Forres firm scoops double award glory
MORAY food and drink businesses are celebrating success on the regional stage.
Winners of the Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards (HIFAD) 2019 were revealed on Friday night during an Awards Ceremony at the Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness.
In total, 17 businesses were named victorious in their categories including a company based at the Horizon Enterprise park.
Double success came for the Forres-based Aurora Sustainability Group, which won both the Innovation Award and Sustainability Award for its Green Grow project, which sees mushrooms grown using unutilised bio resources.
Elsewhere in Moray, the Glenrinnes Distillery won the Best Distilled Drink Award for its Eight Lands Organic Speyside Gin, while Baxters Food Group was Highland Commended in the Best Marketing Campaign category for its We Make Super initiative.
Penny Ellis, member of the award’s steering group and owner of Forres' Knockomie Hotel, said: "We have had another remarkable year enjoying the very best of what our region has to offer.
"The Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards continue to demonstrate the commitment, dedication and inspirational entrepreneurship that is flourishing in an economy that faces numerous challenges."
She added: "We have seen entries that have demonstrated innovative ways to secure funding, looking at new routes to market in the often crowded world of exporting.
"Our winners and finalists are to be so proud of all that they have achieved.
"Each year the entries are giving insights as to how they are proving to be ahead of competitors, never resting on their laurels and always willing to try something new and varied to make their product be ‘the one’ of consumer choice."
The Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards launched in 2005 and have since rewarded and supported some of the region’s most celebrated food and drink businesses.