The second annual Speciality & Fine Food Fair Awards took place on 5 September at Olympia London, with inspirational retailers, sustainability champions, innovative products and an outstanding industry champion celebrated at a ceremony on the Fair’s Food for Thought Stage.
The awards were launched to celebrate the individuals, products and business that make the fine food & drink sector so remarkable: driving change and innovation at every turn and putting community and sustainability at the heart of what they do.
The awards ceremony was hosted by Speciality & Fine Food Fair Event Manager Nicky Woods, who commented: “We had a fantastic number of entries into the awards this year. Just a few weeks ago, the judges sat around a table in Speciality & Fine Food Fair HQ and tasted a huge amount of wonderful and innovative products and it was a really tough decision to select the finalists for the public vote. Huge congratulations all today’s winners!”
Awards judge Stephen Minall, Owner of Moving Food and Co-Founder of FDReviews, added: “I was delighted to be one of the judges for the Speciality & Fine Food Fair Awards 2022. There were some fantastic entries across all the categories and some truly delicious and innovative products as well as a group of very knowledgeable judges.”
The winners are:
• Outstanding Industry Champion – The Westmorland Family
• Large Independent Retailer of the Year – Cobbs Farm Shops
• Small Independent Retailer of the Year – Laura’s Larder
• International Product of the Year – Likkle More Chocolate Bar
• Innovative Product of the Year – Sapphire Foods Ltd. – Foie Royale Entier
• Sustainability Pioneer of the Year – Blackthorn Seasalt
Tom Newey, Chief Executive of Cobbs Farm Shop commented: “I’m so pleased to have won this, especially given the other businesses nominated, and it’s fantastic to be celebrating independent retail and coming together as a community at what continues to be a challenging time for the sector.”
Laura Roberts, Owner of Laura’s Larder, added: “I’m thoroughly surprised to have won this award given the calibre of my fellow nominees and really over the moon. It reflects the fantastic work from the whole team and it means a lot as the new kid on the block, having launched in Feb 2020 and all the challenges that have come with that.”
The judges for this year’s awards were Scott Winston, Buying Manager, Mindful Chef; Adrian Boswell, Food Buyer, Selfridges; Bruce Langlands, Management Consultant; Stephen Minall, Owner, Moving Food and Vhari Russell, Managing Director, The Food Marketing Expert.
