It follows the culmination of the latest Streets Ahead pitch day where participants in the programme, which gives people from less-advantaged backgrounds the opportunity to bring their food business idea to life, presented their business idea along with a hero dish to a judging panel of representatives from McCain FS and KERB+ in hopes of securing up to £10,000 in investment.
Launched in June 2022, the Streets Ahead initiative 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.
Reflecting an initial investment of up to £100,000 from McCain FS, the programme previously saw 12 start-up street food businesses receive funding.
At the latest pitch day, which was held at Mission Kitchen in London earlier this week, the judging panel decided all seven participants deserved a level of investment, reflecting an additional £46,000 in funding McCain FS.
Two participants received the maximum investment of £10,000, with the remaining five participants each receiving between £2,000 and £6,000 depending on the individual needs of their business.
The winning concepts included vegetarian Nigerian street food; homestyle Bengali cuisine; gourmet mac and cheese; authentic Iranian charcoal-smoked potatoes; ‘BolTaiFan’ Chinese clay pot rice; Welsh tacos; and traditional vegan and vegetarian Lebanese cuisine.
“In creating the Streets Ahead programme we knew we wanted to help develop those with a passion for foodservice and give them the best chance of success as they enter the industry,” says Mark Hodge, McCain Foods vice president of marketing.
“[This latest pitch day] has shown me that the programme, coupled with the participants drive and talent is a clear recipe for success.”
Each winning participant invested in by McCain FS will go on to have further coaching with KERB+ to ensure they invest wisely and have the support to move them successfully into the world of street food.
“The exceptional food innovation I’ve seen on display at Mission Kitchen makes everyone at McCain proud to push forward with more plans to further develop and support these people on their journey to become successful foodservice operators,” Hodge adds.
McCain FS says it plans to host another event at Mission Kitchen in June where more entrepreneurs taking part in the Streets Ahead programme will prepare their hero dishes for the panel.
For more information on McCain Streets Ahead campaign, click here.
