Food & drink
Growing appetites
An insatiable appetite for the artisan, the alternative and the adventurous is helping feed the success of the UK’s food and drink industry, a key ingredient in the nation’s economic prosperity.
The UK’s food and drink sector is the largest single manufacturing sector in the UK, with a turnover of around £100bn. Whisky is its single biggest export but the sector has a hugely diverse number of enterprises that are finding niches and serving new, evolving consumer tastes and demands. The companies featured here have identified these trends and are exceeding expectations with quality, customer care and innovative thinking.
Sector at a glance
- £21.5 billion – The value of food and drink companies to the UK economy
- 6,360 – The number of small food and drink businesses in Britain
- 3-4% – The predicted yearly growth of the food manufacturing and processing industry in the UK
The economies of scale
> Read what John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, has to say about what SMEs need to grow



