Food and Drink Entrepreneurship
Are you ready to elevate your food and drink business? This practical short course is aimed at helping those working within the Food and Drink sector build resilient businesses and explore new business models that can help the organisation to adapt to a world of uncertainty and change in an effective and agile way.
We will help you work step-by-step through the process of developing and launching new products or services with practical examples, case studies and activities to give you the tools you need to succeed.
While studying with us you can expect to engage with various learning resources including:
- interactive online entrepreneurship workshops
- self-paced business topics
- engaging food and drink masterclasses
- additional business resources
- guest speakers
- practical tasks
The course will cover two areas – being an entrepreneur and running a food and drink business.
We will have a core set of workshops focusing on how run and grow a successful business – no matter what sector it is in. This will cover understanding your market, designing new products, developing prototypes, evaluating competition, setting up operations, creating a brand, managing finances, and running a company. This will be a mix of both interactive live workshops and self-paced topics.
In addition to the general entrepreneurship workshops, you will also take part in food and drink specific sessions that will give additional advice and support directly related to hospitality businesses. This will include trends in food and drink, setting up a premises, producing a product, and legal issues for food and drink operators.
All topics will be applied to your own business. The course is designed for those who are self-employed, running a small or medium sized enterprise (SME) or aspiring entrepreneurs – so you can focus on upskilling yourself to run your existing business, on developing a new product or service or creating a whole new business.
RGU Upskilling
Undertaking an online RGU upskilling course can help you to develop or change your career or support your business to grow.
We're proud to offer a range of online upskilling short courses tailored to meet the evolving needs of businesses and individuals in Scotland. If you are domiciled in Scotland, you will be eligible for a fee-waiver place, meaning you can upskill for free. Identified and created in collaboration with industry, these 15-credit online courses are designed to enhance employability for individuals and organisations looking to upskill their workforce.
Find out more about the range of courses on offer and the benefits of upskilling:
Disclaimer
The University regularly reviews its courses. Course content and structure may change over time. See our course and module disclaimer for more information.
Detailed module informationLearning Methods
The programme will be delivered over a period of eight weeks (not including the window for the assessment) and will be a mix of live and self-paced activities. The short course shall be taught alongside the Tourism Entrepreneurship short course with both groups attending the ‘Being an Entrepreneur’ sessions.
The course shall include:
- 6 x 3 Hour Self-Paced Topics on Entrepreneurship
- 6 x 3 Hour Live Online Workshops on Being an Entrepreneur
- 3 x 1 Hour Live Workshops on Running a Food and Drink Business
The total teaching time will be around 45 hours with learning focused on with sessions taking place in two week blocks followed by a week off to apply the learning to your business.
Independent Study
Throughout the course, you will be expected to apply the concepts learnt to your business by undertaking your own research, speaking to customers, developing your brand, evaluating competitors, doing wider reading and building your portfolio.
Staff Delivering on this Course
This course is delivered by experienced professionals from both the School of Creative and Cultural Business (CCB) and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group (EIG). Academic staff from CCB will deliver the theories and models from the hospitality sector to give you a taste of the industry and will be bringing along their industry connections having experience in jobs across the food and drink industry. Staff from EIG will be helping you take your business ideas and layering on tools and models to perfect your concept as they draw upon their practical experience from being entrepreneurs themselves and from supporting hundreds of startup teams through courses, training and their annual funded startup accelerator which has seen businesses go on to raise hundreds of thousands of investments, register patents and win national awards.
Assessment
The course shall include an assessment which will be a portfolio of documents and evidence of the development of your business throughout the course.
Academic Support
The Inclusion Centre advises and supports students who disclose a sensory or mobility impairment, chronic medical condition, mental health issue, dyslexia and other specific learning differences. Applicants are encouraged to arrange a pre-entry visit to discuss any concerns and to view the facilities.
Study Skills Support
The Study Support Team provides training and support to all students in:
- Academic writing
- Study skills (note taking, exam techniques, time management, presentation)
- Maths and statistics
- English language
- Information technology support
To qualify for a place on the course you must be living in north east Scotland.
Academic Year 2023/2024
Fee-waiver places
Course participants must be domiciled in Scotland to be eligible for a fee-waiver place.
To be eligible for funding, you generally need to have 'settled status' in Scotland, meaning there are no restrictions on how long you can stay here. For example, this can be from birth or Right to Remain visa.
Eligibility is assessed on application and further evidence may be required.
All other applicants
Applicants who are not eligible for a fee-waiver place can pay to study the course - £350 entire course
Additional Costs
The following course-related costs are not included in the course fees:
- The cost of books that you may wish to purchase.
- Costs associated with your placement / study abroad
- Accommodation and living costs
- Printing
Disclaimer
For new intakes course fees are reviewed and published annually for each mode of delivery. Tuition fees are fixed for the duration of a course at the rate confirmed in the offer letter. For further information see:
Any Questions?
Get in touch with the team and we'll do our best to help.