Producer Of Natural Fruit Smoothies Wins Cotswold Fayre’s Start-Up Support Scheme

The initiative was set up by Cotswold Fayre to provide support to young fine food business entrepreneurs aged between 16-24 looking for assistance with their company.

The final was held on the closing day of the Speciality and Fine Food Fair, where the three finalists, Jessica Chai of MmmCookieDough, Baharak Zargarei (on behalf of Winnie Maganjo) of Wanderlust Nut Butters, and Ben Nichols of SoSmoothies presented their products to the audience.

Paul Hargreaves, managing director of Cotswold Fayre said, “The three finalists all gave confident and commanding presentations in what most people would find a very daunting situation.” Following the presentations, the audience selected 19 year old Ben Nichols, owner of all-natural smoothie company, SoSmoothies, as the winner.

The ambitious entrepreneur was presented with a £1,000 cheque to help grow the business, and will also receive business advice and support from Paul over the next year. Paul added: “Ben is a very worthy winner who has already achieved fantastic results for SoSmoothies. I am looking forward to working with him over the next year and seeing how the business progresses.”

Speaking after his win, Ben said: “I am absolutely delighted to have won Cotswold Collaborates. It’s so rewarding to know that fine food industry experts can see potential in the business I have worked so hard to create. The £1,000 prize will be used to buy equipment for our recently-purchased premises. To date, all smoothies have been produced using standard blenders and new equipment will speed up the manufacturing process dramatically. Additionally, Paul’s expertise within the fine food industry, particularly in distribution, will prove invaluable in growing the business.”

Following the success of this year’s scheme, Cotswold Fayre has announced that the initiative will run again next year.  “The calibre of entries we have received for Cotswold Collaborates 2013 has been extraordinary, and this year’s finalists are a fantastic testament to the young talent in the fine food sector” says Paul. “We are looking forward to running the initiative again next year to support more young fine food entrepreneurs with their business.”