Welsh exhibitors at the Speciality Fine Food Fair this year, the UK’s leading showcase event for the food and drink sector, have a lot to ‘sing’ about following the announcement of a record number of Great Taste 2015 winners.
The acknowledged benchmark for speciality food and drink, The Great Taste, awarded 10 products from Wales with the prestigious 3-star accolade, compared to only 3 the previous year, and with it the chance of becoming the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2015.
Supported by Food and Drink Wales a number of winners will be showcased at the Fair hoping that the recent success will boost their opportunities of securing new sales. Twenty Welsh producers will be exhibiting at the event and as buyers from far and wide attend it is a valuable opportunity to further promote Wales as a culinary destination.
Commenting on the success Deputy Minister for Farming and Food, Rebecca Evans said,
“Having a record number of Welsh entrants and 3-star winners awarded at this year’s Great Taste is testament to the strides we are making as a country in raising the profile and reputation of Welsh food and drink.
Having the awards judged on home soil for the first time has helped us showcase the best of the best - but more than that, it has given our businesses the springboard for future success and enabled us to position ourselves as a serious food destination. This will further help us work towards achieving our ambitious target to sustainably grow the food and drink sector by 30% to £7 billion by the year 2020.”
John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food and organiser of the industry’s longest running food awards, explains;
"The increase in Welsh 3-star winners this year has been a real pleasure to see, with the traditional foods such as artisan dairy products and cider making a strong showing. I’d like to encourage more food and drink producers in Wales to enter Great Taste in 2016 and beyond, helping to build the profile of Welsh produce to a worldwide audience which we know is eager to source from the list of Great Taste stars."
Overall, an impressive 174 coveted Great Taste awards went to products from Wales this year, with 122 entries achieving 1-star, 42 getting 2-stars and 10 being deemed worthy of the 3-star accolade. This year’s competition witnessed a 25% upsurge in Welsh entries, rising from 99 companies entering 374 products in 2014 to 143 companies putting 491 products forward for consideration in 2015.
Not to rest on their laurels this year’s exhibitors will be launching a range of new products including:
- A new company Cnwc Crackers launching the Fat Mouse Hafod Cheddar cracker.
- Great Taste 2015 winners Welsh Lady Preserves will be launching their new high fruit content reduced sugar jams.
- Multi Great Taste 2015 star winners Apple County Cider will be showcasing their new single variety blakeney red perry, 100% pear juice, lightly sparkling, 330ml bottle.
One exhibitor, Hilltop Honey from mid Wales, has an extra reason to celebrate this year as founder Scott Davies explains:
“We received confirmation last week that our product will be going into 650 Tesco stores nationwide meaning the business will be tripling nearly overnight. The opportunity to attend events such as Speciality Food Fair under the Food and Drink Wales banner has given us the platform to showcase our product and discuss face to face with various buyers and we are now seeing the undoubted benefits. We will also be launching our new Raw Heather Honey and Bee Pollen at the fair so come and visit us.”
The Speciality Fine Food Fair is held in London on 6-8 September with the Great Taste Supreme Champion, sponsored by Harrods, and the Golden Fork Awards winners being announced on the evening of the 7 September 2015.
A full list of results can be viewed at the Great Taste Awards website.