Upskilling // Accelerator Programme
Food Systems Essentials
An Accelerator Programme from Future Food Movement
Helping professionals make better commercial decisions when cost, climate, resilience, health, consumer demand and growth are all pulling in different directions.
Join a cross-industry, cross-functional and cross-level cohort to:
→ Make faster, more confident decisions under pressure
→ Read system signals and translate them into commercial implications
→ Navigate trade-offs between cost, risk, resilience and growth with greater confidence
→ Reduce friction between commercial, operational and sustainability priorities
Participants learn alongside retailers, manufacturers, foodservice operators, farmers, suppliers, NGOs and industry bodies.
The value is not just in the expert input. It's understanding how the same challenge is experienced from different parts of the food system and pressure-testing decisions with people facing different commercial realities.
96%
of past Accelerator participants report increased confidence to deliver future-fit solutions.
From signal to decisions in four weeks
The programme follows a simple progression:
signals → supply → demand → application
Across four online sessions, participants build a clearer view of what is changing, where it creates exposure or opportunity and how to make better decisions when commercial and sustainability pressures collide.
Week 1
System signals
Read the signals: Identify the signals reshaping the food system, understand what matters now, and explore how emerging trends influence commercial decisions.
Week 2
Climate & Supply Dynamics
Manage exposure: Explore how climate change, decarbonisation and geopolitical shifts are reshaping supply, cost and resilience, and the trade-offs they create for food businesses.
Week 3
Driving Demand Through Health
Capture demand: Explore how health, nutrition and changing consumer expectations are influencing demand, category growth, portfolio choices and commercial strategy.
Week 4
Action Lab
Apply to live decisions: Bring a real decision, challenge, trade-off or opportunity from your organisation and work through it with expert coaches and peers from across the food system.
Leave with clearer next steps, fresh perspectives and practical actions you can apply immediately.
What participants will gain
This Accelerator is designed to help participants:
Make better commercial decisions when priorities pull in different directions
Identify which signals matter and what they mean for their business
Navigate trade-offs between cost, resilience, health, growth and sustainability with greater confidence
Challenge assumptions and pressure-test decisions with peers from across the food system
Reduce friction between functions and align teams around better decisions
Apply learning immediately to live business challenges
Who is this for?
Designed for mid to senior-level professionals across:
Commercial
Procurement
Supply Chain
Sustainability
Strategy
Innovation
Operations
Particularly those already navigating decisions where cost, climate, resilience, health, consumer demand and growth are pulling in different directions.
Participants join a cross-industry, cross-functional and cross-level cohort that includes retailers, manufacturing, foodservice, farmers, NGOs, suppliers and industry bodies.
The cohort was the entire value chain… that mix was phenomenally valuable.
Nick Henderson,
Procurement, Supply Chain, & Sustainability Director, Belazu
Join the September cohort
4 live online sessions, 2 hours each.
Only 8 hours total.
Starts 9th September. Places are limited.
Silver, Gold and Platinum members: £675 p/p
Bronze members: £810 p/p
Non members: £900 p/p*
Non-members receive 3 months' complimentary individual access to Future Food Movement membership.
We are also booking for future cohorts.
Contact us to find out more
Previous cohorts include:
My thinking has shifted from understanding to action. The programme strengthened my strategic thinking and gave me the confidence, insight and connections to lead this agenda across our business and with our retail partners.
Rachel Smith,
Head of Development- Packaging, HSD and Brands, Greencore
Work through practical sessions with practitioners who have shaped strategy and delivered change across the food system.
Bringing real-world experience from across the food system, including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Müller, PepsiCo, Asda, Costa Coffee, Cafédirect and more.
Kate Cawley
Week 1
System signals
-
Kate Cawley is the founder of Future Food Movement. Partnering with leaders across the food industry - from retailers, foodservice, brands and manufacturers - Kate drives insight-led action on climate, health, and sustainability, aiming to make food a force for positive change. Kate’s focus is on challenging leadership mindsets and believes leaders need to think and act quite differently if we are to achieve an industry wide transformation. Kate founded Future Food Movement to boost business competency and confidence to act, bridging the gap from Boardroom to shop floor with a team of experts in climate, nutrition, public health, regenerative systems, behaviour change and governance, empowering the industry to drive meaningful action.
Will Clare
Week 2
Climate and supply dynamics
-
Will Clare advises on the net zero transition for the food industry, ranging from product impact assessments, to setting SBTs, producing training content for a better understanding of climate change to guidance for site teams on how to deliver reductions in energy use and the development of net zero pathways. He runs workshops and lectures for a variety of different industries and organisations on climate change.
Chris Manley
Week 2
Climate and supply dynamics
-
Chris Manley is the Founder of Traction Consulting, helping food businesses close the gap between supply chain ambition and real-world delivery.
Raised on a cattle and sheep farm in Devon, he combines practical agricultural experience with a career spanning senior roles at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Müller, where he led complex programmes across sustainability, farmer engagement and supply chain development.
Through Traction, Chris works with retailers, processors and industry partners to move beyond strategy and into action, aligning commercial, environmental and operational priorities in a way that works in practice, not just on paper, with a strong focus on commercial viability and long-term value.
Alongside this, he is increasingly focused on the practical application of AI within food and agriculture businesses. His work helps leaders cut through the noise, build confidence with the tools, and use AI in a way that genuinely saves time, improves decision-making and strengthens supply chain performance.
Charlotte Radcliffe
Week 3
Driving demand through health
-
Charlotte is a multi-award-winning Registered Nutritionist (RNutr) with over two decades of experience working across the food industry. Her expertise spans evidence-based nutrition strategy, menu development, product optimisation, stakeholder engagement, and policy alignment.
Media-trained and science-led, Charlotte makes nutrition actionable for retailers, hospitality businesses, food brands, and public sector partners. She has partnered with leading brands to drive meaningful change in the food environment, helping businesses navigate the complex landscape of sustainable nutrition.
Susan Thomas
Week 4
Action lab
-
Susan has spent over 25 years in the food industry in a range of commercial, marketing and strategic leadership roles. Formerly the Senior Director Sustainability at Asda, she is now an independent consultant working to bridge the complex landscape for action on food sustainability into industry commercial practices.
During her 8 years at PepsiCo she led strategic partnerships with retailers to shift the snacking category towards healthier options ahead of HFSS regulation, and consulted to many of the world's best known brands and retailers around the world during the first part of her career at Kantar.
Helen Ireland
Week 4
Action lab
-
With a career spanning some of the UK’s best-known food and drink brands, Helen brings deep expertise in embedding sustainability into commercial strategy. She supports businesses at every stage of their journey - building cross-functional capability, unlocking organisational momentum and designing climate-positive roadmaps that stick. Before joining Future Food Movement, Helen led transformational sustainability work at Sainsbury’s, Costa Coffee and Cafédirect, integrating ESG into finance, strategy, product, brand and supply chains. She’s passionate about collaborative learning, systems thinking and empowering teams to move from intent to action - ensuring sustainability becomes everyone’s business, not just a function.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is this programme for?
Designed for mid to senior professionals across commercial, procurement, supply chain, sustainability, strategy, innovation and operations.
Particularly those already navigating decisions where cost, climate, resilience, health, consumer demand and growth are pulling in different directions.
Do I need previous food systems or sustainability knowledge?
No.
The programme is designed to help participants build confidence and commercial judgement regardless of prior food systems knowledge.
What makes this different from other programmes?
Most programmes explore climate, health or supply chains in isolation.
The Food Systems Essentials Accelerator brings together retailers, manufacturers, foodservice operators, farmers, suppliers, NGOs and industry bodies in the same cohort, helping participants pressure-test decisions from different perspectives across the food system.
Is the programme practical?
Yes.
Every session focuses on what is changing, why it matters, the trade-offs it creates and what actions participants can take as a result.
Week 4 is a practical Action Lab where participants work through live business challenges with peers and coaches.
Can I fit the programme around work?
Yes.
4 live online sessions
2 hours per session
8 hours total
Recordings are available if a session is missed.
Do I receive a certificate?
Yes.
Participants receive a certificate of completion at the end of the programme.