Embrace a Giant Taste - Food & Drink Experience Development Programme

Purpose

This session will provide insights into an exciting new opportunity, aimed at supporting providers to craft world class food and drink experiences that can persuade domestic and global customers to visit, stay and return to Northern Ireland

Format

To facilitate attendance by as many providers as possible, the initial information session will take place virtually via a Zoom link.

Participants

Please note that this programme is open to early learner and experienced participants who wish to develop market-ready food and drink experiences via tourism for Northern Ireland. This includes:

• providers/businesses that have never before worked in tourism, with the potential to deliver a compelling food and/or drink related experience.
• an existing business (already known to Tourism Northern Ireland) but one that has not been supported through previous programmes including NI Embrace a Giant Spirit Framework, NI Spirit Trail (Distillery Programme) & Historic Houses & Gardens Programme.
• Expressions of interest are particularly welcomed from experiences that have the potential to improve levels of activity at off-peak times in addition to those that drive greater regional spread. Current research suggests that lower levels of food & drink experiences exist in Counties Fermanagh, Tyrone, Armagh and Derry ~ Londonderry.  Depending on the volume of applications, priority may be given to expressions from these areas. 

Context

The experiences that emerge via this programme will complement a broad offer of activities and tourism experiences that are already available for purchase in Northern Ireland, ranging from outdoors, activity and adventure to culture, heritage and wellness experiences

Collectively, these experiences must be of a premier standard that showcase Northern Ireland and can win bookings from customers with diverse needs and interests such as individuals, couples, families, adventurers, golfers, culture and heritage enthusiasts, foodies, special-interest individuals/groups and inter-generational groups.

The experiences that emerge via this programme will:

• Align with Tourism Northern Ireland’s Embrace a Giant Spirit branding and experience development guidelines.
• Adopt Northern Ireland’s sustainability principles and guidelines for tourism businesses, mindful of approaches that:
  • safeguard the environment: showcasing NI’s natural beauty while ensuring that the environment is protected for contemporary and future generations
  • safeguards the community: working in a harmonious partnership with the local community to celebrate and preserve habits, customs and traditions 
  • safeguards livelihoods: generating economic benefits for the provider that extend into the wider economy

Session details

The information session on Tuesday, 26th September 2023, 3:30pm-5pm will include the following:

• An insight into why food and drink experiences are key for Northern Ireland
• The framework, purpose, and expectations of the programme.
• Outcomes and sample experiences anticipated from the programme.
• Requirements and criteria for progression into the programme.
• Programme dates for the diary
• A Q&A session to address queries. 

Who should attend?

The sole focus is on creating compelling food and drink-related experiences which could encompass (but is not limited) to the following:

• Offer engaging, multi-sensory experiences that involve visitors in hands-on food activities (e.g., cooking, baking, and harvesting).
• Highlight the spectacular natural settings, heritage, and cultural landscapes through the stories of food.
• Learning a new skill: e.g., how to smoke a salmon or make traditional bread. 
• Meeting a provider: e.g., a cheesemaker, farmer, or fisherman to gain insights and learnings.
• Guided experiences: e.g., food tours (both urban & rural), meet the maker in their everyday environment (e.g., an orchard, herb garden etc.)
• Multidisciplinary/ soft adventure experiences: e.g., walking/cycling food tours  
• Great outdoors experiences: (e.g., wild cooking, foraging etc.)
• Food and drink experiences for diverse customer types: e.g., from general interest to ultra luxury.
• Food and drink experiences in unusual locations: e.g., a lighthouse, caves, castles, tepee, chefs table dining etc. 
• Food experiences that take place at different times: e.g., from early morning to during the day and into the evening and night time economy
• Accessible experiences, inclusive of people of all ages and abilities

NB: all providers who participate in this programme must have an experience that is based in Northern Ireland and all participants must be able to supply proof of address in Northern Ireland.  

I’m interested! What do I need to do?

Fill in the form below by Tuesday 19th September 2023.

We will then be in contact with you with details as to how to join the programme introduction that will take place virtually on Tuesday, 26th September 2023, 3.30-5pm to hear more and determine if you meet the programme criteria.

Should the programme be oversubscribed, a criteria will be applied. The final decision on participants remains at the discretion of Tourism NI and will be based on best alignment with the Programme Objectives as outlined above.

Successful participants that meet the criteria will need to be available for a participants group session (in person from 9am to 4pm) on Tuesday, 3rd October 2023 (with the venue location to be confirmed).

The programme will continue October 2023-January 2024 to include training, mentoring and market testing on scheduled dates.