The competition sees Virgin Start Up and intu consolidating their brands, experience, and expertise, and collectively they’re inviting participants from aspiring food entrepreneurs from across the UK. From the entries collected, eight semi-finalists will be given the opportunity to showcase their business in a customized pop-up at one of intu’s prime regional shopping centers and online.
Four finalists will then pitch and present their projects to a panel of top industry leaders with the final winner being selected in September.
The Foodpreneur winner 2017 will get the single opportunity to run their business, reaching an audience of millions, in one of intu’s UK centers and online for six weeks and profit from advice and assistance from Virgin Start Up and intu.
Virgin StartUp has run the contest for the past two years, and previous winners include Cauli Rice and Harry Brompton’s Iced Tea whose involvement saw them pitch to American retail giant, Target. The two names are recruiting the best of the best in the Foodpreneur world and are announcing their first expert and judge, Jimmy Cregan, Jimmy’s Iced Coffee brand founder.
Virgin Group has a long history of supporting entrepreneurs and championing micro businesses. Across the Group they have some initiatives including their not-for-profit arm Virgin StartUp. Virgin StartUp helps entrepreneurs with access to funding, mentor assistance, and business advice during their infancy years. So far the company has granted over 1750 loans to the tune of nearly £19m.
