Food and drink businesses get online marketplace

Shropshire Festivals have launched a new online marketplace to support the region’s food and drink businesses. Shropshire Food and Drink is a brand-new website, offering a platform to help local businesses reach more people.

Food and drink businesses from Shropshire can sign up to be listed on the website’s local directory, as well as benefitting from shared resources within the network.

Shropshire Festivals already work with hundreds of local businesses through their annual events, Shrewsbury Food Festival and Shropshire Oktoberfest, as well as their online shop, the Shropshire Hamper Company. They already have over 120 businesses listed on the new website.

The award-winning team want to harness the power of their network and knowledge to create a collective voice for the region’s food and drink sector. Beth Heath, for Shropshire Festivals, said she has wanted to create a central hub for some time, and during the pandemic had the space to put the idea in to action.

“We have created a platform where Shropshire’s food and drink businesses can market themselves to the world. Locals and visitors to Shropshire will be able to find these businesses online and will have the resources to support them by buying online through our website. It will give smaller producers who do not have their own website their very own web page.

“Our aim is to build a stronger industry for Shropshire food and drink. There are hundreds of food and drink businesses in the region but they are lacking a collective voice that can raise the profile of our local offering and cement Shropshire as a destination for food and drink.

“We want Shropshire’s food and drink businesses, the length and breadth of the supply chain, to sign up. Small businesses have always struggled to keep up with the big commercial brands, even more so with the strain and challenges caused by the pandemic.

"We want to pull these businesses together in one place, to showcase all the amazing businesses we have to offer, building a stronger presence for every Shropshire farmer, producer, brewer, baker, manufacturer, restaurant owner, and street food vendor.

“Local food and drink businesses have always been at the core of everything we do at Shropshire Festivals – from our farming routes to the food festival. We understand the importance of supporting locally made, reared, and grown produce. 

“We would love to hear from any businesses that would like to sign up and it's free of charge for 2021. They can benefit from capturing a new audience, gaining industry insights, and peer networking.”

Businesses can sign up at www.shropshirefoodanddrink.co.uk.

Pictured: The Shropshire Festivals team who are behind the new platform (picture courtesy of Birgitta Zoutman)