A ONE-WOMAN food business which has taken the culinary world by storm in its first six months of trading is planning national expansion.

Butter-Fingers was set up in November and instantly attracted widespread attention for its range of speciality butters flavoured with locallysourced herbs.

The products have been hailed by food critics as a masterstroke for the cooking world.

Now, the company, based in Shildon, County Durham, is eyeing national expansion and link-ups with UK-wide suppliers to help supplement its rapidly-growing North- East client base.

It has also expanded its range from the original savoury flavours, which include hot chilli and basil and sun-dried tomato, to sweet butters, with flavours like orange, lemon, lime and ginger.

A seasonal-themed range, which could include cinnamon for Christmas, is also planned.

Kairen Dods, the founder of Butter-Fingers – which produces butter in handy-sized fingers to add a burst of flavour to food – is now considering relocating to a bigger unit and is looking to take on her first members of staff to accommodate the expansion plans.

Mrs Dods, a former farmer’s wife from Heighington, near Darlington, said she has been stunned by how her business has developed in the past six months, adding: “The success has been unprecedented despite the fact consumers are spending less at the moment, so the time is right to take the products to a wider audience.”

Within its first few weeks of business, the Butter-Fingers range was snapped up by fine food retailer Lewis and Cooper, in Northallerton, and is now in outlets including the Brockbushes farm store, near Corbridge, Northumberland, and Keelham Hall, Bradford.

Mrs Dods will now search for the ideal partners for her product at national trade shows, the first of which will be the Harrogate Speciality Food Show, which attracts more 150 food operators from the UK and Europe.

She said: “This will be my first national trade show, and I hope to find retailers and food service operators who share my passion for a convenient but quality product and see the butters sold nationwide.”