LIVERPOOL'S food and drink festival will return this year 12 months after the event was cancelled due to a lack of sponsorship.

A week-long festival will run from September 30 after backing was found for the event.

Previous organiser ACL Events Management raised £5,000 for the 2002 festival but could not secure a headline sponsor or a National Lottery grant and the event had to be cancelled.

Now Liverpool-based internet company Ketchupp has stepped in and is determined the festival will be successfully revived.

Director Linda Buckle is coorganising the event with business partner Mark Williams.

Ms Buckle, 30, said: "We believe that Liverpool has a good restaurant scene, perhaps not mature, but the framework is there.

"This is something we have been planning since July last year, its not just something that has happened on the back of Capital of Culture. We want to challenge people's perceptions of what Liverpool has to offer. That raises everybody's game, you learn from each other." Organisers are planning a number of key events including a Gala Awards ceremony which they hope will become the most sought after prizes in the local food world.

Prizes will be awarded in categories including best restaurant (voted by the public), best coffee bar/cafe, best design and best front-of-house team for customer service.

The festival will also include a Young Cook of the Year contest with student chefs preparing a meal for a judging panel.

Much of the festival will focus on healthy eating within sporting circles and will include events with Everton and Liverpool Football Club.

One idea is to stage a Play Off/Cook Off with five chefs "cooking off" against each other backed by a soundtrack provided by five DJs.

As well as promotions and special offers at participating restaurants, it is hoped celebrity chefs including Ken Hom, Paul Rankin and Ainsley Harriot will attend the festival. Ms Buckle said: "Most of the restaurants are very excited and really understand the concept.

"They like the idea of coming up with their own events and not just putting on offers.

"Places like 60 Hope Street are getting very involved."

Ms Buckle and partner Mr Williams insist that Liverpool's growing reputation as a tourist destination makes it even more important to have a thriving and innovative restaurant and bar market.

Mr Williams, 29, a former corporate travel consultant, was born and brought up in Liverpool.

He sai d : "Successful food and drink festivals in Manchester, Leeds, and York have helped highlight and showcase these cities on an international level and the Liverpool Food and Drink Festival in September can do exactly the same.

"We want to match people's increased expectations and sustain standards of quality and service long after 2008 is over."

Liverpool City Council, Liverpool John Moores University and the Mersey Partnership are supporting the revived festival, as well as venues including the Holiday Inn, Blue Bar and Grill and L'Alouette.

Sue Woodward, the creative director of Liverpool 2008, said: "Food is a part of people's culture in the same way as music, the visual arts or sport.

"I'm really keen to see Liverpool showcase the tastes and culinary skills of Europe in 2008, as well as become a world leader in first-class customer service."

Council leader Mike Storey said: "This is just another sign of the growing confidence in the city as it becomes a European cultural destination."

Organisers believe the festival can go from strength to strength.