Will you vote for the Ugly Food Shop?
Did you buy some ‘Ugly Food’ at a ‘popup shop in Bangor recently? Did you think it was a great business idea?
The highly popular venture, organised by Bangor University students, has now reached the final 10 in a UK student competition.
Dan Taylor with one of the ‘soup in a bag’ bags in the shop.
The ‘Ugly Food Shop’ has been shortlisted for the ‘popular vote’ round in the Santander Universities 60 Second Pitch competition.
The School of Psychology's Dan Taylor and Rhi Willmot, who together managed the Ugly Food Shop project are the only Welsh project to have made it to the top ten, so if you enjoyed Ugly Food, then give them your vote!
If you think the Ugly Food Shop was a great idea and a great start-up business, then show your support by going to https://www.santanderuniversities.co.uk/enterprise/win/60-second-pitch/vote-now?t=1430464119 or https://goo.gl/ZCVftm to cast your vote before May 27th. Voting will enable Santander Universities to select the winner who will receive business support and money to continue their project.
‘The Ugly Foods Shop’ which was open during March, provided a new lease of life for fruit and vegetables rejected by supermarkets. The Shop also sold fruit smoothies and ‘Soup in a Bag’ ingredients. Backed up with a clever and appealing on- line social media strategy, the Pop-up Shop proved a tremendous success, and hopes to come back re- invigorated in the autumn!
Managed, by Dan and Rhi, the shop also provided valuable experiences for numerous students.
Lowri Owen from the Careers & Employability Service’s B- Enterprising project explains:
“Bangor University encourages its students to be entrepreneurial and consider the option of self-employment and starting their own business. While they may not all become involved in retail, taking part in this project provides them with a foretaste of running their own business and helps them to develop the employability skills required by employers.”
“I’d like to thank Bangor City Council for offering us the opportunity to use the pop-up shop,” Lowri added.
Post-graduate student Dan commented:
"It has been inspiring to see all of the support that we received over the month of March, and the continued support now while the shop is closed. The opportunity to open the shop has opened our eyes as to how important it is to work together with the community in solving these current issues. The Santander Universities competition has helped us get our voice heard, and make a real change in what ugly really means."
Rhi Willmot said: "Developing The Ugly Foods Shop from dream to reality was a fantastic experience. It's been incredible to witness such an enthusiastic reaction from the Bangor community, and with more help we can continue to achieve great things in the name of ugly."
Bangor University’s B-Enterprising programme behind the project is supported by funding from the Welsh Government’s North West Wales Hub which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Welsh Government to support delivery of the Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy (YES) for Wales.
Publication date: 19 May 2015