BTC are committed to supporting the South West's food & drink industry and work with a large number of regional employers to train the next generation of professionals. The topic of the NSAFD breakfast forum is recruitment; with a specific focus on Apprenticeships - challenges, benefits, success stories, obstacles and more.

We’re delighted to announce two industry leading key speakers to the event who are both experts in the field of attracting fresh talent and in developing existing members of staff through Apprenticeship recruitment.

Emma Cox – Talent Development Manager, Thatchers

Thatchers Cider has experienced significant growth in the last ten years and as an emerging Somerset business in the food & drink sector but is not “front of mind” with most school leavers for a role. Thatchers recognised the need to grow their own pool of talent to secure the future growth of their business, and created the young talent programme, this had the specific objective of being an industry leading programme that not only created apprenticeship roles, but also inspired and educated young people about the food and drink industry & apprentice opportunities.

Cian Short – Group Apprentice Manager, Bakkavor

Bakkavor are the leading provider of fresh prepared food in the UK, with an international presence in the US and China. Cian is highly knowledgeable in the world of Apprenticeships and continues to have extensive involvement with Trailblazer groups and writing Apprenticeship Standards. Bakkavor employ a huge number of apprentices across the group within a variety of sectors so Cian is highly experienced in incorporating Apprenticeships within the workplace.