GUEST COLUMN:
Neil Burchell
Mentor
Food and Drink Wales Trade Development Programme
Blas Cymru / Taste Wales is unlike anything else in the UK food and drink calendar. I’ve spent years working with producers across Wales, and the event is the point at which all the work done through the support programmes comes together.
Organised by the Welsh Government, the event has run every two years since 2017, and 2025 marked the fifth iteration. Each time it has grown, but its purpose has stayed the same: to bring the cream of Welsh food and drink manufacturing together with buyers from across the UK and around the world.
What makes it distinctive is its structure. Every participating supplier has the same size booth – a table, a couple of chairs and a small counter. Buyers appreciate that sense of equality. No one is overshadowed by a larger stand or a bigger budget. Alongside that, every company also has a dedicated product showcase away from the booth. Buyers can walk through these showcases in their own time, without anyone trying to sell to them. It sounds simple, but it makes a tremendous difference. In fact, around 30–40% of meetings happen because a buyer discovers a product they weren’t previously aware of.
The online meeting diary is the other key element. Buyers can access it weeks before suppliers can, which allows them to browse the catalogue, look through company profiles and invite producers to meet. Six weeks before the event, suppliers gain access and can send invitations too. By the time everyone arrives at the venue –the ICCW in Newport – most suppliers know around 60–70% of the people they will be meeting. This year, across 150 suppliers, made up of 120 established businesses and 30 rising stars, we had 321 buyers and 2,761 scheduled meetings, which works out at an average of 15 per supplier. It means producers can prepare properly, and buyers can focus on quality conversations.
The event also creates a space for networking outside the scheduled meetings. There are lunches, a drinks event where the drink producers can sample their products, and an evening dinner that buyers particularly seem to enjoy. Alongside that sits the New Product Wall, which showcased 200 new products this year. Buyers vote for their favourite, and the wall itself has become a focal point of the event because it shows the breadth of innovation in Wales.
But Blas Cymru / Taste Wales doesn’t exist in isolation. It reflects the depth of Welsh Government support available to Welsh producers throughout the year. The Insight Programme helps businesses understand their marketplace, consumer behaviour and what Welshness means inside and outside Wales. The Cluster Programme brings producers together across fine food, drinks, seafood, honey and horticulture, encouraging collaboration and shared learning. The Helix Programme gives access to Wales’s major technical centres for product development, testing, accreditation and cost-reduction support. Cywain helps companies at the earliest stages, and the trade programme – which I’m involved in – works to prepare those companies to engage with buyers effectively.
That level of support is unusual. The head of local sourcing and regional buying at one of the UK’s largest supermarket groups has said on several occasions that he wishes similar structures existed elsewhere in the UK. Wales’s support ecosystem is consistent, joined-up and genuinely accessible.
Blas Cymru / Taste Wales acts as a culmination point for that. Producers who have been working on accreditation, improving packaging, refining their pitch or preparing new lines use the event to bring those efforts together. Buyers notice it. The calibre of packaging design, for example, has risen significantly in recent years, and buyers often comment on how clearly companies can now articulate their point of difference.
The event also evolves each time. Sustainability was a major focus this year, reflecting what buyers tell us about their own priorities. We had a dedicated sustainability showcase demonstrating practical work producers are doing around carbon reduction and adaptation, supported by the programmes behind the scenes. Newness remains a big draw. Some producers now plan their launch timelines around Blas Cymru / Taste Wales because they know the opportunity it creates. And the rising stars always attract attention. Buyers consistently spot early-stage businesses doing something special, long before they break into wider markets.
Although Blas Cymru /Taste Wales is a major moment in the calendar, it sits alongside a busy programme of Welsh Government led activity throughout the year. In February, for example, we have an on-trade event in London for the pub sector, followed by a significant Welsh presence at the Gulfood Trade Show in Dubai, one of the most important events for international markets. Around St David’s Day, groups of suppliers visit retailers’ head offices for meetings and sampling. Wales has large stands at the major wholesalers’ trade shows and at the Farm Shop & Deli Show in Birmingham. Some wholesalers actively request to be located near the Wales stand because of the footfall it attracts. In the summer, the Royal Welsh Show features a Trade Buyers’ Lounge showcasing around 300 Welsh brands.
Blas Cymru / Taste Wales is one moment in a wider system, but it’s an important one. It brings together the ambition, collaboration and hard work that runs through Welsh food and drink, and it creates the kind of connections that can change the trajectory of a business. The fact that buyers return year after year tells its own story.
Neil Burchell talks about this and more in the Food and Drink podcast episode Driving Growth at Blas Cymru / Taste Wales 2025. Listen to the podcast here.
