BIA Innovator Campus is delighted to unleash a new Irish community and learning forum for food and drink entrepreneurs.   Called Bread & Jam Ireland, it is a food enterprise network, acceleration, and brand building community, for the West of Ireland and nationally.  You may be familiar with the Bread & Jam food and drink initiative as it is already proven in the UK. Their online FOODHUB community has over 11,500 members and is a vibrant hub of the most exciting emerging and scaling food & drink brands. 

Elaine Donohue, General Manager, BIA Innovator Campus explains.   “Bread & Jam Ireland will be a key accelerator tool for BIA.  It will be unique for Ireland, connecting and wrapping a strong industry led community around our physical infrastructure who are informed, supported and learning from both their peers and those who have excelled before them.  This peer knowledge is often gained from years of trying and learning, and while we have excellent county-based food networks, we rarely get the chance to connect on a regional and national level. While our Campus will soon be home to 40+ food companies in production and innovation, our onsite community is just one part.  Our doors are open for the wider food and drink community to connect and fast track their growth.

 The initiative is backed by Enterprise Ireland and could not be timelier following the deep negative impact that Covid 19 has had on the food industry and also the ongoing impact of Brexit on the agri-food economy in Ireland. It is a coupe for us to partner with Jason Gibb, Tara Mei and their Bread & Jam team.  Their proven formula means we can really hit the ground running”.  

Jason Gibb of Bread & Jam is delighted to bring the Bread & Jam formula to Ireland. “While we are best known for our Bread & Jam Festival, and TheFoodHub Facebook network,  at the start of the first lockdown, we launched a series of webinars to support our Bread & Jam community through unprecedented times. These sessions were attended by thousands of food founders and their popularity has inspired our year-round virtual calendar, jam packed with panels, workshops and summits that can all be accessed from home, via your laptop.  We are excited to work with Elaine and the team to bring our Irish and UK food and drink communities closer together with Bread & Jam Ireland. Market and channel diversification programmes are all the more important in the context of Brexit”. 

You can find out more about the Bia Innovator Campus here and about Bread & Jam here.