The National Burger Awards is the a world away from the usual formal black-tie award events of the foodservice calendar. Held at The Islington Metal Works it was a smoky, boozy, bustling, celebration of burgers in all their wonder – our kind of food and drink awards. And with burgers topping the charts at lunch according to the MCA’s latest report and increasingly their already strong share of dinner, this is a trend that looks set to stay with burger concepts popping up on high streets all over the country, many of whom were represented at the awards.

Read More

The UK pub market is valued at £22bn* and despite the current economic headwinds it is an exciting and vibrant sector. From the craft beer revolution to the proliferations of gins and outlandish cocktails there is more to today’s pubs than the humble pint.

Read More

The coveted Caterer Product Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate the very best food, drink and equipment products in the foodservice market. As such we are always keen to gain this solid-gold endorsement for our clients’ products and of course the acclaim it brings with it. To that end we spend a great deal of time in partnership with our clients identifying the products we feel are possible award winners and drafting that all important award entry. This year we had a record six products shortlisted for the awards, quite some achievement in itself, and as Lisa Jenkins took to the stage we were crossing our fingers along with all the other nominees.

Read More

The Arena Christmas lunch is quite frankly the official start of Christmas in the world of foodservice and this year was no exception. Held at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, the event kicked-off mid-morning with a talk from Peter Backman on the highs and lows of 2017 and what we might expect in the coming year. Taking us on a whistle-stop tour through the four quarters of 2017 some clear trends emerged…

Read More

As the gender pay gap hits the headlines and organisations such as People 1st highlight the inequality of the sexes in hospitality, it was heartening to attend the FSM Awards this week, where each course was presided over by a female Craft Guild of Chefs Graduate Award winner. Not only that, in an industry that is often seen as male dominated, there were a dozen female nominees, the same number as their male peers and two categories – the Education Award and the B&I Award – where all the three nominees were female. When it came to announcing the winners ‘girl power’ reigned in an impressive 5 categories, including the Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented to Sue Parfett and Kate Martin of Brookwood Partnership, for their amazing work in the education sector over the past twenty one years since they founded the business back in 1996.

Read More

Last night the Asian Media & Marketing Group hosted the 29th Asian Trader Awards. The event held at the Park Plaza, Westminster is one of the highlights of the year for the independent retailing industry and gathers all the key players together to recognise and reward the very best of independent retailing.

Read More

Having spent a very enjoyable day judging back in July, I was excited head up to The Grosvenor House Hotel last night to see the winners of the Foodservice Quality Food Awards of the collect their rather impressive ‘Q’s. With bubbles flowing and guests filling up the event room there was a definite air of anticipation, as those shortlisted waited for the results to be revealed.

Read More

Last night we joined over 800 people from across the grocery and convenience retail industry at the Grosvenor House to celebrate and reward retail excellence.

Read More