We were honoured to be invited to sponsor the best New Business award at the Cumbria Food Awards this year and were happy to do so as we want to help to promote those up and coming businesses and shine a spotlight on them.
Attending the glitzy event at Kendal College on behalf of THW were John Cooke and Suzie Fisher. Our delightful host for the evening was BBC MasterChef winner Irini Tzortzoglou, who is clearly as passionate about Cumbrian produce as she is about her native Crete.
This year’s finalists for the New Business award were a mouth watering combination of:
- Northern Pasta from Kendal
- Rebel Gelato from Kendal
- Temperly Chocolates from Ambleside
The winners were Northern Pasta who have had a whirlwind few weeks since appearing on James Martin’s Saturday Morning. It was a pleasure to meet Imogen and Matt and to hear about how to got where they are today, via Croatia!
We also enjoyed the company of the team from Booths who were one of the evening’s main sponsors and have helped businesses like Northern Pasta with their accelerator scheme. Booths provided ingredients for the canapes, which were prepared and served during the drinks reception by the students from Kendal College’s Hospitality department. We then enjoyed an amazing and beautifully presented meal of seared five spice coated port fillet and blackcurrant delice. After dinner the students came out from the kitchen to a well deserved and very loud round of applause.
From Roast Mutton winning the Specialist Food Retailer at the start of the evening to the build up to Chef of the Year (Paul Leonard, Forest Side) at the end, it was a fabulous celebration with so much positivity and support for the finalists.
To say that the evening was a success is an understatement. Michaela & Lindsay did a fabulous job organising and the atmosphere was terrific. To have such amazing talent in one room at the same time really did make us proud to live and work in Cumbria and to be a small part of the supply chain which helps to support these businesses.
As Patrick Moore (of More? The Artisan Bakery) said when accepting his award for Outstanding Achievement – not only were the finalists the best of Cumbria, they were easily the best in the country and even globally.
Cumbria certainly does have a lot going for it and we are looking forward to sampling some more of what the county has to offer!
