apetito is a global organisation with 50 years experience in providing frozen food and catering solutions to Care Homes, Local Authorities and Hospitals. We also provide a frozen meal delivery service to the public via our franchise Wiltshire Farm Foods and a community meals delivery service through Local Authorities via apetito Services.

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apetito Win Company Of The Year Award

03 Nov, 2010

Watch an interview with apetito's UK Manufacturing Director at the Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards.

FMEA LogoNow in their 10th year, The Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards provide a benchmark for all those wishing to aspire to world class standards in food excellence.

apetito beat fierce competition to be named Food Manufacturing Company of the Year at the 2010 awards ceremony, which took place at London's newly refurbished Savoy Hotel on Tuesday 2nd November. They were also named the UK's best manufacturer of frozen foods in the industry's equivalent of the Oscars, attended by over 400 industry guests.

apetito truly wowed the judging panel by its commitment to the food service sector its serves. It showed impressive results across all of the judging criteria. But it is also a glowing example of how passion for a business and a true connection with its target market can lead directly to improvements to the bottom line. One judge said: "It is an incredible story." Another remarked: "It was one of the best entries I have seen...I thought it was brilliant; truly superb." Another said: "It is really making a difference."

apetito team picking up the awardThe awards are dedicated to recognising and rewarding the very best food and drink manufacturing companies. They honour and highlight those companies that have displayed progress and achievements through their manufacturing process in this competitive and fast moving industry.

These awards differ from other industry awards in that they recognise the manufacturing achievements rather than end products. The awards highlight success in all areas of the manufacturing process including new product development, category management, quality assurance, supply chain improvement, environmental management, process innovation and human resource development.

apetito’s entry reflected the company-wide commitment to delivering their ‘Break from the Pack’ strategy, with customer focus at its heart, as well as their continued progress in their sustainability programme. To date apetito have achieved zero food waste to landfill by directing factory waste to an anaerobic digestion facility in Devon, as well as a 26% reduction in water usage between 2007-2009 by turning off taps, narrowing water flow, chasing leaks and investing in water efficient equipment. Electricity costs have also been reduced by 15%, credited to staff investigating energy usage daily, optimising equipment and implementing a “switch-off” policy.

The company was also highly commended for the creation of their innovative range of new moulded purees for people with swallowing difficulties, and in particular their dedication to the highest levels of quality. In the last two years apetito has invested over £4.7M in their Trowbridge site alongside the continuous introduction of working practices and procedures to deliver a 73% reduction in finished product quality devaluation.

apetito’s Manufacturing Director Graham Forrester was delighted with the result:

“This achievement is testament to the hard work and dedication of our workforce to delivering great food, every day to our customers. This has also been reflected in our recent BRC audit, where we achieved zero non-conformances, putting us in the top 0.2% of UK businesses. We will also continue investing in our staff – this year increasing our training budget by 40% - and so I’m confident we will continue to exceed our stretch targets in the pursuit of excellence, thanks to the calibre of our team and their passion for delivering outstanding results.”