Old Mill further strengthens food and drink offering
West Country accountants and financial planners Old Mill are delighted to announce they will be title sponsors for Taste of the West for the next two years.
Taste of the West is the largest independent regional food group in the UK. Its aim is to promote and support fantastic local food and drink from the Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire area.
As well as offering its members a network of support to help their businesses grow, the Taste of the West awards programme has been promoting and supporting the food and drink industry for the past 25 years. They are now the most prestigious awards in the south west and winning one is a huge accolade, as Phil Mills, Associate Director in the Food and Drink team at Old Mill explains.
“Winning a Taste of the West award can make a business, so you cannot underestimate the impact this organisation has had on our region’s food and drink industry – it has helped make it one of the strongest in the UK.”
“At Old Mill, we have always been passionate about supporting local food and drink businesses and in 2016, we launched our food and drink team to offer specialist business advice to food and drink businesses in the region.”
“One of the things we are committed to offering our clients is a strong support network, so that our clients benefit, not only from what we as a business can offer, but also through support from other organisations in the region. That is why we decided to start working closely with Taste of the West.”
Old Mill has sponsored individual awards in the past, but decided it wanted to become more involved with the programme.
“Both Taste of the West and Old Mill pride ourselves on our food and drink industry knowledge and our passion for helping local businesses succeed. With our goals so closely aligned, it made sense for us to extend our partnership, so when we were given the opportunity to become title sponsors for the next two years, we jumped at the chance.”
Phil says that the food and drink industry in the region is constantly changing, and Old Mill’s specialist team prides itself on staying ahead of the game.
“A few years back, we noticed a shift in behaviour among consumers – they were shunning supermarkets for local farm shops in order to buy locally produced food.”
“Now, this has evolved again, as the public demand quality and convenience underpinned by the provenance of the product. People want to know the story behind what they are eating and drinking – who is behind the business, why they started it, where they source their products from and what their processes are. For example – they want to buy from a local coffee roaster who spent years in Columbia sourcing the perfect bean.”
“This means businesses are having to find different ways to get the goods to their customers – for example, subscription services. Staying on top of market trends means that our food and drink team, along with the support of partners such as Taste of the West, can ensure that our clients make the very best of their business and that they know how to survive and then thrive in what is a very competitive market.”
One of Old Mill’s first events as newly announced title sponsors will be ExpoWest Cornwall at the Royal Showground in Wadebridge, March 6-8th where there will be a whole host of regional food and drink producers and many Taste of the West members.
“The Old Mill food and drink team can advise on a wide range of matters from starting up a food and drink business, supporting and advising on funding applications, to helping to simplify accounting, understanding VAT and assisting with planning opportunities as well as research and development and tax claims.”
“The initial meeting with one of our team is without cost and without obligation, so why not pop along to see us at ExpoWest Cornwall, and see how Old Mill could help your business?”
