Taste of Kent Awards 2020

Gullands is delighted to be sponsoring The Taste of Kent Awards 2020 and The Kent Food Business of the Year Award.

These well-established awards are now in their 16th year and are organised by Produced in Kent and they allow the public to nominate and vote for the local food and drink heroes who they would like to see recognised.

Voting opens on 19th September and runs until the 2nd January and you can make your nominations and cast your votes at www.tasteofkentawards.co.uk

It is easy and free to vote, simply click on the category that you would like to vote in. From Kent butcher shop of the year to best Kent beer, wine, cider or perry, restaurant, pub or coffee shop and awards for customer service, there are a number of different categories to vote in. If you cannot see the name of the business already there, you can add them in and vote. The sooner you add them to the list, the more people will see them there as well, so voting early is important.

Hundreds of businesses from across the county make it onto the voting list each year, with the most popular three in each category making it through to the final round of tasting, mystery shopping, mystery dining and expert judging panels.

Other categories which are not voted for by the public reflect Kent’s diverse farming and rural communities and include; the soft fruit and cherry varieties exhibited at the Kent County Show in July, the apples and pears exhibited at The National Fruit Show in October and the Kent Hop Grower of the Year, chosen from the entrants to the Kent Hop Show, organised by the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match, held in November alongside the prize giving.

Stewardship of the countryside is recognised in the Kent Countryside Award, sponsored by Kent Downs and High Weald AONBs. This stand-alone award gives food and drink producers, farmers and rural businesses using local produce, the opportunity to enter their businesses directly into the competition visit www.tasteofkentawards.co.uk/awards/kent-food-farming-landscape-award/ for more information.

The culmination of the awards is an awards dinner at the Kent Event Centre at the Kent County Showground on 5th March 2020 and tickets to this event are available to purchase directly from Produced in Kent. This has become a well-established and important date in the calendar for food and drink producers across Kent and it is a great opportunity to not only taste some of the great produce on offer, but to meet those responsible for producing it.