What makes a successful street food business, and what support does it need? These are the questions that McCain Foodservice Solutions (McCain FS) has sought to answer with its Streets Ahead initiative, which earlier this month saw the best up-and-coming traders show what they are capable of during a two-day event.
Held in Mission Kitchen, the commercial kitchen and co-working space at New Covent Garden Market in south west London, over these two days a dozen participants pitched their idea for a street food business, as well as served up a hero dish aligned to their brand, to a judging panel featuring representatives from both McCain FS and KERB. Their aim was to receive up to £10,000 of investment and make their dreams become a reality.
"I’ve been moved by the incredible resilience and passion
of the participants and proud we have been able
to support their dreams of becoming street food operators”
Dishes included a dazzling array of foods from across the world, from jollof rice, manti dumplings, and Sri Lankan curry to maqloubah - a Palestinian dish featuring roasted vegetables, spiced rice and chicken; sujuk wraps served with homemade hummus and chips; and giant fried chicken sandwiches topped with plantain and served in focaccia, which would likely pose a challenge to even the most ravenous of appetites.
The days marked the culmination of the Streets Ahead programme’s first year. The initiative, which launched in June 2022, was born out of a partnership between McCain FS and street food membership organisation KERB with an aim to provide individuals from less-advantaged backgrounds with the opportunity to bring their dreams of becoming a street food entrepreneur to life.
From 140 entries down to 12 traders
The Streets Ahead programme, which reflects an investment of £100,000 from McCain FS, initially saw more than 140 people sponsored to join the KERB classroom, an online food start-up course that helps take people’s food business ideas and make them a reality. To ensure the initiative reached those really in need of support, McCain worked with a range of UK charities including Food Behind Bars, a charity dedicated to improving food served in British Prisons, TERN (The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network), which supports refugees to become entrepreneurs, and the Westminster-based homeless charity Connections to find suitable candidates.
Those who successfully completed the course then progressed to the next stage, where they attended an immersion day and were given the opportunity to hone their business idea. And from this pool, 12 have been selected to pitch.
“Our ambition for the McCain FS Streets Ahead programme was to help the future of operators flourish and support individuals in building skills where they wouldn’t ordinarily receive it,” explains Richard Jones, McCain FS commercial director.
“Streets Ahead has become a new network of soaring talent in the foodservice industry. I’ve been moved by the incredible resilience and passion of the participants and proud we have been able to support their dreams of becoming street food operators.”
Judgement day
The two pitch days followed a similar structure. The first half saw the participants given the opportunity to meet the judging panel to explain their business idea and talk through their pitch deck and funding application, including how they would use the investment and their plans to grow their business in both the short and long term. From there they headed into the kitchen to prepare their signature dish, which would then be presented to the panel during an afternoon tasting session.
While they cooked, the judges learned more about the participants, asking questions about their food and what led them to create their dish. Over the two days, the panel were required to establish a great understanding of each participant’s business concept; consider the viability of each food offering on today’s street food market; review the pitch decks; and taste each participant’s signature dish.
Participants were each scored across four categories. They included clarity and quality of menu offer; clarity and quality of pitch deck; level of enthusiasm and engagement with the Streets Ahead programme; and passion and desire to get the business off the ground. Each participant was marked out of 10 for each category, with the scores used to help the panel members decide on who will receive funding to make their street food business dreams a reality.
Finalists proved to be streets ahead
It was initially expected that only a select number of the final participants would receive investment, but having been blown away by what they saw, as well as the taste and quality of street food, the judging panel eventually decided that all the participants deserved a level of funding to support each of them to continue their journey into street food. Of the 12, four received £10,000 investment each; five received £6,000 investment; and three received £3,000 investment.
“The McCain Streets Ahead programme
allows us to make a greater social impact"
“Our participants have seamlessly built new skills and relationships and we are proud to be working together with them, supporting them on journey to realise their opportunities,” says Mark Hodge, McCain FS vice president of marketing. “This is why we have decided to provide the well-deserved investment to all participants and further help develop their businesses until they can trade.”
As well as receiving an investment, each successful participant will also be offered a space on the KERB Inkerbator programme. This will give them the chance to accelerate the growth of their business even further, as well as gain exposure, take part in additional training and access more resources. They will also receive support in finding a trading spot in their chosen location, as well as being given a chance to trade with KERB.
“The McCain Streets Ahead programme allows us to make a greater social impact, and it was incredibly rewarding to see all the participants do so well at the panel days,” says Gavin Dunn, managing director of KERB Food.
In total, the investment in the 12 participants equates to £79,000 of the £100,000 put forward by McCain FS. The remaining £21,000 will be used to host a showcase market in partnership with KERB for the winning participants to trade at towards the end of this year.
“We look forward to continuing to work with them and supporting them to achieve their dream of running a successful street food business and hopefully, one day becoming fully fledged KERB members where they can gain access to a range of incredible trading opportunities at our street food markets, events and food halls,” adds Dunn.
The search for more talent continues
With the first year of the Streets Ahead programme now complete, McCain FS is now looking ahead to the second year of the initiative. The search for participants has begun, with McCain FS on the hunt for people from less advantaged backgrounds who are driven and passionate about pursuing a career in setting up their very own street food business.
For those that have already come through the programme, the benefit of being part of the Streets Ahead initiative is clear to see. “Streets Ahead has taught me a lot,” says Kemi Ogunlana, the creator of Kemi’s Kitchen, which received a £6,000 as part of this year’s programme. “I have been blessed with so much support from the team here.
“There have been times I’ve been nervous and unsure if I can do this, but they have always encouraged me to reach for my dreams and I wouldn’t have made it here without them.
“The Streets Ahead community and our shared love for food have made this experience for me.”
Ozayr Sheikh, whose JamaiKorean business received a £3,000 investment, spent a lot of his youth in prison. He says he learnt to be adaptable with food there before he got invited onto the Streets Ahead programme through Food Behind Bars. “I just want to share my food as far and wide as possible,” he says.
“I have big ambitions for JamaiKorean. I’m ready to show people what I’m capable of.”
