture for Christmas pudding and making a wish, has come early to North Somerset's The Food WorksSW with Butcombe Brewery. 

In preparation for the busy festive season in their pubs, the Bristol-based brewery recently produced enough Christmas pudding mixture to make 1,000 Christmas puddings at the food and drink innovation centre in Weston-super-Mare. 

As well as making Christmas pudding, Butcombe's chefs from across the country, including chefs from  the Liberation pub group in Jersey, spent a week in the specialist kitchens at The Food WorksSW perfecting some of the brewery's delicious Christmas creations and training for the holiday season under the watchful eye of Butcombe's Head Development Chef Jasper Prickett. Forthcoming festive dishes that were prepared by the chefs included sticky figgy pudding, toffee apple, fig and chestnut crumble, mince pie ice cream, gilt head bream and Ox Cheek Wellington.

Butcombe Brewery hires the state-of-the-art kitchens at The Food WorksSW for menu development, training and business meetings throughout the year and make full use of the food and drink innovation centre's specialist equipment and spacious kitchens.

Jasper says, “The Christmas pudding mixture we made in the commercial kitchen at The Food WorksSW is now currently steeping and then it will be ready to be shaped and steamed for the festive season and sent to all our pubs for Christmas Day.  We are big fans of The Food WorksSW and love it there.  It offers so much and meets all our needs for menu development, training, equipment, storage - even meeting space. It's also in a great location just off the motorway so it's easy for all our staff to get to.”

Zoe Plant, new product and innovation manager said, “Whether it's equipment you need or expert technical advice, if you are a food or drink brand - big or small - you'll find everything you need at Food WorksSW and at very reasonable rates. You can hire any of our 5 specialist kitchens for just one day if that's all you require as we understand that everyone's needs and budgets are different.

"Our top-of-the-range equipment within each of our kitchens, like the commercial kitchen Butcombe used, really do offer the perfect space for chefs and producers the opportunity to come in, experiment, develop and fine-tune food and drink products or menus”.

The only centre of its kind in the south west, The Food WorksSW is based in the heart of the Weston-super-Mare Enterprise Area, less than 30 minutes from Bristol, and is close to Junction 21 of the M5 motorway. It has state-of-the-art facilities including five product development kitchens which are available for flexible short-term contract hire for food and drink businesses of all sizes to test, develop and manufacture their products - prices start from just £96.90 per day (inc VAT).

Technical support packages are also available at the centre where a team of food industry experts provide technical support to businesses navigating their way through a range of food disciplines, from new product development and quality assurance hygiene to food safety and efficiency. The team helps food and drink businesses develop products in a safe and efficient way.

For more information on how The Food WorksSW can help businesses, visit foodworks-sw.co.uk, or stay up-to-date follow @foodworks_sw on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. A range of case studies can be found on the website and on The Food WorksSW YouTube.

-ENDS-

For further information, images or interviews, please contact RAW Food & Drink PR:

Hanna China: 07702 031956 / hanna@rawfoodanddrinkpr.co.uk or Rebecca Payne: 07789 557234 / rebecca@rawfoodanddrink.co.uk

About The Food WorksSW

• The Food WorksSW is a state-of-the-art food and drink innovation centre located in the heart of the Weston-super-Mare Enterprise Area, near Junction 21 of the M5 motorway, owned by North Somerset Council and operated by The Food and Drink Forum. It's the only centre of its kind in the South West and helps both start-ups and established businesses with the experience and equipment they need to innovate and grow. 
• Since it opened in October 2021, 150 businesses have been helped by The Food WorksSW.
• The centre was created by North Somerset Council following feedback from food and drink producers that they needed facilities and support as it wasn't available elsewhere. For many, this limited their ability to grow their business and create jobs. The centre now helps UK-based businesses of all kinds - from start-ups to well-established companies and hospitality businesses - to grow or diversify their product offering. Not only does this support the sector, it underpins the council's goal to strengthen economic growth across the area.  North Somerset Council selected Nottingham-based The Food & Drink Forum to operate The Food WorksSW on its behalf (www.foodanddrinkforum.co.uk).
• The Food WorksSW Food Innovation Centre is home to five development kitchens, each containing specialist equipment centred around creating different products including dairy, bakery and drinks. These are available for flexible short-term hire by food and drink businesses of all sizes to test, develop and manufacture their products. Specific information about the kitchens and the equipment available can be found at www.foodworks-sw.co.uk/development-kitchen-hire.
• The development kitchens, which are available with or without onsite technical and development support, contain specialist equipment tailored to the areas within the industry - bakery, dairy, drinks, commercial and trial. Flexible short-term contract hire is available for businesses of all sizes to test, develop and manufacture their food and drink products, or dishes, with prices starting from just £96.90 per day (including VAT).
• The Food WorksSW technical team provides businesses with support including food safety and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP); developing a product; scaling up production; product costing; labelling compliance; and certification such as British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Safe and Local Supplier Approval (SALSA). More information can be found at www.foodworks-sw.co.uk/technical-support. Support bundles are also now available: www.foodworks-sw.co.uk/bundles 
• All of the 12 on-site food-grade business units at The Food WorksSW are currently let and in use by food and drink producers. With 24/7 access to the secure sites, the units contain food-grade non-slip resin flooring, a staff kitchen and changing area, roller shutter doors, three and single phase electricity, video intercom system and access control, discounted use of the development kitchen space and meeting rooms, access to specialist business and technical development support and free business membership with site operators, The Food & Drink Forum.
• Gelato, salsa, kefir water, vegan cheese, deli items, brownies, chilli sauces, high protein cookies, frozen ready meals and curry dishes are just some of the products which have been developed at The Food WorksSW. Established brands including Hullabaloos Drinks, Trethowan Brothers, Butcombe Brewery, Russell & Atwell, Hoots Sauce, Sunbird Kitchen and the Field Doctor have all benefited from using the centre's facilities and support. Many chefs also regularly use the venue to develop their menus.
• The food and drink innovation centre also includes meeting rooms, conference facilities and a coffee shop where events can be hosted. Anyone is welcome - businesses do not have to operate in the food and drink sector to book these facilities.