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Culinary competition is back

THE team behind the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards is delighted to announce that the competition has been launched for 2019/20 for its eleventh year.

The Awards, which are run by the sector for the sector, are aimed at celebrating all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county’s dining venues and rewarding those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

Thanks to ongoing support from its existing sponsors – headline sponsor Carlsberg UK, Booker, British Pepper & Spice, Daily Bread, Dawn Farms, Heygates Flour and Animal Feed, Howes Percival LLP, Moulton College, Northampton College, Pidy UK, Warner’s (formerly Warner Edwards), Weetabix, Whitco Catering and Bakery Equipment and Whitworth Bros Ltd Flour Millers – and with support from SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership), the awards will continue to offer public recognition to the county’s finest pubs and restaurants, cafes and chefs, producers and entrepreneurs.

Also joining the prestigious line up is Northampton firm, Route 1 express couriers Ltd, specialist couriers in frozen and chilled food, which partners Dawn Farms in co-sponsoring the Chef of the Year category, while a new partnership with NAB – Sight Support for Northamptonshire (Northamptonshire Association for the Blind) is enabling the introduction of the Dining For All Award, which will recognise those eateries which ensure a pleasurable dining experience for those with sensory impairments for whom dining out can be more challenging.

The full details of the 2019/20 competition were unveiled at the launch at Warner’s, the internationally award-winning craft gin distillers based at Harrington, following a warm welcome from Maria O’Brien of Carlsberg UK.

Awards’ Director, Rachel Mallows MBE DL of The Mallows Company then paid tribute to all those who had helped in the success of the first decade of the competition before underlining its continuing commitment to growth with the news that the winners of the all the categories will again go on to receive tailored mentoring from experts on the Awards Mentoring Board, while the winners of the product and drink categories will be submitted as entries into the Great Taste Awards 2020 at the Northamptonshire Awards’ cost.

Guests included awards patrons William Sitwell and Sophie Grigson, Emma MClarkin MEP, the High Sheriff of Northamptonshire James Saunders-Watson, and the Deputy Leader of Northamptonshire County Council Cecile Irving-Swift as well as sponsors, supporters and reigning champions.

They learned of the considerable business benefit that success in the competition can bring, firstly from Iona Campbell of The Water Mill Tearooms in Ringstead, winner of the Independent Cafe / Tea Room of the Year category, who explained the considerable impact their win had had.

“We welcomed many new customers as a result of our victory and even continuing into this year, our weekends have been twice as busy as the same time last year,” she said.

“So we’re thrilled to have been crowned champions, especially as we were up against some amazing venues and, having taken on eight extra staff to cope with the increase in demand, are now set to open our second venue.”

Meanwhile Hendrik Dutson-Steinfeld of The White Horse in Kings Sutton revealed how winning the Booker Food Pub of the Year title had similarly led to an increase in customers, and encouraged other potential entrants to get involved.

“We’ve had many more first timers visit us since picking up this accolade and indeed, in the month after the win, like for like sales were up an incredible 17 per cent,” he said.

“It’s also given us the inspiration to evolve so that we can continue to impress our diners and while we can’t defend our title this year, we’ll be looking at some of the other categories in the hope of competing again and would urge other food businesses to enter and take advantage of the potential publicity that success brings.”

The awards were then officially opened by William Sitwell, who spoke of his personal admiration of the passion shown by so many of those in the sector in his home county, after which guests enjoyed a tour of the Warner’s distillery, before finally repairing to Harrington’s The Tollemache Arms – itself a finalist in the Booker Food Pub of the Year in the 2018/19 competition – for a rather special lunch created by the pub’s co-owner, Joe Buckley.

Indeed, the food had been generously supplied by Fruitful Abundance CIC, a county organisation which seeks to minimise food waste by recycling food that would otherwise be thrown away and which saw one of its venues, Elsie’s Cafe in Northampton, named the Weetabix Local Food Hero of the Year in the 2016/17 Awards.

For more details on all of the categories in the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2019/20, including downloading entry forms, making a nomination in the Independent Cafe / Tea Room, Weetabix Local Food Hero and F&B Achiever of the Year categories, or to recommend your favourite pub or restaurant, visit the awards’ website – www.northamptonshire foodanddrink.co.uk or call Rachel Mallows on 01933 664437 or email

You can also follow the Awards on Twitter and Instagram at @foodawardsHQ or on Facebook at facebook.com/foodawards

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