A new food industry networking event, Eat the Island will take place on Thursday 8 June from 3 – 6pm at the Queens Hotel in Southsea for local food and drink producers, independent retailers and hospitality venues in Portsmouth and the South Coast region.
Eat the Island is a free networking event being organised by Portsmouth City Council, Hampshire Fare and the Queens Hotel. The aim is to bring together local businesses to inspire each other, create opportunities to work together and celebrate the area’s vibrant food and drink culture.
The event will offer food and drink producers the opportunity to showcase their products to local hospitality venues and retailers, and to help grow a sustainable and thriving supply chain in the heart of Portsmouth. In addition, there will be a useful programme of short talks covering good practice, increasing revenue and enhancing the consumer experience.
Cllr Steve Pitt, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Economic Development said:
“Eat the Island is a new initiative resulting from our work to support local businesses through the annual Southsea Food Festival. By bringing together our food and drink businesses we hope to enable greater opportunities to work together and grow our local economy.”
Tracy Nash Commercial Manager at Hampshire Fare said:
‘Joining up the foodie dots is what we do best at Hampshire Fare, and this is going to be a great example of this. We are delighted to be involved in this event in Portsmouth as we are very excited about the vibrancy of the food and drink sector in this region’.
The event builds on the success of Southsea Food Festival and the city’s lively food and drink offering.
Paul Playford, General Manager of the Queens Hotel said he was delighted to host the first Eat the Island event.
“We are keen for our island city to be seen as a food destination and look forward to working with other hospitality providers and local producers to put ourselves on the foodie map for the UK,”
For information visit investportsmouth.co.uk