Bidfood celebrates three years of supporting SMEs though Open Doors programme

Bidfood is celebrating three years of introducing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the wholesale market through its Open Doors programme.

With SMEs accounting for 98.8% of businesses in food and drink manufacturing (Gov.uk), Open Doors has grown from a meaningful platform into a thriving community of entrepreneurial food and drink businesses.

Created to support emerging food and drink suppliers as they navigate the challenges of scaling through foodservice, the Open Doors Programme provides SMEs with expert mentoring and industry insight, using a three-step development journey to ‘Nurture’, ‘Champion’ and ‘Accelerate’.

From this, the brands have secured national distribution through Bidfood, providing customers with innovative products with sustainable credentials, as well as strong social value and authentic stories.

Among the latest group of suppliers to join Open Doors is Half the Story, a social enterprise supporting people who have experienced homelessness or faced significant barriers to employment. Through its bakery, Half the Story creates biscuits while providing meaningful jobs, skills and opportunities.

Also among the latest group is KWERKY, a powdered plant-based milk that serves as an alternative to traditional liquid plant-based milk. KWERKY helps chefs and caterers reduce waste, save storage space and simplify catering for a wide range of dietary requirements.

Andrew Allen, entrepreneur in residence at Bidfood, said: “When we launched Open Doors three years ago, our ambition was simple: to remove the barriers that often prevent brilliant entrepreneurs from succeeding in foodservice.

“What started as a question to Bidfood’s CEO Andrew Selley has progressed into 33 suppliers so far, each bringing something fresh and innovative to the table. These brands demonstrate why supporting SMEs is crucial for the future of our industry, and I’m excited to see where Open Doors will go.”

Matt Parfitt, CEO of Half the Story, added: “This partnership has literally opened doors for Half the Story, giving us a platform and access to thousands of new customers. More delicious handmade biscuits sold means more new jobs created, and even more lives changed. So Bidfood is also opening doors into employment for people facing barriers to work.”

Nikki Garg, founder of KWERKY, said: {Joining the Open Doors Programme has been transformative for KWERKY. It’s allowed us to connect with chefs, customers and Bidfood teams across the country.

“It’s helped turn KWERKY from an emerging challenger brand into a product being explored across sectors including healthcare, education and public sector catering. For me, it’s proof why programmes like this matter. Small brands don’t necessarily need the door held open forever. Sometimes we just need someone to open it once and allow us to show what we can do.”