I love it when I come across a well-known company that I had no idea was based in the Midlands. It happened to me a year or so ago when I found out health food chain Holland & Barrett is based in Nuneaton and then more recently when I discovered Premier Food Groups, which produces the Mr Kipling range of cakes, is based in Rugby.

And last week I was delighted to find out that Tulip, the owner of the Spam, Stagg and Danepak brands, is based in Warwick. The joy of discovering something appealing - serendipity if you like - is a minor point, though, when put against the reason these firms are making the news.

In the case of Holland & Barrett and Tulip both have featured in our newsletter in recent days because of their excellent performance.

Both profit and turnover is up at Holland & Barrett. The retailer recorded turnover of £275.5m, an increase of more than £25m on its year-end result in 2009. Operating profit grew from £41m to £47.5m over the 12 months, while profit after tax also rose from £32.1m to £34.5m.

This backs up the theory I put forward in a blog recently that there is no single retail story out there at the moment. Whilst the headlines have been about TJ Hughes going into and administration and Habitat and Thorntons closing stores, other retailers are doing well. But no one is suggesting the operating environment isn’t tough. Consumers really need convincing to open their wallets and purses these days.

But there are some things we have to spend money on whatever the prevailing economic climate. One of these, of course, is food. And this goes a long way to explaining why the aforementioned Tulip has announced sales of more than £1.1bn in its year-end results.

The company, which produces fresh pork, bacon and sausages as well as pies, canned and cooked meats for both the retail and food service markets, has 24 sites across the UK, including several major operations in the West Midlands. It has a workforce of nearly 7,000.

The food sector often goes under the radar when we are thinking about the Midlands economy. It spans everything from large producers - such as Tulip and Shropshire’s Müller Dairy - to those producing ethnic fayre, such as East End Foods and Wing Yip, by way of businesses making their money from packaging and distribution.

It’s fair to say that businesses in this sector tend to keep their light under a bushel. A large percentage of food sector firms are family run. Family businesses on the whole are less likely to spend money on marketing and PR than other companies. Rightly or wrongly, they see it as unnecessary expenditure.

It is also true to say that food production may be judged to be more prosaic than high-end manufacturing or high-tech businesses and thus earns fewer column inches.

But we could probably do more as region to fly the flag for this sector. It has huge potential in inward investment terms - from the field to fork and cow to cup appeal of rural counties in the West, to the foodie hotspots such as Ludlow and the ethnic food production expertise to be found in our big multi-racial cities.

As we have seen with the remarkable rise of 2 Sisters Food Group - it has taken over Harry Ramsden’s and Northern Foods on its way up - some of these businesses are the market leaders of tomorrow.

Let’s take pride in what the Midlands is achieving in food production and let’s make sure the wider world is aware of that achievement.