Kerb and McCain to bring ideas to life

McCain Foodservice Solutions has partnered with Kerb to provide individuals from less-advantaged backgrounds with the opportunity to bring their food business idea to life. Streets Ahead's mission is to sponsor 115 people to join the Kerb classroom, an online food start-up course that helps take food business ideas out of people’s heads and make them a reality. McCain Foodservice Solutions will invest £100,000 in 10 new street food business start-ups as part of the initiative.

To ensure the supplier is helping those that really need support, the company will also be working with UK charities such as Food Behind Bars, a charity dedicated to improving food served in British Prisons; The Entrepreneurial Network C.I.C., which supports refugees to become entrepreneurs, launch businesses and take control of their own futures; and The Connection at St. Martin’s, a homeless charity in Westminster, where 15% of all homeless people in England are located. To make sure everyone can access the Kerb classroom, McCain will be providing laptops to the charities.

“Kerb has a great track record of incubating and accelerating small independent food businesses, so we're delighted to be partnering with McCain on the Streets Ahead programme," says Kerb social enterprise MD Gavin Dunn. "By working with our charity partners, we're pleased to offer free places on the Kerb Classroom course to make sure that we can support and empower individuals that need it most, to develop their own food businesses."

Following the online course, 45 people will be given the opportunity to progress to the next stage and join an immersion day, visiting Kerb street food markets around London and gaining first-hand experience from those who have been through the classroom and successfully started their own food business. Then, with the help of Kerb mentors, they will be invited to pitch to a panel where 10 new businesses will receive an investment of up to £10,000 each, as well as being offered a long-term opportunity to trade at a Kerb market.

Entries for this year's Street Food Championships are now open.


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