10 August 2015, 17:03 PM

The Farm Shop & Deli Awards 2016, with founding partner Olives Et Al, recognize excellence in the UK’s independent retail market. They celebrate the highest levels of service, product knowledge, initiative, innovation and community involvement in this sector.

Entry to the awards is through the dedicated website farmshopanddelishow.co.uk/awards. Categories that can be entered include: Baker; Butcher; Cheesemonger; Delicatessen; Farm Shop; Fishmonger; Food Hall; Greengrocer; Group; Market; Online Business; and Village Store/Local Shop.  The regions that are judged are: East Anglia; Midlands; North East; North West; Northern Ireland; Scotland; South East; South West; and Wales.

Entrants will first be judged within their category and once category winners have been agreed, judges will then chose a regional winner. This means that even if an entrant does not win its category it can still win within its region and visa-versa.

Chair of Judges for 2016 will be Nigel Barden, the celebrated broadcast food journalist. He will be joined by other key industry figures to judge all the entrants.

Nigel says: “There are some very focused, driven and talented food retailers in Britain, who deserve to be nourished and encouraged. It’s marvellous that these awards can bring them to much wider attention. The 2015 Awards revealed some truly brilliant winners, many of whom source produce locally and it’s great to see that there’s a good spread of outstanding retailers in both urban and rural settings. The British food and drink offer has never been better, as richly illustrated by the Farm Shop & Deli Awards.”

The judging process for the awards will see judges decide on a shortlist of finalists for each category and region based on criteria that include: consumer feedback; business statistics; sustainability; people; training; community involvement; products; suppliers; and innovation. Consumers can vote online at the awards’ website and have until Saturday 31 October 2015 to do this.

Once the shortlist has been finalized a secondary stage of judging takes place where the awards’ judges will carry out a set of ‘mystery’ visits to shortlisted entrants throughout December 2015 to experience first-hand what entrants have to offer. They will then discuss their findings and make their final decisions. Finalists will be announced on Friday 5 February 2016 via the awards’ website and social media channels. 

For the first time in the history of the Farm Shop & Deli Awards, Category and Regional winners will be announced at the Farm Shop & Deli Show 2016 at The NEC Birmingham on Tuesday 19 April 2016. At the show the coveted awards’ top prize, Retailer of the Year, will also be announced.

Over 500 nationwide entrants were received for the 2015 awards and on Monday 20 April 2015, at the award’s ceremony at the Farm Shop & Deli Show 2015, North Devon based delicatessen Johns of Instow & Appledore won the top prize – ‘Retailer of the Year’.

“The Farm Shop & Deli Awards final was the most special day in our lives. We walked up to the stage to collect our award with emotions of absolute joy and disbelief, with compliments ringing in our ears from our loyal customers and expert judges as they were read out. Just incredible, it’s what dreams are made of!” Sue Johns, Johns of Instow & Appledore.

Johns of Instow & Appledore started as a family business in the 1940s, and is today run by the fourth generation of the Johns family. The company has two shops in North Devon, one in the village of Instow and the other in the village of Appledore (including a café), and an online shop. Their offering includes a full delicatessen, butcher and wine shop.

Customer comments for Johns of Instow & Appledore that were incorporated in their competition entry and were taken into consideration in the judging process included:

“Quality local foods supporting local industry. Good atmosphere and delightful staff that make a wonderful eating experience.”

“It’s such a pleasure to shop at Johns.  Everyone who comes to stay with us takes a range of products back with them and for my father in law to admit that it’s the best meat he has tasted is a first!!  The quality of the food is high as is the customer service.  It’s our equivalent to Fortnum & Masons.”

The Farm Shop & Deli Awards 2016 form part of The Farm Shop & Deli Show 2016 that will be held at the NEC Birmingham on 18-20 April 2016. The show will see a wide range of speciality food suppliers promote their products to potential stockists and is co-located with the Food & Drink Expo.