We always knew it was going to be hard to pick just one. We had 33 applications for our bursary from an incredible selection of young food businesses, showing off the immense talent here in London. Thank you to everybody who took the time to enter.
Our three finalists – CHAM, Department 22 and Dr Will’s – went head to head in a live pitch-off to win a year’s free rent at the Food Exchange, worth £20k. All showed such enthusiasm and passion for what they do. Ultimately, there could only be one winner.
Our bursary finalists CHAM, Department 22 and Dr Will's:
Huge congratulations to Department 22 who won us over with their innovation and dedication to helping solve global food challenges. They’re a perfect fit for the Food Exchange as the home for the future of food and we’re excited by all the possible collaborations between them and our other community members.
Meet Department 22
Department 22 are a team of innovators who are harnessing design and technology to combat global food challenges including food waste and sustainability. They’re a small team already making a big impact.
They’ve worked with Camden council on a community-led food waste collection system, with McDonald’s UK on a chicken-centred design for improving poultry welfare in barns and with Marks & Spencer designing an app for buying and eating better meat. And they have a very exciting project in development.
Dejan Mitrovic of Department 22 (middle) with our judges Victoria Stewart, Andrew Allen, Ollie Hunter, Helen Evans and Lulu Grimes:
Dejan Mitrovic, Director at Department 22, had this to say: “We are extremely happy to have won the bursary and that we will become part of the Food Exchange, because as a sustainable design consultancy we are doing more and more projects related to food and it will be of immense value to be surrounded by a community of food businesses and be located in London's biggest food hub - New Covent Garden Market! We are also delighted to see that the jury, the audience and New Covent Garden Market all realised and supported our values of making the world a better place through design.”
We can't wait to welcome Department 22 to the Food Exchange, where they’ll be joining Oppo, Wheyhey, Spoon Cereals, CocoPro, Young Foodies, Joe’s Tea Company and Swig Wines.
Thank yous
Thank you to our other finalists, CHAM and Dr Will’s. They made sure our judges had a tough decision to make.
Thank you to our amazing judges for lending us their skill and expertise. They were Lulu Grimes, BBC Good Food hub director, Victoria Stewart, Evening Standard columnist and freelance journalist, Andrew Allen, co-founder of Snaffling Pig, Ollie Hunter, head of development at street food market KERB, and Helen Evans, business development director for New Covent Garden Market.
