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Food and Drink

Food and drink includes... the growing of food, animal faming and husbandry, agricultural service activities, fishing and the production process, manufacture and preserving of food, drink and foodstuffs.

This page offers a wealth of information and resources to help you investigate working in this sector or to help you read up to impress in applications and interviews.

Contents include

Overview

The South West Food and Drink sector is one of the strongest regional sectors in the UK with some 2,200 businesses and 62,000 employees. It offers a variety of local and regional products and has a wide range of local producers. The Food and Drink sector benefits from the leisure and tourism trade with around 20 million visitors spending a high proportion on food and drink. The region has developed a strong reputation for quality food production, especially around local traditional foods. Furthermore, it has been linked with strong branding through initiatives such as Taste of the West and has a reputation for high quality milk, meat, fish, fruit and vegetables products.

Approximately 12% of England’s Food and Drink manufacturing employment is in the South West. The sector contributes £2.6 billion (Gross Value Added, GVA) to the region, representing 4.5% of regional GVA. The physical environment of the region includes 1.8 million hectares of agricultural land and is home to 26% of all organic farmers. The South West has 30% of the UK diary production.

The key factors that drive the sector include changes in consumer demand, changing technology, market power and the continuing regulation of different industries within the sector.

Type and location of work

The following key facts about the Food and Drink sector were drawn from the Annual Business Inquiry which is a survey that collects employment and financial information from businesses.

The Annual Business Inquiry data shows both the number of businesses in the sector and the number of employees.

In 2007:

There were 2,178 Food and Drink businesses in the South West.
The majority of these businesses (2,092) had fewer than 100 employees.
Only 86 businesses had 100 or more employees.
The sector employed some 62,600 employees (2.8% of the South West workforce).

The main sub-sectors in terms of employee numbers were:

Businesses classified within the DEFRA/Scottish Agricultural industrial classification (22,800 employees).
Food and Drink manufacturing (18,500 employees).
Food and Drink production (7,900 employees).
The operation of cheese and dairy products industry (5,700 employees).
Food and drink processing (3,300 employees).

The main sub-sectors in terms of number of businesses were:

Fishing related activities (678 businesses).
Food and Drink manufacturers (658 businesses).
Agricultural service activities (168 businesses).
Growers of cereals, vegetables and crops (144 businesses).
Food and Drink producers (142 businesses).

The South West Government Office Region includes sixteen Local Authority Areas (County and Unitary authorities). The top Local Authority Areas (LAs), in terms of numbers of Food and Drink businesses located within them, included: Cornwall (531 businesses), Devon (454 businesses), Somerset (245 businesses) and Dorset (237 businesses). Summaries of the key industry facts for these LAs are shown below:

Cornwall: 97% of businesses (514) had less than 100 employees. The main industries in Cornwall were fishing related activities (316 businesses), Food and Drink manufacturers (111 businesses) and Food and Drink producers (28 businesses).
Devon: 98% of businesses (445) had less than 100 employees. The main industries in this LA included Food and Drink manufacturers (155 businesses), fishing related activities (122 businesses) and farming (36 businesses).
Somerset: 92% of businesses (226) had less than 100 employees. The main industries in this LA included Food and Drink manufacturers (89 businesses), farming (29 businesses) and the operation of cheese and dairy products (28 businesses).
Dorset: 97% of businesses (231) had less than 100 employees. The main industries in this LA included fishing activities (79 businesses), Food and Drink manufacturers (60 businesses) and agricultural service activities.

Major employers

Click here to view the major food and drink employers in the South West.

(Simply tick the 'Food and Drink' box under 'Industry sector' and hit 'search'. This will bring up many of the major food and drink employers in the region).

Job roles in this sector

Explore job roles... in food and drink.

Search for jobs now!

Improve - the sector skills council for foor and drink - offers specialist careers information and advice.

Skills deficits

Skills deficits are normally understood as either a skills shortage where there are hard to fill vacancies resulting from a lack of skills, qualifications or experience in applicants, or as a skills gap referring to employees that are not proficient at their current job. Sometimes a sector will report the skills deficits specifically as a skills shortage and/or as a skills gap, these are highlighted where available.

Skills gaps or shortages provide opportunities for graduates to fill! Talk to your tutor or careers service about how you can develop skills that are in short supply to give yourself the edge in the job market.

Improve - the Sector Skills Council for Food and Drink - report in their Sector Skills Agreement (2007) that the South West Food and Drink manufacturing sector experiences significant skills deficits in:

Supervisory/management roles
Technical roles, including food scientists, technologists, engineers and electricians
Machine operators
Craft skills, including bakers and butchers

There is also a need to address specific skills gaps to boast productivity and competitiveness in:

Management and supervisory skills
The quality of technical, practical and craft skills

Overall the Food and Drink sector has difficulty recruiting graduate scientists and engineers. This reflects, in part, the poor take up of science by young people at school.

The Peninsula Graduate Training Programme offers free generic skills training - particularly in management and supervisory skills.