The Foraging Fox sniffs out top prize at Chefs’ Choice Awards

Created by BigHospitality’s parent company William Reed Business Media, the annual awards are designed to highlight the quality credentials of mid-market food service products and bring together professionals from the hospitality, wholesale and food manufacturing industries.

This year’s awards received a record amount of entries, with over 100 products shortlisted across 19 categories including chilled salads, preserves, meat, and cheese and dairy products.

Booker took home the most gongs with six Winners and eight Highly Rated products, followed by fellow foodservice giants Brakes and Bidfood.

But smaller companies were better represented than ever before. Winners included Callestick Farm Ice Cream, Map Trading, Creative Foods Europe and Essential Cuisine. The full list of Winners and Highly Rated products is available here.​​​

The products were judged at Food Innovation Solutions’ Waterloo development kitchen by a panel that included experienced chefs from a number of different sectors.

All the entries were assessed on a range of criteria including appearance, aroma, flavour, texture, value for money and innovation.

The awards give category Winners, entrants achieving a Highly Rated standard and Finalists the use of respected endorsement logos on packaging and in all marketing at no cost.

“You have asked us to produce and run these awards to enhance the sector,” says event director Sonia Young. “These awards will allow businesses in the food service supply chain to compete head-to-head in core product categories and secure a competitive advantage via independent assessment of eating quality, value and taste.

"They also highlight great development work that’s delivering value to thousands of customers in pubs and bars, restaurants, hotels, cafes and other hospitality outlets.”

The Chefs’ Choice Awards will return next year.