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The
food and drink industry covers agriculture
and fishing, food and drink manufacturing,
distribution and warehousing, wholesaling,
retail, foodservice and catering. |
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It
involves companies that grow, source and produce
ingredients; process, preserve and package
products; research and design products; taste
test, market and transport products to customers
and also a whole range of companies actually
at the customer interface. |
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- It is the
largest manufacturing sector in
the UK and accounts for over 15%
of total UK manufacturing.
- There are
109 Food & Drink businesses,
employing 1,761 people located in
the Luton City Growth area.
- This is
effectively 4% of all people employed
in Luton, and 3% of Luton’s
businesses.
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The
overall number of food and drink employees
is increasing by 5% per year, whilst
challenges from low cost economies overseas
has seen increasing competition –
resulting in a decrease of 7.2% of businesses
per year. This is partly due to many
mergers and acquisitions in recent years,
as companies reposition themselves against
the competition. |
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Many
small and medium sized organisations
have strengthened their positions and
improved their margins by catering for
specialist food and niche market products
eg high quality, local, organic produce.
New technology and more cost-effective
methods of production can help food
and drink businesses drive forward,
and the world wide web now means even
the smallest companies can reach a far
wider customer base through the Internet. |
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Companies
in the Luton City Growth area benefit
from proximity to the London market,
which houses a large and rapidly growing,
relatively wealthy market for food and
drink products. |
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(Source:
ABI Data 2003, Food and Drink Federation,
LSC Food and Drink Sector Skills Report,
Luton City Growth Strategy 2005) |
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About City Growth Luton
