NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR REGIONAL FOOD AND DRINK INDUSTRY (July 2007)

A newly-formed consortium aims to transform North East England’s food and drink economy after being awarded a £2 million, four-year contract with regional development agency, One NorthEast.

The new Regional Food Group led by Northumbria Larder in partnership with North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) and Improve, will be responsible for assisting businesses, increasing consumer awareness and availability of a wide range of quality regional and local produce, and delivering significant growth in regionally-produced food and drink sales.

The Group will engage with 200 related businesses and organisations, help to create over 250 new jobs, and oversee training and development activity resulting in 900 employees in the sector gaining enhanced skills.

One NorthEast is committed to seeing regional produce increase its market share of total food and drink sales in the North East and believes that after joining forces the three organisations are best placed to deliver the ambitions of the Strategy for Regionally Produced Food and Drink in North East England, launched last November.

Sandy Duncan, General Manager of Northumbria Larder, speaking on behalf of partners NECC and Improve, said “We have an ambitious but, we think, achievable vision to create a thriving, high profile and sustainable North East England food and drink sector. We want to support and help existing organisations to flourish, inspire enterprising individuals to start related new businesses, and ensure that staff in the service sector are given the skills to be excellent and knowledgeable regional hosts.”

Adding value to the region’s tourism and hospitality sectors is an important aim of the new partnership. It will work with Tourism Network North East to help ensure that visitors have the opportunity to sample and enjoy high quality food from the region.