The Industry

Welcome to the world of food and drink manufacturing. The industry represents a diverse collection of businesses and services and the career opportunities are equally as diverse.

The industry employs a staggering 500,000 people with an annual turnover of £73 billion. It’s an industry which has had a low profile in the past so Improve’s mission is to make sure you know what the industry is really about.

We’ll show you that this industry is dynamic, fast paced and ready to give you promotion quickly!

Our aim is to tell you how it is, we want to give you a real ‘taste’ of this huge industry by showing you real people in real jobs. Over 20% of the top 100 companies are in food manufacturing!

This industry needs new recruits like you. In 2004/5 there were 43,600 job vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus in the sector. By 2014, we will have around 118,000 extra jobs in the sector that will be available and need to be filled.

This is just one reason why you should consider a career in this huge industry. 

It may just surprise you!

Available Careers

The future is an exciting time for food and drink industries. As our age and lifestyle changes this influences the industry’s objectives. Demand for healthy food and food with positive health benefits are growing fast, there really has never been a better time to join!

Our industry covers these sectors:

Research and Product Development

Could you create the next big thing? A new product or new packaging that takes the world by storm? If you think you could then this is for you.

Purchasing

Everything that goes into a product needs buying and at the best price! So if you fancy scouring the world in search of good food, consider this role.

Production

This involves putting all of those ingredients together to create tasty products. Production includes planning, operating machinery, engineering and many other jobs that you might want to get your teeth into.

Quality Assurance

Food safety is paramount. This area of work is all about setting up systems to check and double check quality throughout the entire process. This is definitely one for people interested in science and technology.

Marketing

Creative thinkers are needed to ensure consumers know about your products and want them. So organisational and business skills come in handy.

Sales

Selling the product is just as important as making it. You’ll need to be a good communicator and love the product you’re trying to get people to buy.

Logistics

Getting ingredients and the finished product where they need to be on time and in perfect condition needs a logical mind.

Human resources

Making companies profitable through people and managing gritty employment issues.

Finance

Participating in business decisions and explaining to business leaders the implications of their actions.

Information technology

Providing technology infrastructure, developing applications, and supporting the people using them.