Make the right choices

Apr 16 2008 by Andrew Hebden, The Journal

I FELT particularly satisfied after finishing my dinner on Saturday night. And on Sunday, for that matter.

It wasn’t just because I had enjoyed two excellent meals, on Saturday at Newcastle’s Grainger Rooms restaurant and the following day as a result of our own endeavours in the kitchen.

It also cheered me to know that everything I had eaten had been locally produced, which I am sure only added to the flavour and freshness of the meals.

The Grainger Rooms is committed to sourcing its products from within a 20-mile radius of its restaurant while the ingredients for my roast beef dinner on Sunday were bought entirely from a farm shop a couple of miles from my home.

The Journal is playing its part in encouraging people in this part of the world to take advantage of the rich larder on their doorstep through its Taste North East England campaign. Yesterday we announced details of our first food and drink festival in Gateshead on April 26 which will be showcasing some of the best the region has to offer.

The importance of buying local was raised last week at the annual meeting of the Tyne and Wear sub-regional committee of the North East Chamber of Commerce after one member company revealed how it had lost out on a contract with a North East local authority. The contract was instead awarded to a firm from the south of England with no experience of working in the north.

The representative from the company felt aggrieved at this “snub” and there was much sympathy for his arguments. NECC research shows if the public sector in the North East spent an additional 1% locally each year until 2016, then it would be worth an extra £1.35bn to the region’s economy.

It would seem that more needs to be done to get that message across to our local councils, but it is an issue that must be handled sensitively, especially given exports form such an integral part of the economy in the North East.

Businesses here should in general award contracts to local suppliers where the pitch made by those suppliers is better than – or as good as – those on offer from outside the region. They should also factor in the added value dealing locally can bring.

We will only become a stronger force economically if we make the right choices for our own companies. Playing a part in helping the region thrive by doing business locally is a big part of that, but it must be considered in context. Otherwise, we can’t complain when firms in other regions of the UK – or even overseas – apply the same criteria when deciding who to do business with.

Andrew Hebden is Assistant Editor (Business) of The Journal.