Richard Hind, previously a senior buyer with Waitrose, has set up a specialised consultancy called Hindsight to improve communication between suppliers and their retail customers.

Hind believes producers and distributors can do much to improve their negotiating skills in potential areas of growth.

"There is a need to maximise this potential at a time when the whole industry is going through immense change," he said.

Hind will make direct contact with selected companies in the coming month.

"They may all need different things," he said. "But share common ground by wanting to gain the maximum benefit from resources which may have been under-used or undervalued."