All members need to be working in food brands that have launched in the UK in the last 10 years. It is probably most useful for founders or those in operations, finance or product roles however absolutely anyone can apply and will be judged on the same criteria.

We have five criteria when assessing whether someone can be a member. They are as follows:

1) Is this individual part of a brand that we consider exciting and innovative?

2) Do we feel that this individual will contribute as much as they take from the community?

3) Will the benefits that this specific individual receives outweigh their membership fee?

4) Do we really think this individual believes in our ethos?

5) Would we be happy sitting next to this individual on a park bench?

By using these criteria with every application, we can be be sure to create a really happy community of individuals who are getting the most out of Young Foodies.  

Yes – we have two types: one for team members and one for founders. The membership fee is slightly higher for founders due to the extra content they get, specific to their role.

All memberships last 12 months from the first date that you’re allowed on the platform.

Yes, you would need to reapply after one year. We review usage and contribution from the previous year and use this to consider members versus our usual guidelines.

Simply, yes. We’re hosting webinars and live Q&A sessions online for this very reason. We will also be publishing notes and debriefs for any London based events that take place so those outside London don’t miss out. Equally, we really don’t want this to be a London focused product though so let us know where you’re based and, if it makes sense, we’ll organise some events where you are too.

Honestly, it’s because these are our main areas of expertise, and, from our experience, people find them hardest to pick up and run with. Often we need the reassurance that we’re doing things the right way in these areas. We also see the most opportunity to work together in these areas without feeling competitive. Don’t get us wrong – we will be covering any gaps we identify in general knowledge but things that involve creativity and sales should be a lot more brand specific so we don’t think publishing on this does anyone any favours. If there are any other topics you would like covered that you think are missing, please let us know at [email protected].

Building your sales pitch and successfully selling your product is something very personal to every brand. It’s not beneficial for us to provide a one-size-fits-all approach in this area – it’s your opportunity to differentiate. However we will be hosting talks on finding your USPs and building stories, as well as explaining the basics around commercials.

Get in touch – we’ll always prioritise your queries and help you the best we possibly can. If we can’t answer your query, we also have close relationships with the best consultants across the industry who have offered special rates for our members.

We try our best to ensure everything on the site is accurate, fair and true but we cannot account for every eventuality.

Membership cost depends on the number of members accepted per brand. Get in touch to learn more.

The membership cost includes unlimited access to everything we offer through the platform. Primarily, this is made up of our three core offerings: being part of our online and offline community, invitations to our specialised events and training courses and access to a wealth of expert technical knowledge found on our website. The cost of membership also promises a number of perks. These include: deals we’ve negotiated with major suppliers to give you savings, business coaching, exposure to the biggest FMCG investors, discounted courses, access to the best consultants and, best of all, our uninterrupted attention. 

Make a bank transfer to us using the appropriate invoice reference so we know exactly who we’re giving a login to.

Unfortunately not. We ask for the full fee up front.

Yes.

The fee covers 12 months worth of membership from the first day you’re given your login details – this fee is non-refundable.

We do offer discounts when a single brand is successful in receiving a number of memberships. Get in touch to discuss these.

Fill out our application form, send us some samples of your product and wait to hear back from us.

Existing members all have the opportunity to refer one person to Young Foodies, so start making friends! Those invited to join will have a far greater chance of being accepted into the community straight away as it acts as a reference from someone we trust. You’ll need to put the invitation number into your application form for us to follow up on.

Make sure an existing member has given you the invitation card from their welcome book. Then head to our application form to apply – make sure you fill in your invitation number.

Depending of volumes of applications, our reviews can take some time. When we have completed our review, we will be in touch.

Yes – unfortunately to make our community work as well as it can, it means we have to say no to some applications where we don’t feel it is the right fit just yet, based on our five criteria. We also won’t allow anyone in from a larger or more established organisation or anyone that is looking to sell things to our members – everyone must be from a food brand in the UK that has launched in the last 10 years.

If you have been rejected, you will need to reapply for membership. We’d recommend you use the feedback we give you to review your application.

The Young Foodies launch members are those who have joined the platform at the very beginning. We highly value these members because they’ve got in right from the start when things were far from perfect and when the content was more limited. As a thank you from us, launch members pay a reduced price for their membership.

It does indeed – it is an automatic tick in the first box! However, ultimately we review applications on an individual by individual basis to make sure we’re giving everyone the best value from the platform. So your colleague being a member is by no means a guarantee for you!

We review applications every month, so it takes roughly five to have become a member. If you don’t hear from us after this time, it means you haven’t been successful this round but you might hear from us in the future.

Every month, we will send a reward to members that participate the most. This includes contributing content as well as participating in discussions.

It’s unlikely you’d be kicked out but we may get in touch to nudge.

Young Foodies is built upon the basic belief that competitiveness is only healthy in some areas of the business and some stages of growth. Our platform is ultimately a place for collaboration and sharing – that’s what we’re all about and it requires a new approach that all members have signed up to. Find your own groove between contributing and not oversharing – you don’t need to share your cost price but it’s no harm to give a review of your packaging supplier!

We’ve probably added you to a group for a reason, so let us know if we’re wrong. Remember that you can also request to join other groups and create new groups so that you get the most out of the community.

We will monitor all groups and any misuse is taken very seriously. If you have a problem that we’ve not spotted, get in touch and we’ll do our best to sort it out.

No – they will remain on the site but we will close your account.

We have all sorts of events happening on the site. Some of them are just events in the foodie calendar that you should be aware of (not related to Young Foodies) but we also host a variety of events for socialising or for learning.

After work drinks: A few pints at our local pub for you to meet other Young Foodies members. These will be organised by position so that you can meet the members in the same field as you.

Webinars: These are the most accessible types of learning that you can join from your desk. These hour long dial-in sessions will usually be with an expert on a particular topic and involve a short presentation followed by Q&A.

Workshops and training: We have relationships with training providers to give you access to highly discounted (if not free) courses and talks. Where necessary, we have tailored these courses for our industry so they’re highly relevant. These will be hosted at a variety of venues largely in London but if there are enough of you outside London we’ll expand!

Conference days: Twice per year, we’ll host a big event for all our members where we’ll bring in experts across the industry for a more formal occasion. Each conference will be based on a particular theme in the industry.

It depends…The majority of our events, such as drinks and webinars are provided to you at no extra cost. However, there may be a small charge for any training courses or more formal events where drinks, dinner or speakers are involved. That said, because we have strength in numbers, these costs should be still considerably lower than if you were to do these things independently.

No and it would be a shame not to use every opportunity on offer.

Our events are exclusive to our members so if there’s someone you think would benefit loads from them, encourage them to apply for their own membership!

Through your application process, you’ve earned the privilege of being invited to our events. To keep this as a privilege for members, we ask that you don’t invite others in your place – we will treat anything like this very seriously.

Some of our paid for events have limited places so to be fair to other members, we cannot refund you if you don’t attend an event. However, you have until two weeks before the event to cancel your place and receive a refund if necessary.

The bulk of our content is provided by our trusted partners (see the partners page) who do this stuff in their sleep. They’re tried and tested and we trust that they know what they’re talking about. Where other sources are used, we will reference them so you can trace things further.

Absolutely – we’d love you to. We try to make sure the content is the most relevant to you but ultimately our purpose is to support you where you feel you have gaps in knowledge.  So feel free to drop us an email to [email protected] with the question you’d like answered. As I’m sure you can imagine, our to-do lists are absolutely huge so we can’t promise it’ll be immediate but we certainly will take it on board.

Our favourite members are those publishing content onto the site. If you would like to write about something you’ve experienced or know lots about, get in touch so we can discuss your idea. There will be goodies to be earned when members do this.

All templates on the site are embedded PDFs that can be viewed but not downloaded directly. If you would like a copy of one, please get in touch and we can send them to you but the document will be traceable back to you.

No. As our rules state, we chose you to be the member, so please don’t be tempted to share your password or assets with others. We can track this happening and we take it very seriously.

While working with experts makes the sources highly credible, we want to hear if you think we have made a mistake. Equally, if you disagree with something or have alternative theories, just comment on the blog posts – it’s always good to stimulate discussion.

We try our best, but we cannot account for every eventuality. We fully trust our partners and other contributors to the site to give the best advice possible, otherwise they wouldn’t be on the platform. But if you have had a bad experience, let us know and we’ll do our best to review the situation.

No. As our rules state, we chose you to be the member, so please don’t be tempted to share your password with others. We can track this happening and we take it very seriously.

Anyone can apply, but if your membership has been revoked because of failure to adhere to the rules, it’s highly unlikely that you would be accepted onto the platform again.

Go your profile page and click edit.

As well as being a symbol of your membership, your Young Foodies badge is what gets you into events – so make sure you keep it safe. If you do lose it, we will replace it as soon as possible and charge a £5 replacement fee.

This agreement should be between you and your employer but typically, if your employer has paid, the membership technically belongs to them. Therefore if you leave, they would get your membership credit for another member of their team. Each situation will be considered on a case by case basis though, depending on the applications of those inheriting the credit are successful. We recommend you talk to us in this instance and we’ll advise you best for your case.

Each member is asked to invite one brilliant person to the platform. To invite them, you’ll need to give them the invitation card from your welcome book and direct them to our application form. If you think you know more people who should be members, it’s always helpful to drop us a line to let us know you vouch for them. Alternatively, direct them to our application form where they can apply on their own accord.

We have disabled the copy and paste functions on the site for security purposes. This will help to control plagiarism and external distribution.

No, we ask that you only use your work email. This is so we can monitor the organisations and verify the individual.

Absolutely – just go to “account settings” and then “email” and set the limits you want on notifications.

Just click on the dropdown box next to the activity feed and pick “Friends only”. Your account will remember this for next time.

Go to the account settings page and you’ll be prompted to change your password underneath your email address.

On the Login page, select request new password and follow the instructions.

Rudeness and obscenity has no place in Young Foodies. If you spot anything out of place, drop us a message and we can resolve it.

We encourage everyone to check with a Director before applying for membership and get comfortable with what you are entitled to share and not entitled to share.

We have made a special private group for founders only – here you can safely discuss things that you would like not to be public to the rest of the community. Members can also make their own groups on the website, which can easily be hidden from other members.

We’ve reviewed every membership application carefully, so we’d like to think that everyone on the website can be trusted. However, we’re aware that this might not always be the case. We take any abuse of trust very seriously and we’ll be in touch if we think something isn’t quite right. Equally, if there’s someone on the platform that you don’t trust, don’t be afraid to get in touch and let us know.