What is your background?

Debbie and I both have a background in farming. Debbie is very much the brains and studied agriculture and marketing. We work together on product development, but I am on the sales side. We were married at 20 and have four children - Jamie, Guy, Roddy and Ellie. We live on a 1,000-acre family farm near Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

Tell us a bit about Debbie and Andrew's Sausages?

In 1999 we were looking for alternative income. We had always had a hand in butchering and meat so decided to take the plunge and do it properly. All we do is sausages and our products include Andrew's Original Sicilian Sausages, Debbie's Original Provençal Sausages, Original English Breakfast Sausages and Favourite Harrogate Sausages. We supply all the supermarkets and have national listings in Morrisons and Sainsbury's and regional listings in Asda and Tesco. We launch products all the time and have grown rapidly. We now employ

30 people.

What has been keeping you busy lately?

Earlier this year we launched Higgledy Piggledy Sausages, a healthier sausage option for kids. We realised that there was only one other company in the kids' sausage market and thought that there was room for a better product. With only one branded competitor in the category, we believe there is both a market opportunity and a duty to parents and their children to provide a healthier option. More and more consumers are demanding products that are lower in fat and better for you. The product was launched in Morrisons and Sainsbury's and we've linked up with DreamWorks' Over the Hedge to raise awareness. We have also secured licence deals for new products with Scottish & Newcastle Brown Ale and Colman's Mustard.

What are your plans for 2006 and beyond?

We would like to grow the business and keep developing new ideas. We would like to be well thought of as open and honest because we are real people making real food. We are innovative and always use British meat. We also want to create demand everywhere. Rather than forcing our products into supermarkets, we create our own market. We visit more than 400 consumer events and agricultural shows a year and this year 1.5 million people will sample our products across the country. We have created a hot food van with a built in disco for sampling. It's black and looks amazing.