Overheard at the Allergy show…. ‘These awards are all the same – they are all fixed! Just look at the winners – all the big companies like Dietary Specials who can pay to make sure they win….’
Well, as it happens, although Dietary Specials did win a category in this year’s FreeFrom Food Awards (bread) they contributed no money to this year’s awards apart from their £75 entry fee – but the comment did make me look at again at the winners to see whether there was any justification for it or whether the awards actually reflected the profile of freefrom manufacturers in the UK.
I therefore divided winning companies in to four categories:
1. Tiny – effectively start ups – with max three employees including the owners.
2. More established but still small companies – turning over £100-500,000 a year.
3. Middle ranking companies – well established, probably household names in freefrom households but little known outside – over £1 million a year turnover.
4. Multinationals, major corporations and supermarkets.
I may be hugely miscalculating the turnover of some of the competing companies (who may well never speak to me again as a result…) but, assuming that I got it vaguely right, this was how they panned out:
1. Tiny:
Category 10 Scones: Go Free Foods
Category 11 Sweet biscuits: Pourtoi
Category 14 Chocolate and sweet snacks: Conscious Foods
Category 14 Chocolate and sweet snacks: Go*Do
2. Small but more established:
Innovation Award: Mamma Cucina
Category 2 Plant spreads: Le Sojami
Category 5 Pasta: Hale & Hearty
Category 8 Savoury pies: The Black Farmer
Category 13 Desserts: BoojaBooja
Category 16 Beer: Green’s
3. Middle ranking companies – turnover around £1 million per annum
Category 1 Dairy/lactose free milks: Delamere Dairy
Category 3 Breakfast cereals: Nature’s Path
Category 4 Breads: Dietary Specials
Categories 6 & 7: Doves Farm
Category 8 Savory pies: Look what we found
Category 9 Savory biscuits: Clearspring
4. Multinationals, major corporations, supermarkets
Category 2 Plant milks: Rice Dream
Category 12 Cakes: Marks and Spencer
Category 15 Christmas: Sainsbury’s
That seems like a fairly reasonable representation of freefrom producers – but I would be interested in anyone else’s take on it.
This appears a fairly even distribution – just the one you’d expect for a fairly run award – and not ‘bottom heavy’ as you might see if the big boys were given preferential treatment in any way. There are always going to be those who question – but I suspect it’s mostly ignorance – ie not having looked at the winners’ list closely – rather than any sense of malice or bitterness. The majority of comments I heard about the Awards were wholly positive!
Says something for the professionalism of the judges that the results are so well balanced. I wonder if the judges knew what they were tasting or if the tasting was done ‘blind’? I would expect the latter although it would be good to have confirmation.
Hi Jeemboh – Just for your info – all the tastings are done blind. The judges work their way round all the entries in silence tasting and making their own notes. Then there is a general discussion as to what should win, be commended etc. Only when the winners have been decided do the judges see the packaging for the products so that they can assess whether the labelling is as accurate and informative as it should be on a free from product. If you would like to know more about the judging process there is a page detailing it on the awards site.
This must mean you are moving up the scale in awareness if people are giving you grief. As you know, anytime you stick your neck out and do something that is going to attract attention, you will attract attention from all sorts. It’s a great brand exercise for you and I think posting these results are a terrific way to support your selection process.
Personally, I think it’s great what you are doing. You are helping people realise they have a choice to eat things that agree with their systems and that there might also be a healthier opotion for them to eat too!
Congratulations on obtaining so much interest from the companies and for building a strong profile.
Keep on, keeping on…
Thanks Deb – your support much appreciated! We do aim to be as transparent as possible about the awards as we think that the more independent they are and are seen to be, the more validity – and therefore the more value – they have for everyone concerned.