CHAMBER NEWS
Getting a taste for Leicester Food Park
The £5.8m Leicester Food Park, funded by Leicester City Council and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), opened its doors in November 2014. The state-of-the-art park - managed by the Chamber in partnership with
The Food & Drink Forum - continues to support ambitious, growing Leicester-based businesses in the highly specialised Food and Drink sector. It has helped aid business aspirations, create new jobs and cement Leicester’s reputation as an innovative hotspot for businesses operating in the sector. Prep Perfect is one such business to benefit from tenancy at the park.
Business Network spoke with Jodie Williams, founder and Director of Prep Perfect, to learn about the business’s growth, its plans for the future, and how the park is helping it maximise its potential.
What is your background and how did Prep Perfect come to be? I was a sports therapist by trade and one of the main areas that used to let me down was meal prep – it’s very easy in our busy lives to eat on the go and not necessarily consume the right nutrition. I was on maternity leave and saw
that my partner’s friend, who was a chef at the time, had posted images on social media of him preparing his lunches for the week; that’s where the idea originated.
And the business idea progressed from there? Yes. I gave him a call and we discussed the idea of preparing nutritional, healthy and tasty food and that was it. We launched the business out of a kitchen and distributed around Leicester and within a year and a half we needed more space.
How quickly did the business grow and diversify? We started selling meals at the gym I was based at and put the feelers out; it went really well. Within a year people from outside Leicester started to hear about us,
34 business network July/August 2019
particularly athletes and football teams – we were actually catering for Leicester City Football Club, providing all their nutrition for away games.
How did the move to Leicester Food Park come about? We started from home, we then moved to a pub kitchen which wasn’t being used and all the time we were growing, which provided a challenge and an opportunity. Food purpose units across the Midlands are like gold dust. We came across the Food Park and luckily we were able to secure a unit to help us grow sustainably at the park.
How effective is the Leicester Food Park model? It’s very effective and a fantastic resource. For example, it’s really useful having the main site office there - they’re always great to talk to and get a bit of advice if we need it. Security is a big thing for us too.
We have somebody who comes to our unit when we’re not at the premises to collect all the goods so knowing we have security on site to manage that is really good.
Jodie Williams
What other benefits come of being a tenant at Leicester Food Park? One of the additional added value elements is that it helps us to looks good. Being able to tell clients or potential customers that you’re part of Leicester Food Park adds professionalism and credibility. It’s also great to have the Chamber and the Food and Drink Forum among others for support.
What are your future plans for the business? After the first year we wanted to push out across the UK and hit everybody because nutrition isn’t just for athletes or gym-goers, it’s general wellbeing. Our target demographics have changed and we have to a large extent moved away from bodybuilders and that market. Predominantly now it is more your busy individual – people just haven’t got time nowadays. We’re in a good place as a
business. The next 12 month plan is to hit B2B and we would love to
start working with businesses of all sizes – be it corporate or family businesses – to really promote positive health and wellbeing among workplaces.
For more information on Leicester Food Park, visit
bit.ly/EMC_LFP
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