Kings Heath food testing centre named best in the UK

A food and drink testing centre that opened on Kings Heath High Street only last month has been named the best of its kind in the UK.

Noted Fieldwork won Best Viewing/Research Testing Facility at the Market Research Society's Operations Awards in London, judged against a shortlist of the country's leading research facilities. The Kings Heath centre, the company's newest, opened on 17 September.

A kitchen behind the shop front

Behind the shop front is a working kitchen with food preparation and cooking facilities, temperature-controlled storage and testing rooms. Members of the public taste, try and score products ranging from new ready meals to coffee, often months before they reach a supermarket.

On a busy day, up to 120 people come through the doors. Noted's community of testers already numbers more than 25,000 people nationally, and the Birmingham centre is recruiting from across the city.

"We would like their honest opinion"

Steve Lawrence, Noted Fieldwork's operations director, said: "This award is for the whole team, the people who recruit, host and run every session properly, and it has been earned over a lot of years."

"The response from Kings Heath has been brilliant. People walk past, see the sign, and come in to ask what we do," he said. "The answer is that we would like their honest opinion on what they eat and drink, and we will reward them for it. The more of Birmingham we have on the panel, the better the answers the industry gets."

How to take part

Anyone aged 18 or over living in or around Birmingham can join by getting in touch with the company. Sessions run throughout the week, usually last under an hour, and every participant is rewarded for their time.

Why Birmingham?

Birmingham is one of the youngest and most diverse cities in Europe, which makes it an attractive place for food companies to test new products. Manufacturers want to know how a recipe will go down with people of different ages, backgrounds and tastes before they commit to producing it at scale, and a panel drawn from across the city can give them that.

The city also has deep roots in food manufacturing, from Cadbury in Bournville to the makers of Bird's Custard and HP Sauce, whose old factories are still part of the city's landscape.

A boost for Kings Heath

For Kings Heath, the centre brings new footfall to a high street that, like many, has seen shops close in recent years. Its location means visitors often stop at nearby cafés and shops before or after a session, and local traders have welcomed new reasons for people to visit.

Market research in the UK

The UK has one of the largest market research industries in the world, and the Market Research Society is its professional body. Its Operations Awards recognise the teams that recruit participants and run research behind the scenes, work that is rarely seen by the public but shapes many of the products on supermarket shelves.