In this week’s issue we’re celebrating. You can read all about the individual and collective achievements of the food and drink industry – as represented by the winners of the Grocer Gold Awards 2025.
At the Royal Albert Hall in London on Tuesday night, 35 Gold trophies were awarded, to organisations big and small, new and old, across multiple categories and disciplines. And for these winners – indeed all the shortlisted companies and individuals – the Gold Awards embodied the cumulative effort of thousands of people over the past year to do something that’s the gold standard.
It was a point ably made by Ken Murphy, this year’s winner of the Grocer Cup, who accepted the trophy with the quiet humility that retail often entails. And what makes the Grocer Gold Awards so inspiring and so wonderful is how it also recognises the efforts of the hidden heroes who work tirelessly behind the scenes, like our Store Manager of the Year.
There are many inspiring stories contained within these pages: none more perhaps so than the team behind Peachies, our Startup of the Year. Only four years ago Morgan Mixon and Rima Suppan were at a graduation ceremony – also at the Royal Albert Hall – and the idea they developed for their Imperial College degree is now a thriving nappy brand.
Saying that, the story of Bold Bean Co may just top that. After winning Startup of the Year two years ago, Amelia Christie-Miller was crowned the Entrepreneur of the Year after taking on Heinz. Bold indeed.
Of course inspiration takes many forms. It can involve overcoming huge challenges, as was the case with Kingfisher, our Own-label Supplier of the Year or Doritos, our Food Brand of the Year; or finding exciting solutions like our Supply Chain Initiative of the Year, or selling ice to eskimos like our Exporter of the Year, or meeting unmet needs, including – perhaps most heroically of all – our Social Impact Initiative of the Year and our Consumer Initiative of the Year.
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