 Beacon Foods is celebrating after winning the much coveted New Ingredient of the Year Award at the 2008 Sammies Awards.
The Brecon-based company won the award for Hot Indian Banana Chutney from its Indian Spice Magic range at the Sammies Awards dinner in London.
Top food consultant Nellie Nichols, who is working with Beacon Foods to expand and develop the company's products into new and exciting markets, said: "We are thrilled to have won such an important award. The Indian Hot Banana Chutney, along with the other products in the range, is a delicious, versatile and authentic sandwich ingredient."
Nellie is helping the company to develop a series of new products under its Tastes of the World Range. Other products in the range, which continues to grow, are The Moroccan Spice Market and shortly to launch, The British Isles.
With a worth of some £4.5 billion and employing well over 300,000, the UK commercial sandwich industry has become a major contributor to the UK economy.
More than 600 leading names from retailing and manufacturing gathered for this year's Sammies - the annual British Sandwich Industry Awards - to acknowledge some of those who have helped develop and shape this huge industry.
Renowned for its portfolio of roasted and char grilled vegetable and fruit ranges, relishes, chutneys and compotes, Beacon Foods launched the first in its Tastes of the World range in the autumn 2007. The range comprises small, concise sets of sauces, relishes and chutneys to mix and match with proteins for sandwiches and salads.
Indian Spice Magic includes a Tikka Masala sauce, Nut Free Korma and three chutneys - Kashmiri Tomato Chutney, Indian Hot Banana Chutney and Mango.
The company believes 21st century product development must be more flexible, resourceful and skilful. "We intend to offer customers a dynamic portfolio of products that will make ingredients, such as plain cooked chicken, totally versatile, reducing the need for several different flavoured, bought in proteins," said Nellie.
"There is a huge opportunity to provide customers with blueprints from different countries for their sandwich development, innovative frameworks of products that will provide them with a creative bedrock.
"We aim to become a development one stop shop for a wealth of countries including Thailand, Mexico, Morocco, Indonesia, Vietnam, Italy, France and Spain.
"Sandwich tastes are fast becoming more multi cultural and we believe we can respond swiftly to this need." |