Andrew Bowman (far left) and Gerry McCarthy (far right), both of Ri, with Craig Strachan and Hannah Fisher  (pic: contributed)

A new tenant has moved into Riverside Inverclyde’s (Ri) Kelburn Business Park in Port Glasgow, adding to a growing cluster of food and drinks firms.

The Start-Up Drinks Lab (SUDL), a contract manufacturer and bottler specialising in small batch production of beverages, has taken a 2,300 sq ft unit at £6 per sq ft on a five-year lease.

The business was launched last year by ex Saatchi & Saatchi and drinks industry marketer Hannah Fisher and chartered accountant Craig Strachan who worked for PwC then Arnold Clark.

They identified a gap in the market for small-batch production which began in June this year. The company employs six people at the Kelburn plant and aims to add 15 jobs by 2021.

Ri was created to attract new companies and help expand existing businesses in the Inverclyde area. SUDL has been helped by Scotmid Cooperative, Scottish Enterprise, Business Gateway and Scottish Edge. The latter provided £75,000 to support its initial growth.

Gerry McCarthy, chairman of Ri, said the company adds  to the embryonic food & drink sector in Inverclyde.