PUPILS at schools in North Yorkshire are entitled to experience the sweet – or is it savoury? – smell of success.

That was the decision made last year by bosses at Firmenich UK Ltd, the more than £15 million turnover food flavour manufacturer which employs 52 people on the Dalton Airfield industrial estate, at Thirsk.

The result was a local schools partnership programme so successful that the company is now pitching for the Best Employer and Education Link title in The Press Business Awards 2010.

Called Developing A Taste For The Future, the programme was triggered by a future need to attract talented people into the business which, from 2,000 separate raw materials, produces 2,500 metric tonnes of flavouring , 85 per cent of which is exported, with 15 per cent sold to UK markets.

It resurfaces as savoury flavours in soups, stock cubes and pasta sauces, or sweet flavours in the likes of ice cream, powdered desserts and yoghurts.

With the help of North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership (NYBEP), the factory welcomed 27 students on site and interacted with more than 1,000 young people and their parents throughout the year at career fairs and business enterprise days. Work experience was provided to four students.

Many of them saw for themselves the process of creating more than 1,500 products on site which are supplied to more than 300 customers worldwide.

Site director Neil Winstanley said: “It gives us the opportunity to help these prospective future employees learn about our company and what diverse jobs are available in manufacturing.

Steering the programme were project leader Shirley Boyd and production planner Jen Hunt.

Shirley said: “Lots of people on site have learned more about the business as a whole, as students ask questions which make us think about what we do. It has given employees the opportunity to get more involved with local schools and demonstrate their pride in their business.”