One of the more exciting projects at Princes is our Innov8 initiative.

Innov8 is a Princes hub to drive long term growth through innovation, focussing on:

• Research and Insight
• New Product Development
• Process and Packaging development
• New category development

Possibly the highest profile aspect of the initiative is the opening of our dedicated Innov8 kitchen in the Royal Liver Building HQ in Liverpool.

The new state-of-the-art kitchen is predominantly focussing on Blue Sky Innovation. The kitchen features a state-of-the-art facility, with a prep area, showcase space and interactive ideation and breakout area.

We have a new centralised Innovation team offering the full turnkey solution and putting consumers at the heart of what we do. The team includes Senior Development Chef Simon Stokes.

In an increasingly competitive and fast-paced market, it’s crucial that we adapt and change – this was the driving force behind last year’s relaunch of our corporate branding and new vision.

We know that to deliver sustainable and profitable growth we need to embrace customer and consumer insight and evolve to meet (and exceed) their changing needs.

Another important part of the Innov8 initiative is our exciting partnership with CUBO, who will help us to accelerate our innovation agenda.

Cubo specialises in consumer research, insight and strategic innovation. As part of this partnership, we have created a 1,300 strong consumer research panel giving instant feedback and insight at every stage of the innovation process.

We will be involving consumers in a pioneering way, putting them at the heart of all the NPD decisions we take.

The result will be that Princes will be able to deliver strategic food and drink innovation for our brands and customer own brands quicker than ever before.

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