Long Eaton-based Kitchen Prep UK specialises in chef-cooked ready meals for people who want to eat healthily but are time poor or need the convenience of pre-prepared frozen options that take just minutes to cook in the microwave. The inspiration for the lockdown enterprise came after founders Emily Willis and Luke Skidmore decided they wanted to support key workers like doctors, nurses and police officers and make it easier for them to source and eat healthy ready meals. The new business has been supported by experts at the Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham, who have given free advice on labelling, food hygiene training and other aspects of the enterprise. Emily, from Mansfield Woodhouse, who, until recently, was a key worker herself working as the deputy manager of a care home, said: “We all saw images during the pandemic of health workers who would come off shift and couldn’t find any fresh fruit or vegetables to buy. I have friends who are police officers and at night they are having chips and kebabs from fast food outlets because they can’t find anywhere open at that time that is selling healthy meals. I was also coming home after a busy day as a key worker and struggling to find time to cook healthy nutritional meals.” Luke had been working in concierge before the pandemic hit, organising travel and hospitality packages to places like Monaco and Marbella. After exploring various career-change options he decided to move into the food service sector. Between them, Luke and Emily hit on the idea of creating nutritionally balanced frozen pre-prepared meals and Kitchen Prep UK was born. The meals, which have been developed by nutritionist Nicole Mann, of NM Nutrition, are cooked by a chef at the couple’s unit in New Tythe Street, Long Eaton. They include meat, fish and plant-based options. Kitchen Prep UK currently sells dishes online and at P.E.C.S. Fitness in Long Eaton, run by Stephen Edwards and Tracy Kidsley. Stephen, who is Luke’s father, uses the nutritionally balanced meals, along with exercise, to help control his diabetes. Luke and Emily hope that in the future, the ready meals will be available via display units in key locations such as hospitals, police stations, gyms and other places – so staff and customers can enjoy their gourmet healthy pre-prepared meals on site or for take away. Luke, who lives in Long Eaton, said: “We use local produce and local premises. We get the meat and veg delivered in the morning, our professional chef batch cooks the dishes, which are then blast-chilled and frozen all on the same day – retaining their nutrients. All our customers need to do is heat their meals in a microwave straight from frozen. There’s no piercing the lid or stirring half way through. It’s really simple. “It was the needs of key workers that originally inspired us, but we can see that there are many people who would benefit from our Kitchen Prep UK nutritionally balanced meals, such as new mums, elderly people living on their own, busy professionals, gym goers…basically anyone who is trying to look after themselves. “The help and advice we have had from the Food Innovation Centre has been brilliant – it’s really given us a great start.” The Food Innovation Centre, based at the Bioenergy and Brewing Science building at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington campus, offers free support to eligible small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire under the Driving Research and Innovation project – a three-year project that runs until the end of December 2022. Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the D2N2 LEP, the project is run by the Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham School of Biosciences, in conjunction with the Chemistry Innovation Laboratory in the School of Chemistry and Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and in association with the Midlands Engine. It is a unique collaboration project that provides free specialist innovation support to small and medium-sized businesses. For more information about the Food Innovation Centre or to get in touch, visit https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/biosciences/facilities/food-innovation-centre.aspx

“We’re delighted to be able to continue to offer this free support to help even more people follow their dreams and make their business ideas a reality. There are no costs to take part. The only eligibility criteria are that people have a Derby or Derbyshire postcode and want to start a business.” Register for the next Winter Boot Camp

Boris Johnson may be urging a return to the office, but it seems both bosses and workers are expecting working from home to remain part of our regular working routine. Economists at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are carrying out regular surveys of workers across the Midlands to build up a picture of how people’s relationship with work is changing. The poll asks hundreds of people questions such as whether their work pattern is changing and if so, how – and how they feel about it. The first survey was done in October, and the second is being carried out next month (February). Key findings include:

• The average worker currently spends 60% of their time working from home
• Workers expect to spend 40-50% of their time working from home post pandemic compared to 10-20% before the pandemic
• The push to work from home appears to be driven more by employers than employees, possibly because of cost savings
• People love the lack of commuting time, but miss socialising most

Professor Edward Cartwright, of DMU’s Institute of Applied Economics and Social Value, said: “There’s a lot of uncertainty over whether we will revert back to how things were before, or whether there really has been a step change. “Everything we are seeing suggested it’s a big step change. The main headline result was that people expect to be working from home on some level forever. And what’s surprising is that this is largely being driven by the businesses, not the staff, as they see how they can cut costs.” Prior to the pandemic, the average time spent working from home was a day a week. During the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions that became four days. In October that had shifted to 60% of the time working from home and 40% in the workplace. Professor Cartwright added: “Our initial survey found that people expect it to level out at around 45%, and that will be permanent. However, people are not always the best at predicting the future so we want to track whether these assumptions are correct. “These findings are all in line with other surveys that have been carried out on smaller scale in the East Midlands and nationally. However, what’s surprising is that these changes to working from home is being driven by the business rather than staff. “Working from home is polarising – some people love it and others hate it. The most consistent negative is the lack of social interaction. Not many people have said the lack of good wifi for example, they miss their work friendships and seeing people in person.” There are some signs of companies shifting into smaller workspaces, and reducing expensive offices as staff would not all be in the office at the same time. “Clearly this also has implications for the city centre as businesses move to smaller premises, fewer people working in the city centre means lack of footfall which has knock on effects for retail,” added Professor Cartwright.

Small businesses in Northamptonshire can kickstart their business development plans with a new raft of support from the University of Northampton. The Knowledge Exchange for Better Business Projects will see up to 100 businesses from across the county receive thousands of pounds worth of bespoke support to boost their bottom line. The projects are open to businesses with fewer than 50 employees, which will offer them the opportunity to tap into the unique support package, which includes expert academic and business advice from the University of Northampton, training, peer networking, virtual assistants, fully funded internships, mentoring, coaching, and more, all designed to improve a business’s competitiveness and innovation capabilities. Wray Irwin, Director of Enterprise and Employability at the University of Northampton, said: “You could be looking to stabilise your business and scale up your operations, enhance a professional function within your family-owned business, such as finance or digital marketing, or perhaps evaluate and set the direction to enhance the way your business embraces environmental and sustainable business practices. “This programme brings students, businesses, and academics together to exchange expertise and resources to help make Northamptonshire a great place to start, build and grow a business. “We have a huge breadth of expertise here at the University, through this proactive knowledge exchange and support we can contribute economic, social, cultural, and environmental benefits to the people of Northamptonshire.” The Knowledge Exchange for Better Business projects are funded by the UK Government Community Renewal Fund through North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire Councils. Project partners include The Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce, The Mallows Company, Alchemy Virtual Assistance and the Federation of Small Businesses.

Metal and waste recycling specialist, Ward, has invested in a Mantsinen 70 hydraulic crane for its metal processing site at Redcar Bulk Terminal, to increase its export handling capacity for ferrous metals. The purchase of the brand-new diesel powered Mantsinen 70 is the largest single investment in material handling equipment Ward has made to date at over €800,000. The heavy-duty machine, developed with state-of-the-art technology has a maximum reach of 24 metres and weighs 95 tonnes. It can lift up to 15 tonnes of material in each movement. Thomas Ward, commercial director at Ward, said: “This is the largest piece of equipment in our business to date for bulk handling of scrap metal. The new Mantsinen 70 hydraulic crane is more energy efficient, helping to reduce both our handling costs and CO2 emissions per tonne at our Redcar site. It also has the benefit of helping to increase loading speeds, which is important factor when loading for our end users.” The Midlands-based business, with sites nationwide, purchased the brand new Mantsinen 70 through Cooper Handling, the exclusive UK distributor of Mantsinen hydraulic cranes, in early 2021 and took delivery in December. Martin Vanstone-Dale, manager of sales & rental MHE at Cooper Handling, said: “The concept of hydraulic cranes is all based around cycle times and productivity, which makes it ideal for Ward. They offer pinpoint accuracy and are more wind resistant thus aiding port operations and increasing efficiency. With added safety features and flexible attachments, we’re pleased to have been able to support Ward in acquiring an energy efficient option for its metal processing operations.” As part of The Ward Way sustainability strategy to 2030, the Ward team has also opted for the HybriLift® energy saving system. This optional extra provides greater load movement while using less energy, further demonstrating Ward’s ongoing commitment to carbon reduction and lowering energy consumption, increasing efficiency by up to 35 per cent. With three fixed cabin positions or two different cabin elevators, the Mantsinen 70 ensures stability and safety in the most challenging environments. It’s quick coupling, means the change of attachment can be made in a few minutes, reducing operational downtime. The multi-award winning, independent fourth generation family business has invested significantly over the last few years with a new head office in Ilkeston, ongoing upgrades to its transport facilities and improvements to its fleet. It has opened a rail terminal and another new deep sea port facility in Redcar in July 2021. This further expands its metal recycling capabilities and follows the deep-sea port development at Immingham in 2018. For more information on Ward’s metal recycling and waste management capabilities visit www.ward.com.