The Dorset Food and Drink Award are back for 2021. Each year, the awards recognise the outstanding achievements of people across Dorset who grow, rear, prepare and cook some of the best food and drink you’ll taste and buy anywhere in the country. Last year,, even though we were able to run our awards, including some amended categories to reflect the delivery, take-away, pop-up and community aspects that the hospitality industry had to adapt to due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we were unable to give the winners the usual awards celebration they so richly deserved. Instead, the editor of Dorset Magazine - in face mask with sanatiser to hand – visited them in person to present them with their awards.
This year we will be hosting a glittering awards dinner for all our finalists on October 4 at Hilton Bournemouth. This celebration will be a chance to recognise and thank Dorset’s inspirational hospitality industry which has worked so hard to adapt and survive with talent, ingenuity and dedication.
The awards are only possible with the support of our generous sponsors. We thank them all, including our headline sponsor Dorset Food & Drink, sponsor of The Face of Dorset Food & Drink, who have been headline sponsor of these awards since they started in 2015.
These are still uncertain times, and the hospitality industry needs our support now more than ever. So, it you know a potential award-winning business you want to nominate for these prestigious awards - or perhaps you run one - why not enter now? It costs nothing to enter, and nominations need to be with us by Sunday July 18 just go to foodawards.dorsetmagazine.co.uk
How to enter these prestigious awards
Entries for the Dorset Food & Drink Awards can be submitted by both the public and businesses and their customers. Now is your time to support all those producers, farmers, shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes who were there when you needed them most during lockdown.
Visit foodawards.dorsetmagazine.co.uk for all the details you need to enter. The closing date is Sunday July 18, after which our panel of experts will begin judging, with the awards taking place on October 4, 2021.
The Face of Food and Drink 2021
Sponsored by Dorset Food & Drink
This non-entry category recognises and individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the county’s food and drink sector. The winner could come from any part of the industry – a grower, producer, cook, restauranteur, retailer, educator or local food and drink champion. The judges will select someone who is an expert in their field, has a proven track record, inspires colleagues, educates and sets standards at which others aim to attain. This award winner is selected by judges using their industry knowledge.
Sponsored by Country Image
Nominees are accepted for fantastic pubs across Dorset which have created a distinct and high-quality offering for their customers – both traditional drinking pubs and those that have built a reputation for their restaurant and/or bar menu. Common to all finalists will be great standards of customer service and understanding of their market, technical expertise in sourcing and providing a good range and standard of drinks – both alcoholic and non-alcoholic – plus a sense of character that makes a visit to these pubs enjoyable and memorable.
Cafe, Coffee or Tea Shop of the Year
Sponsored by Clipper Teas
The judges will look for a café, coffee or teashop in Dorset which is able to create an outstanding customer experience – a warm welcome, high quality tea and/or coffee plus a range of other drinks, tasty food made from fresh, local produce, all served with an excellent level of customer service. Judges will be impressed by a relaxed, comfortable ambience, originality, an imaginative menu and aspects which make the café or tea shop special.
Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year
Sponsored by Furleigh Estate
Nominees will be accepted for exceptional restaurants across Dorset which have the ability to create an unforgettable dining experience, cooked to a degree of excellence using fresh, local produce combined with an unsurpassed level of customer service, demonstrating and understanding the diners’ expectations. Judges will be looking for a fine-dining restaurant that has impeccable levels of customer satisfaction and menus which inspire and take diners on a taste sensational journey
Sponsored by Saffery Champness LLP
This award recognises the fantastic food and drink products being created within the county. Judges will be looking for a first-class product that demonstrates the manufacturer’s flair for creating, developing, and delivering a distinctive, successful and respected item, either as a stand-alone or as part of its brand. Manufacture of this will have been in Dorset, although it is not essential that every ingredient is sourced from within the county’s borders.
Sponsored by Whitepepper Chef Academy
This prestigious award is open to chefs who are currently working within the Dorset food and drink industry. Competitors may come from all areas of the hospitality business, including hotels, restaurants, pubs, contract catering, fine dining, private and public sectors. This will recognise the close link of fine food with using the best of local produce. Readers, businesses and chefs are able to nominate in this category. We will then contact all chefs to submit a formal entry with the hope of reaching a live cook-off.
Sponsored by Harts of Stur
Nominees will be accepted for casual restaurants across Dorset which have the ability to create a relaxed and inclusive dining experience. The menu will be varied, using local fresh produce and be served with an excellent level of customer service.
Sponsored by Creo Cabinet Makers
Judges in this category will be looking for the level of front of house provision that makes a truly enjoyable visit to the restaurant, hotel, café or pub. Understanding and anticipating customers’ needs, good knowledge of menus, dishes, provenance of ingredients and drink matching will be expected as well as a personable approach that complements the establishment and really enhances the visit. This category seeks to recognise an often overlooked yet extremely important sector of the hospitality industry, and nominations should be for teams/organisations but can also name specific individuals within that.
Sponsored by NFU Mutual Wessex
This award recognises retailers who combine vision, a passion for high quality products and freshness of local produce. Marks will be awarded for clear, well laid-out shops which offer a wide variety of great products, and for staff who demonstrate memorable standards of customer care, product knowledge and service. Judges will be looking for innovation in products and presentation, as well as any added facilities the retailer has to offer. This category is open to farm shops, markets and retailers.
Sponsored by Chococo
This award is looking for a pioneer product, service, community, business or person within the food and drink industry. The winner of this award will use data, marketing and creative solutions effectively to deliver a food or drink product or service within Dorset.
Sponsored by Cheddington Weddings
The award is open to any business or individual who has started a food and/or drink venture in the last three years. The judges will be looking for an outstanding early-stage business which has already become a success story or shows promise to become one. The winner will be a company which is able to demonstrate a pioneering approach, strong performance over the past year, as well as the potential to flourish and be sustainable. Among the qualities the judges will be looking for are a dedicated effort to drive the business forward, potential and vision.
DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS SUNDAY JULY 18, 2021
