Bread & Jam: Fostering Innovation and Community in the UK Food and Beverage Industry

Bread & Jam’s 2024 jam-packed festival (if you’ll pardon the pun) brought together the most exciting challenger brands alongside more established businesses that you’ve almost definitely heard of (or eaten) at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London (an appropriate foodie venue given its rich history as a former livestock market!). 

Over two days, we were treated to Bread & Jam’s unique blend of community, education, innovation, and edible joy - and we learned a thing or two along the way. Here’s what leapt out to us as a team. 

1 Collaborating while at Bread and Jam Festival 2024

2 What a place to hold such a great event!

3 The Producers Shop at Bread and Jam Festival 2024

Community = Collaboration

Unlike typical “trade” shows, Bread & Jam stands apart for its genuine emphasis on community. It’s been said before (and by cleverer folk than us) that “People who like to eat are always the best people” and from the businesses we met at Bread & Jam, that was absolutely true. 

What Bread & Jam does is make deliberate space for businesses at differing stages of development to come together, share experiences, and support one another. From entrepreneurs with budding ideas to representatives of well-established brands, we saw first-hand the generosity of this community, as founders shared advice with new startups, and business owners recommended different 3PL companies to each other.

Outserve’s Highlights

From brilliant talks from Jamie McCloskey of Love Corn and Sam Feller, Chief Popper (have you heard of a better title? We haven’t!) at Popcorn Shed, to learning from so many challenger brands during our roundtables, one of the best things about Bread & Jam is the way it caters for all aspects of running an F&B business. 

Yes, there were so many amazing emerging entrepreneurs, but what Bread & Jam made room for was all the unseen essentials like EDI connections technology (hi, Cegedim!), nailing the right tech stack, and making sure that everything integrates seamlessly. 

They’ve Got The Chops

Another thing we noted about the people behind Bread & Jam? They’re super smart - and they want businesses and brands to leave inspired and informed, too. 

We were treated to some brilliant keynote speeches, panel discussions, tasting and feedback drop-ins, and to expert roundtable sessions (more on ours later!) and left with so many insights into the sector that we had to write them all down or our heads would explode. The amount of industry knowledge and practical insights under one roof was huge, but presented in a friendly, accessible way, which we loved. 

Profit = People + Process Clarity

Now, as you should know by now, we’re going to find a way to help people make their businesses better wherever we go. 

With Bread & Jam’s focus on innovation this year, it was the perfect opportunity for us to speak with founders and business owners about their approach to profit as they grow.

While a lot of the entrepreneurs we met had one or two of the software partners we love (check out our full list here!), integrating them strategically so they work for their team and focus on profit is a different game entirely - and it can be a tricky one to figure out how to play.

This is why we hosted two roundtables, focusing on the question: “Do you (really) know how to make a profit?”

Software Success for Challenger Brands

Our roundtables were packed: we literally didn’t have enough seats for everyone, and that is very much down to our brilliant co-hosts and fellow Unleashed fans, Josh from Good & Proper Tea, and David from our client, Three Spirit Drinks. 

Both established, growing brands, and some of our favourite folks to work with, they generously shared their lived experience of how to leverage software and build systems to create transparency, make data-driven decisions and ultimately become more profitable. 

So what were the key takeaways from these sessions?

1. Scalability and Flexibility: 

One of the first things that we talked about was the importance of scalability and flexibility for a challenger brand when it came to software and systems, and why cloud-based systems like Unleashed and Shopify are perfectly poised to support.

One of the best things about these platforms is the fact that they’re designed to enable brands to grow without the need for significant upfront investment in IT infrastructure - essential for those who need to remain agile and responsive to market changes.

Understanding what and when to automate was a huge topic that we discussed at length. Knowing which financial processes to confidently automate can be tricky at first (especially if you’re a time-poor founder!), so delegating and reducing as much manual work as possible while minimising errors was recommended. 

We discussed platforms like Xero (accounting) and A2X (Ecommerce accounting integration), and the importance of fitting them around the team you have already and the way you work, so you can focus on growth and not admin. 

On the subject of software like A2X and Xero, we talked about the affordability of certain systems, especially when every penny counts and margin is everything as a brand grows. 

Despite large ERP systems being used by established brands, we showed that these cloud-based solutions are ideal for challenger brands. Why? They offer robust, comprehensive functions without the hefty price tag. Accessible automation software, anyone?

We talked about how important it is to access real-time data and insights, which are essential for making informed business decisions, and how a platform like Unleashed can enable brands to keep track of stock levels and manage supply chains efficiently.

Making the decision to invest in a new software suite with implementation support can be scary - or it can never feel like the right time!  Both Josh and David shared their experiences of knowing when to dive in with a new tech stack, but their overarching advice was that every business is different and getting expert advice early on is always a good move.

In particular, they said that the biggest obstacle is sometimes what you don’t know, and having someone in your corner to help guide you can make all the difference (which is why the Bread & Jam community is so important). 

Hungry For More

In a busy, competitive sector, Bread & Jam stands out as something genuinely special - a community of generous, encouraging people who want challenger brands, new founders, and established business to really thrive.

We were so excited to experience the festival’s emphasis on quality, innovation, and technology, and how these elements create unique opportunities for emerging businesses to grow sustainably. As the sector continues to evolve, events like Bread & Jam are going to play an even more crucial role in creating connections and sharing key insights that drive innovation and growth.

In fact, we had such a blast that we’re heading back to their October event: Cheers! The Drinks Summit, for a deep dive into *ahem* liquid assets! 

We’re so excited to connect with ambitious challenger drinks brands, established businesses, and sector experts and to learn more about this brilliant industry. See you there?

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