We are delighted to be able to say that we are getting very close to the completion of the Boyne Valley Food Hub. The food hub will deliver nine food grade units of different sizes that will be suitable for new starter companies in Q2 of 2023. We are now weeks away from the official opening and the excitement onsite is growing. The food hub building has been transformed internally into quality food grade units that will be fully serviced with three phase electricity, mains water and waste. It will also have a state-of-the-art goods lift that will service the food hub and food lab unit.  The food hub units will be a fantastic turnkey solution for starter companies endeavouring to produce food in a safe food grade environment.

In addition to the food units, the Boyne Valley Food Hub will also be serviced by a fulltime Food Innovation and Training Specialist. They will be able to advise, facilitate and connect SMEs with the resources that they need in their new product development journey. In addition to all that, they will also be based in the food lab and will co-ordinate the food lab and its many services that it can play host to such as training, product development prototyping and sensory analysis. The food lab has its own sensory booths that are serviced from the lab and will be very useful to SMEs working on any form of sensory analysis.

Part of our vision for the Boyne Valley Food Hub was to create services that could support the SME on their journey. That’s why a state-of-the-art Digital Lab was created where SMEs could work on their branding, promotional videos, packaging, food styling, social media and even podcasting and this is only a snippet of what this facility can offer to SMEs.

I should also mention that as part of that vision the Fab Lab was born where prototyping of packaging can become a real thing. You can literally create the food product, prototype packaging and work on the photography and branding across all the labs created to support the food hub.

Our vision has always been to develop an innovation-rich building and stimulus project to accelerate growth and yield business impact through collaboration, innovation, and clustering, thereby facilitating the development of scalable, sustainable, and profitable food businesses across the Mideast and Northeast regions.

Over the past year we have been seeing that vision taking shape in the form of the food hub as well as the other services that are developing alongside the food hub such as the courses that we have been busy in 2022 delivering to small SMEs who have ambitions to scale and learn more about the retail route to market. We collaborated with James Burke from Dublin Food Chain on that programme and successfully upskilled, shared knowledge and expertise with these SMEs.

We have also been working with universities and colleges across the country facilitating students on placements and on projects such as Sandbox. It’s been extremely rewarding being part of the journey with the students learning as much from them, as they are from us. The experience has been good so far, being part of that growth journey of the student and being able to create experiences that students can take with them in the next chapter of their lives.

We have also been out and about meeting with some of the companies across the Boyne Valley Food Innovation District over the past year. Companies such as Finnegan’s Farm, Lir Chocolate and Complex Nutrition to name for a few. Bringing together the richness and realness of the Boyne valley Food Innovation District.