Member Article

Serving up quality on a plate

Over 30 food-related businesses in Durham are being helped to increase standards and quality in a bid to better the county’s food offering. A new initiative by the County Durham Tourism Partnership (CDTP) aims to showcase the county’s food and drink offer to visitors and local people and to celebrate the quality of food available.

Those included in the pilot scheme, named ‘Taste of Durham’, include restaurants, teashops, cafes, pubs, hotel restaurants and cafes in visitor attractions. Each company will be assessed on a number of criteria including the physical features and condition of the establishment, the food on offer, the commitment to sourcing local produce, cleanliness, comfort, the warmth of welcome and the overall atmosphere.

Melanie Sensicle Chief Executive of CDTP, said: “Through this scheme we want to showcase Durham’s finest eateries and support those that need some help to better their offer. We hope Taste of Durham will be an instantly recognisable quality marque that will help diners to make the best choices when eating out.”

Sandy Duncan, general manager of Northumbria Larder, lead partner in the North East England Food & Drink Group, said: “This is an admirable initiative which has our full support. Two of our major aims are to drive up standards and to promote North East England’s excellent food and drink products. We have some of the best produce in the world and Taste of Durham will help people to appreciate that. We would encourage other businesses to sign up to this initiative.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .