Tesco won two prizes at the third annual World Food Awards at the weekend.
The UK’s largest supermarket won the East End Foods best national retailer award, beating competitor Asda for the top spot. The company also walked away with product of the year gongfor its newly launched African-Caribbean soft drinks brand Jammin’, which was created as a direct result of feedback and input from Tesco customers.
The awards were created by the World Foods Association and recognise growth within the sector as well as the diversity of cultures and communities the industry is inspired by.
Oriental eatery Hakkasan, located in London’s Mayfair beat off stiff competition from Jamie Oliver’s ‘Italian’ and F-Word semi-finalist The Curry Corner for the highly coveted restaurant of the year award, while reggae-legend inspired philanthropic drinks brand Marley’s Mellow Moods received an accolade for its iconic, powerful and vibrant packaging.
Drinks brand Rubicon and its creative agency Minimart received recognition for their ground-breaking campaign to “make Britain more exotic” during the Rubicon Summer of Cricket, by walking away with the Jaguar marketing campaign of the year award.
The indomitable ethnic work ethic was also celebrated with accolades for Turkish restaurateur Huseyin Ozer, who received the entrepreneur of the year award and Chinese food magnate Stanley Tse, chairman of the SeeWoo Group who received the Patak’s lifetime achievement award in recognition for his services to the world-food industry.
Three decades ago Hüseyin özer was sleeping rough on the streets of Ankara, but a after years of hard work and exceptional business acumen, today the multi-millionaire restaurateur is the proud owner of a chain of Central London restaurants, renowned as some of the best Turkish restaurants in the country and turning over a fortune in profits each year.
Stanley Tse started out as a kitchen hand in a Chinese restaurant before rising to become a heavyweight of the Chinese food industry. With a career spanning more than 50 years, he now sits at the helm of one of UK’s leading oriental food specialists, operating across wholesale, retail and manufacturing with stores, distribution centres and restaurants throughout the UK and Europe.
Hosted by comedy legend Lenny Henry, the awards featured a glittering array of guests including chefs Ken Hom, Rob Billington, Anjum Anand and Ravinder Bhogal, Reggae Reggae Sauce creator Levi Roots, actor Nitin Ganatra, director Gurinder Chadha, singers Simon Webbe and Mica Paris and sporting legends Amir Khan, Denise Lewis and Chris Eubank.
No comments yet