A FOOD innovator from Four Marks says he is on the verge of a life changing experience'.

Nick Smallwood will appear on Channel Five's reality television programme Breaking Into Tesco on Monday (March 24) evening, hoping to get his innovation onto the shelves of the UK's largest food retailer.

The show challenges ambitious cooks to turn their signature dishes into winning products fit for the supermarket shelves.

The 52-year-old, of Gloucester Close, has made it to the latter stages of the competition with his soup-in-a-bun' creation.

He says he has waited more than three decades to get his idea to a wider audience after stumbling on the dish while he was working at a hotel in New Orleans.

Mr Smallwood, a catering equipment sales manager, said: "We had the local bakery bring some rolls to accompany some soup, but what was delivered were rolls that were massively over-sized - they were like cannon balls! I thought what on earth are we going to do with these!"

"I said to the chef why don't we put some soup into these buns and see if it holds'."

Although tight-lipped about whether he wins the reality show he said he was confident of getting his creation - various soups poured into six-ounce buns - onto the supermarket shelves.

He added: "The feedback I have had so far has been such that I'm thinking this is a huge opportunity - it could be a life changing opportunity. It's been a remarkable journey already."

Breaking Into Tesco is on Channel Five at 9pm on Monday, March 24.