Three areas of expertise, one integrated team
FIS Group works across three areas: strategic insight, innovation and product testing. They are delivered by one integrated team rather than three separate departments, so a project moves between them without the usual handovers.
We have people based across the UK. Our innovation team works out of Mission Kitchen in London, a creative, collaborative space built for food and drink thinking, where clients come for workshops, project meetings and readouts. Our main office is in Cambridge.
For consumer fieldwork at scale we operate through NOTED, our dedicated fieldwork sub-brand, with purpose-built recruit, viewing, kitchen and group facilities in Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham. Owning our own facilities means we can move quickly and hold quality, while staying agile enough to run projects anywhere across the UK.
The two sides of the business serve different but connected commercial needs. Businesses engaging FIS Group for strategic insight, innovation or product testing get the integrated team running their project end to end, with consumer fieldwork delivered through NOTED when the project calls for it. NOTED also works with clients directly, bringing the same dedicated fieldwork expertise to projects that sit within a wider research programme. Whichever route fits your brief, the two work together as one team.
The relationship is straightforward: NOTED Fieldwork is the dedicated fieldwork sub-brand within FIS Group, with its own team, operational specialism and external website. It is not a separate company or a partner. It is the part of FIS Group that handles fieldwork at scale, with its own route for clients who want fieldwork specifically rather than the broader strategic insight, innovation and product testing work.
The FIS Group headquarters
Mission Kitchen is our central London base and the operational headquarters of FIS Group. The senior team is based here. Client meetings, workshops, project kickoffs and readouts run from here. Strategic insight, innovation and product consultancy work happens from Mission Kitchen, with NOTED Fieldwork facilities used for fieldwork at scale where the project needs it.
Mission Kitchen sits as a dedicated food and drink innovation hub in central London, in the heart of the UK food and drink commercial landscape.
The location matters: most of the major UK food and drink commercial conversations happen within a short reach of central London, from grocery retailer head offices through to challenger brand operations, foodservice operators, hospitality groups and the broader food and drink ecosystem. Mission Kitchen is built for that ecosystem.
Mission Kitchen Address
Mission Kitchen,
The Food Exchange,
New Covent Garden Market,
London,
SW8 5EL
What runs from Mission Kitchen:
- Senior team office and day-to-day operations
- Strategic insight project work and senior interpretation
- Innovation workshops, ideation sessions, Hothouse formats and co-creation work
- Product development and concept refinement work
- Client meetings, project kickoffs and readout sessions
- Leadership team meetings with prospects, partners and industry contacts
Introducing NOTED Fieldwork
The dedicated fieldwork sub-brand within FIS Group
NOTED Fieldwork is our dedicated fieldwork sub-brand. It operates within the FIS Group structure rather than as a separate company, with its own team, its own operational specialism and its own external website for fieldwork-specific commissioning. NOTED Fieldwork delivers the recruit, viewing, kitchen and group infrastructure that makes consumer fieldwork at scale possible across the full range of food and drink research formats.
NOTED Fieldwork serves two distinct commercial relationships.
The first is internal: NOTED Fieldwork facilities and team support FIS Group strategic projects when the project needs fieldwork at scale, providing the dedicated operational infrastructure that the integrated insight and innovation model depends on. The second is direct: brands and agencies commissioning fieldwork specifically (rather than full FIS Group strategic engagement) work directly with NOTED Fieldwork through the dedicated NOTED Fieldwork buyer journey on the NOTED Fieldwork website.
The structural distinction matters for buyer routing. If you are commissioning a strategic insight programme, an innovation workshop or a product testing project, the right route is FIS Group, with NOTED Fieldwork delivering the fieldwork components of the engagement as part of the integrated team. If you are commissioning fieldwork specifically (recruit, focus group facilities, kitchen access for product testing, in-context fieldwork) without the broader strategic consultancy wrap, the right route is NOTED Fieldwork directly. The two routes do not compete because they serve different commercial needs.
What NOTED Fieldwork delivers:
- Consumer recruit at scale across UK demographics and consumer segments
- Focus group viewing facilities at both Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham locations
- Purpose-built kitchen facilities for product testing, sensory work and recipe development
- Group space for co-creation, workshops and stakeholder sessions
- Qualitative and quantitative fieldwork delivery infrastructure
- Operational specialism in food and drink fieldwork specifically
Our NOTED Fieldwork Facilities
NOTED Fieldwork, Bury St Edmunds
Our East of England fieldwork facility, based in Bury St Edmunds. Purpose-built for consumer fieldwork at scale, with recruit, viewing, kitchen and group infrastructure operating across food and drink categories.
Geographic catchment: East Anglia, the London commuter belt, Cambridge, the Eastern Home Counties and the broader East of England region. The location supports fieldwork projects where the consumer audience sits in this catchment, plus visiting clients from London who want to attend live sessions at the facility.
Address:
10 Brunel Business Court
Eastern Way,
Bury St Edmunds
IP32 7AJ
NOTED Fieldwork, Birmingham
Our Midlands fieldwork facility, based in Birmingham. Purpose-built for consumer fieldwork at scale, with the same recruit, viewing, kitchen and group infrastructure as the Bury St Edmunds facility, operating across food and drink categories.
Geographic catchment: the Midlands, the broader UK central region, the M6 corridor and the consumer markets accessible from Birmingham’s central UK position. The Birmingham facility supports fieldwork projects where the consumer audience sits in this catchment, and provides operational reach for national fieldwork programmes that need geographic balance across the UK.
Address:
126 High Street, Kings Heath,
Birmingham
B14 7LG
Need fieldwork rather than full strategic engagement?
If you are commissioning fieldwork specifically (recruit, focus group facilities, kitchen access for product testing, in-context fieldwork) rather than full FIS Group strategic insight, innovation or product consultancy engagement, NOTED Fieldwork is the right route. The NOTED Fieldwork website carries the full buyer journey for direct fieldwork commissioning: facility booking enquiries, project scoping for fieldwork-only engagements, capability detail for the recruit and viewing operations, and direct contact with the NOTED Fieldwork team.
Working with NOTED Fieldwork directly gives you access to the same purpose-built facilities and the same operational specialism that supports FIS Group strategic projects, without the broader strategic consultancy engagement. The right fit if your team is running the insight, innovation or product strategy internally or with another partner, and you need the fieldwork infrastructure to deliver consumer evidence at scale.
Working with FIS Group is the right route if you want the integrated insight and innovation model: senior team running the strategic, innovation or product work end-to-end, with NOTED Fieldwork delivering the fieldwork components as part of the integrated engagement. The right fit if your commercial question needs senior food and drink judgement applied to the consumer evidence rather than just the consumer evidence on its own.
Two clear routes:
- Fieldwork only, with your team running the strategic interpretation: Visit the NOTED Fieldwork website
- Strategic insight, innovation or product engagement with fieldwork included: Book a scoping call with FIS Group
How to visit
Whether you are visiting Mission Kitchen in London for a client meeting, attending a live qualitative session at one of the NOTED Fieldwork facilities, or arranging a tour of our spaces before committing to a project, the practical arrangements are below.
Visiting Mission Kitchen, London
Client meetings, project kickoffs, workshops and readouts at Mission Kitchen are arranged through your FIS Group senior contact. If you have not engaged FIS Group yet but want to visit the space ahead of a scoping conversation, contact the senior team or book a scoping call and ask about visiting.
Visiting NOTED Fieldwork at Bury St Edmunds or Birmingham
Attending a live qualitative session at one of the NOTED Fieldwork facilities is arranged through your project lead (FIS Group for integrated projects, NOTED Fieldwork directly for direct fieldwork projects). Visiting clients are common at both facilities, with viewing infrastructure designed to support live session observation. Facility tours for prospective fieldwork clients can be arranged through the NOTED Fieldwork team.
UK based, internationally active
FIS Group is UK-based but works internationally
Most major briefs we run have an international dimension somewhere in them, whether that is multi-market consumer research, international product testing, comparative regulatory work, or strategic insight programmes that need geographic balance beyond the UK alone. We run projects across Europe, the US and the UAE, with the same senior team, the same integrated insight and innovation model and the same operational standards.
International fieldwork is delivered through trusted local partners selected against FIS Group operational standards, with senior FIS Group oversight throughout. The senior team running the project from Mission Kitchen is the senior team that interprets the international consumer evidence, integrates it with the broader strategic work, and presents the international findings at readout.
The international dimension does not get handed off to a different team; it stays with the senior FIS Group leadership on the project.Wherever the brief sits geographically, the standards travel with us. Same senior team, same approach, same commitment to recommendations you can actually act on.
-
Meet the Team
The senior people who lead the FIS Group end of each partnership. Kelly Dowson leads the TFP partnership; Danny Butt leads the G Force partnership. Real backgrounds, direct contact for each.
-
Our Approach
The integrated insight and innovation model that the partnerships extend. How the core team and the partner specialisms work together within one operational framework.
-
Our Story
Four decades of food and drink specialism, plus the strategic partnership relationships that have developed alongside the firm's growth.
Or explore by commercial challenge
The six challenge areas across the food and drink commercial cycle. The integrated team across both operational halves supports all six.
FAQ
FIS Group is headquartered at Mission Kitchen in central London, where the senior team is based and where strategic insight, innovation and product consultancy work runs from. Dedicated fieldwork operations run through our NOTED Fieldwork sub-brand at purpose-built facilities in Bury St Edmunds (East of England) and Birmingham (Midlands).
FIS Group is the parent brand for our strategic insight, innovation and product consultancy work, headquartered at Mission Kitchen, London. NOTED Fieldwork is the dedicated fieldwork sub-brand within FIS Group, operating purpose-built facilities at Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham. They are not separate companies; NOTED Fieldwork is the structural division of FIS Group that handles fieldwork at scale, with its own team, operational specialism and external website for fieldwork-specific buyer engagement.
Depends on what you need. If you are commissioning strategic insight, innovation or product consultancy work (with fieldwork included as part of the integrated engagement), FIS Group is the right route. If you are commissioning fieldwork specifically (recruit, focus group facilities, kitchen access for product testing) without the broader strategic consultancy wrap, NOTED Fieldwork is the right route. Section 6 above explains the two routes in more detail with direct links to each.
Yes, by appointment. Client meetings, project kickoffs, workshops and readouts at Mission Kitchen are arranged through your FIS Group senior contact. If you have not engaged FIS Group yet but want to visit the space ahead of a scoping conversation, book a scoping call and ask about visiting.
Yes. Both NOTED Fieldwork facilities (Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham) have viewing infrastructure designed to support live session observation. Attending a live qualitative session is arranged through your project lead (FIS Group senior contact for integrated projects, NOTED Fieldwork directly for direct fieldwork projects). Visiting clients are common at both facilities.
Bury St Edmunds covers East Anglia, the London commuter belt, Cambridge and the broader East of England. Birmingham covers the Midlands and the broader UK central region. The two facilities together provide national geographic balance for fieldwork programmes. For consumer audiences outside the natural catchments of both facilities, NOTED Fieldwork can deploy recruit and fieldwork infrastructure across the UK depending on the project requirements.
Our dedicated facilities are the two NOTED fieldwork sites at Bury St Edmunds and Birmingham. Our innovation team works out of Mission Kitchen in London. International fieldwork is delivered through trusted local partners selected against FIS Group operational standards, with senior FIS Group oversight throughout. We run projects across Europe, the US and the UAE using this partner-based international model.
The NOTED Fieldwork website carries the full buyer journey for direct fieldwork commissioning including facility detail, capability information, project scoping for fieldwork-only engagements and direct contact with the NOTED Fieldwork team. The “Visit the NOTED Fieldwork website” CTAs throughout this page route to the NOTED Fieldwork site externally.
Two routes. Pick the one that fits your need.
If you need strategic insight, innovation or product consultancy work with fieldwork included, FIS Group is the right route. Twenty minutes on a scoping call with our senior team. If you need fieldwork directly without the broader consultancy wrap, NOTED Fieldwork is the right route. Visit the NOTED Fieldwork website for the dedicated fieldwork buyer journey.