Great Taste Award winners

The Great Taste Awards are the biggest award for good national and international products sold on the English market. The now internationally recognised award is organised by the Guild of Fine Food based in Gillingham, England. It initiated the Great Taste Award and the World Cheese Awards in 1988. The Great Taste Awards are a seal of quality for many foods in Great Britain - not only for chocolate. Since 1994, more than 100,000 products have been blindly judged by top chefs, chef authors, food critics, restaurateurs and delicatessens. The winning products receive one, two or three stars.

The Guild of Fine Food is a British family business founded in 1992 by Bob Farrand. All five directors are members of the Farrand family. Bob Farrand is the Chairman, his son John Farrand is the Managing Director, his daughter-in-law Tortie Farrand is the Marketing Director, his wife Linda Farrand is the Director and his niece Sally Coley.

The Great Taste Awards are open to members and non-members. Entry fees for product reviews range from £35 to £225 per product. Under this rating system, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, around 10,000 products compete each year for the coveted one, two or even three star awards. Each entry is judged by industry experts. Most of the judging takes place at the Guild of Fine Food headquarters in Dorset, with other events in Belfast and at the Speciality Food Show in Harrogate, as well as in special test centres for tea and coffee.

After the evaluation is completed in June, all three-star products are re-evaluated in a recall, from which the top 50 are announced. Finally, the awards for the best regional specialities and of course the overall winner will be presented at an awards dinner in September.