Bruntwood partners with YFood

The food and drink scene in Manchester is thriving. We’re seeing news bars, restaurants, street food pop ups, cafes, breweries and opening all the time. It’s easy to see why foodies from across the UK and beyond see the city as a great place to be.

We’re just as passionate about food and drink as we are about buildings. We want to create thriving neighbourhoods across our regions, anchoring them with some of the most exciting, unique and sustainable food businesses around.

As part of this drive, we’ve teamed up with YFood, largest curated global community of companies and people actively trying to change the future of food. This partnership will bring the first YFood Food Tech community outside of London to the city, creating opportunities for Food Tech startups, investors and brands to get together, network and create important partnerships.

Our business is led by one purpose: creating thriving cities. This is aligned perfectly with the values of YFood. The mission of YFood is to drive innovation in the food industry through the use of tech to solve global food issues affecting us all. We’ll be putting Manchester on the Food Tech map, helping to drive change in the industry for a more sustainable, eco-friendly food chain in the North.

Together, we want to create a new Food Tech catalyst for Manchester, as well as helping our food and beverage customers to be part of a more sustainable, ethical, transparent and commercial food ecosystem. Whether it’s a mid-morning coffee pick me up for an office customer, or our team working with a startup to find their first home, food and drink touches all of our businesses.

Andrea George, head of retail and leisure at Bruntwood is excited about the partnership, saying: “Working with YFood is a fantastic opportunity for Bruntwood to champion Food Tech in the North, which as a responsible and innovative company, is a partnership that felt like a natural fit. We are passionate about food and drink, from our
customers through to the amenity we provide in our buildings and we're really excited about what this partnership can bring to Manchester.”

Founded in 2013 with the aim to support Food Tech Founders, YFood consults with global organisations on food innovation, is the leading industry expert on Food Tech and creates dynamic, world-leading events and opportunities to bring the industry together, such as London Food Tech Week, the world’s largest week-long Food Tech festival.

Nadia El Hadery, Founder & CEO at YFood says, “Manchester is an exciting and vibrant city, with an on-the-pulse, growing food and tech scene. In Bruntwood, we’ve found a partner that is aligned with our goals and values and has a huge amount of integrity. Bruntwood understand the vision we have and Manchester has all the makings to create an exciting Food Tech scene. We can’t wait to work with Bruntwood to start building and nurturing an epic local Food Tech community in Manchester.”

Central to our partnership with YFood will be ‘YFood Tech Wednesdays’, a monthly event offering the chance for people to share ideas, discuss new trends and develop new collaborations within the Food Tech industry. Gathering businesses and individuals at Bruntwood buildings across Manchester, the first will take place on 14th November, as we welcome Manchester born Olympian, Andrew Steele to the tech incubator at Circle Square Manchester.

Andrew is one of the founders and Head of Product at DNAfit and will be discussing how the personalised health & wellbeing company using ground-breaking genetic science to usher in a new era of nutrition, fitness and wellbeing. Specialising in DNA testing for both fitness and nutrition response, they are able to create detailed and personalised exercise and nutrition advice.

From hydroponic underground farms, converting coffee waste to bio-fuel, to personalisation tech for hospitality, YFood and its influential network has championed an abundance of Food Tech advances.

We’re looking forward to working with YFood to develop an epic local Food Tech community in Manchester. Find out more about YFood Tech Wednesdays and sign up to our first event here.