A FOOD company delivering local produce to customers' doorsteps across the region plans to more than triple in size by 2008.

Crofters Foods, in North Yorkshire, was established last June as a mobile food store, selling a range of food and drink produced in the North-East and North Yorkshire.

Over the next three years founder Grahame Armitage, who also founded SK Foods, in Middlesbrough, hopes to expand across the region and into South Yorkshire, open a second depot in Durham and take on more staff.

Mr Armitage has invested about £100,000 in the company and recently received a £26,000 grant from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for marketing.

He said: "I saw a real gap in the market for a service delivering high-quality, local produce to customers across the region.

"I noticed various trends, like the growth of farmers' markets and the growth of home shopping, and thought a business that combined the two could work."

Mr Armitage bought a small operation run by Keith Laws, from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, selling eggs and a small amount of produce to customers in York, Harrogate, Neasham, and Croft, near Darlington, as a way into the industry.

Mr Armitage said: "Keith just operated out of a white van, with no branding, but he had a loyal customer base and it gave me a chance to set up Crofters without starting from scratch."

Crofters has grown from having fewer than 200 customers to serving more than 450. By June, after a marketing campaign and a 120,000 leaflet drop in the region, that figure is expected to more than double.

By the end of the year, the company plans to be running five vans from a central depot in Thirsk. Next year, it wants to open a second depot in Durham and expand across the county into Darlington and Newcastle.

As part of a three-year plan, which depends on Crofters achieving a turnover of £750,000 in the next three months, it plans to reach Leeds and Wakefield by 2008.

Crofters delivers a range of produce, including fresh and cooked meat from Darlington, soup by The Yorkshire Soup Company, cheese from the Wensleydale Creamery, in Hawes, and Shepherds Purse, in Thirsk, smoked fish, ready-prepared meals, preserves, cakes, breads, organic fruit and vegetables, eggs and drinks.

Mr Armitage has worked in the food industry for more than 20 years, forming a number of partnerships with Les Bell, the founder of the Bells Stores chain, which was sold to Sainsbury's in 2004 for about £22m.