Fare deal is chance to spread the word

Feb 8 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

IT’S 2018. North East foods have become UK-wide bestsellers and the preferred choice for the major air and rail operators.

Meanwhile, all the big supermarkets and independent delicatessens have counters dedicated to the plethora of quality foods and drinks flooding out of the region.

A pipe dream? Certainly it is at the moment, with the North East not only languishing at the bottom of the English regions for numbers of artisan food and drink companies, but lagging way behind when it comes to annual turnover.

But a new group set up to champion the region’s producers believes it can catapult the North East into the food premier league in the next decade.

The North East England Food and Drink Group has been awarded a £2m four-year contract with development agency One NorthEast to oversee this rapid and radical transformation.

Led by Northumbria Larder with North East Chamber of Commerce and Improve, the food and drink-making sector skills council, it hopes by 2011 to have overseen business start-ups, helped develop a stream of innovative products and ensured that regional goods made, grown and raised on our doorstep are consumers’ first choice.

In addition the North East England Food and Drink Group hopes to create or safeguard 250 jobs and help secure the training of 900 employees.

By 2018 it is planned superior foods such as Carroll’s Heritage Potatoes from Tiptoe near Cornhill-on-Tweed, North Sea shellfish, Cheviot lamb and virgin rapeseed oils are top of shoppers’ grocery lists nationally and that regional recipes of the month are regularly featured in magazines and websites to tie in with supermarket and delicatessen offerings.

It’s a tall order, but one Frances Rowe, One NorthEast’s rural and environment manager, is confident the group will achieve. “Local and regional food and drink are already very important players in the rural economy and in the region’s tourism offer, but we want to see their contribution to the wider food and drink sector rise by at least 50% over the next three years. We’ve established the North East England Food and Drink Group to drive the work needed to make that happen, and to make sure that the right support is in place for North East England to reach that challenging target.”

The group’s creation comes just a week after the launch of The Journal Taste North East England Campaign calling on consumers, producers and businesses to buy local, use local and eat local to boost the region’s economy.

We want more shops to stock produce from our region, more restaurants and hotels to champion local food and drink and more people to buy the wealth of high-quality goods available between the Scottish border and North Yorkshire.

Chairman of North East England Food and Drink group, and Northumbria Larder, Jack Jeffery, said it was an opportunity this region had not had before – four-year funding allowing long-term planning.

“Our vision seeks to deliver more sustainable rural communities, with more businesses taking their place in a highly recognised regional supply chain.

“It will also see increasing numbers of people coming into the region, not just for its people and places, but also for its food and drink culture and restaurants offering menus full of regional produce.”

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North East England Food and Drink Group vision

• North East food and drink is on the national menu – all the big supermarkets and hundreds of independent delicatessens have regional food counters and the North East brand is the preferred choice of major air and rail operators.

• Menus full of local produce in cafes, bars and restaurants.

• Tourists visiting the region in their droves, not just for the scenery and the friendliness of the people, but now also for its food and drink culture.

• Learning and skills thriving – courses are full and there is a wealth of talent. Graduates love the region and stay here to work, which has led to more business starts.

• Rural communities are more sustainable and rural businesses are taking their place in the recognised regional supply chain. Primary production is much more diverse and contributing fully to the region’s rural economy.

• Accredited regional food and drink hosts are helping customers choose from the vast array of regional recipes and products available in numerous outlets throughout the North East, but they had already sampled our wonderful fish and meat while they were on holiday abroad.

• Region’s economy is on the up – bolstered by the success of the food and drink sector.

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‘We’ve been crying out for this’

ANN HUSTWIT is a shining example of the type of food producer the North East will hopefully soon have more of.

Some 17 years ago, she and business partner Hilary Jenkins began baking and selling fruit cakes from their farmhouse kitchens in County Durham.

Now Bishop Auckland firm Jenkins & Hustwit’s traditional handmade cakes, puddings and tea loaves are not only sold in every Asda in the North East, but are in delicatessens and luxury food shops from the top of Scotland to the southernmost tip of England. Ann, a former home economics teacher at Staindrop Comprehensive School, in County Durham and Hilary, who retired last summer, credit Northumbria Larder with bringing Jenkins & Hustwit to wider notice. And she believes the new North East England Food and Drink Group will be a boon to other producers.

“The North East has been crying out for a group like this and I’m sure it will make a huge difference. …

“Every other area has a food group championing them and we had nobody. We have made great strides since then.

“The Journal’s campaign to buy local, use local, eat local will help.”