Waitrose hunts for
the Best of Britain

FROM Exeter Street Bakery ciabatta to Greenwich Meantime Coffee Beer and Pale Ale, shoppers at Waitrose Holloway Road and John Barnes can choose from a range of local and regional produce.

British produce is amongst the best in the world and the food lovers supermarket always tries to source from Britain when products are in season and at the peak of freshness and flavour.

Waitrose is proud of its British suppliers and forge strong relationships with them founded on trust, fairness and a passion for good food.

With a reputation built on the quality and freshness of its food, Waitrose is committed to letting people know about the wealth of high quality food available.

Waitrose has a team of buyers dedicated to seeking out the finest local and regional produce our country has to offer and now stocks over 1,200 local and regional products in its shops across the country.

Visit your local Waitrose and look out for the local product stamps to help you find produce from the area.

For the last six years, Waitrose has celebrated the quality produce of specialist artisan producers in its Small Producers Awards and has seen winners from specialist flours to gorgeous jellies and marmalades.

This year, Waitrose has teamed up with Country Living magazine to widen the search for the best food and drink and launch the Made in Britain Awards.

Five producers of the best 'real' food, made with the finest ingredients, and a true sense of innovation, will be selected from across the UK as Made in Britain Food Producers of the Year.

They will see their product on the shelves in local Waitrose branches and each will receive £5,000 to develop their business.

They will also have their product on display at the Country Living Christmas Fair 2008.

An additional £5,000 will be awarded to the overall Made in Britain Food Champion of the Year.

Last year's overall winner at the then Small Producers Awards was Hampshire Cheeses, which has been handmaking cheese using only the highest quality local milk from a traditional herd of Ayreshire cows since 2004.

Clive's Fruit Farm was the winner of the drink category with its Mulled Apple Juice having already won the category in 2005 with its Conference Pear Juice.

In 2007, the Judges noted the absolute quality of the raw materials used to produce a consistently excellent product and now the Mulled Apple Juice is sold throughout all Waitrose branches nationwide.

Clive's has grown, pressed and bottled its apples at their 60 acre orchard, founded in 1911, cutting down the miles that the fruit has to travel and giving the juice a really special, fresh flavour.

Tracey Telford, Local and Regional Buyer for Waitrose, said: "At Waitrose, we believe local and regional producers are crucial to sustaining an important part of our food heritage.

“The Made in Britain Awards celebrate and encourage consumers to savour – and save – our country's unique specialities.

They are also an opportunity for us to discover new and innovative specialities - and reward those businesses that have a passion for producing distinctive, local foods.” Editor of Country Living Magazine, Susy Smith says: “Other countries like France have given their locally grown produce such as cheese and wine, protected status and consumers have been quick to recognise the importance and heritage of these products.

The Made in Britain Awards are aimed at celebrating our own specialities and in doing so, encouraging British consumers to support such products and ultimately protect their country's heritage.” The criteria for entry is straightforward: you must be a British food or drink producer making a great product, with a business employing no more than 10 people and with an annual turnover of less than £2million.

So if you are aware of a great product that you want to tell Waitrose about or if you are a small producer yourself, now is not the time for modesty, simply email madeinbritain@waitrose.co.uk, call 01344 824006 or download the entry form at www.waitrose.com/madeinbritain.

An additional category for the Farmers Guardian Best Farm Entrepreneur will be given, highlighting Waitrose's continuing support for Fair Trade for British Farmers.

The closing date for entries is 14 April 2008 and the winner will be announced in September.

Opening times:

• Monday: 8.30 - 22.00
• Tuesday: 8.30 - 21.00
• Wednesday: 8.30 - 21.00
• Thursday: 8.30 - 22.00
• Friday: 8.30 - 22.00
• Saturday: 8.30 - 21.00
• Sunday: 11.00 - 17.00