A VENTURE aimed at helping small food and drink manufacturers in the North-East to expand their businesses is being launched by Durham Business School.

The project is being run to ensure the businesses have the knowledge and expertise to develop and change in one of the country's most competitive - and unusual - industries.

Owners and managers will take part in a series of practical workshops over a year to help them think through how to tackle new markets, new products and increased productivity.

Keith Herrmann, who will be leading the programme, said: "The food and drink sector is so unusual because 85 per cent of its entire output is taken by just five customers, the big supermarket chains.

"That obviously has a big influence on how small food and drink producers operate."

The business school's Great North East Food and Drink Growth and Change Programme is based on a successful project run during the past year for meat businesses in the Irish Republic.

Endorsed by One NorthEast, it is a tailored version of the programme already being run in the North-East for small and medium businesses from any industry.

Jeff Ball, senior executive for Clusters Development, said: "The Growth and Change Programme forms an integral part of the region's food and drink cluster development strategy and will be pivotal to increasing the competitiveness of local firms."

For further information, call 0191-334 2725.