Joint Owner
Nicholson’s Butchers

Kathryn is the fourth generation to run Nicholson’s after taking over the reins from her father – she’s the first female to run the business. Nicholson’s has flourished since with 15 staff members and continues to grow producing a vast range of products – from a full deli selection with cured meats, homemade slaws and peas pudding, to a range of over 20 pies baked in store. With a degree in food science, Kathryn is passionate about local sourcing and supporting other small suppliers, remaining open throughout Covid to support the community.

Senior Manager – Technical and Quality
Asda

Asda are extremely proud of Tricia who works tirelessly across many suppliers to ensure all the retailer’s 20 million customers have access to safe, wholesome and high quality meat. The winner of this category in 2020, her enthusiasm is infectious and she instils in her team all the values she demonstrates herself. This has been especially evident during Covid as she managed daily Covid responses across many Asda manufacturing sites. Colleagues say Tricia is a shining example of how to succeed in the meat industry by simply putting the customer first!

Director Frank Parker Butchers Hannah is the fifth generation Parker to be working in the family business. Her primary responsibilities involve the catering contracts. Made a director at only 21, Hannah’s passion, drive and enthusiasm have meant that she is always looking for new and different ways to add value to the business. Hannah has won many awards for pies, burgers and sausages, including the coveted Supreme Sausage Champion Award plus the Britain’s Best Butcher Shop Award in 2012, a result with which Hannah was directly involved.

Technical Manager Freeman Catering Butchers Joanne joined Freeman Catering Butchers in 2016 to take up the position of Technical Manager. She says that the progress and opportunities that have been given to her while working at Freeman have been amazing. Her colleagues confirm that Joanne has not only run her department to high standards but that she is respectful to directors and is a constant support to all factory and office staff. Joanne is put forward for this award as a great leader and someone who will never ask a staff member to do a job that she won’t do herself, and is described as a wonderful colleague.

Sales Manager
Alec Jarett Limited

Sophie has worked in the family business since she finished her university course, where she gained a degree in business management. Sophie initially started off in the production departments so she could fully understand how all processes operate and how the finished products were produced, ready for despatch to customers. Over 10 years she has gained excellent working relationships with her work colleagues and customers, gaining much knowledge and expertise. Being a family member she has built up the respect others and in doing so has worked very hard to make an outstanding success of her role.

Senior Process Manager
Pilgrim’s UK

Linda has been nominated for her superior performance, showing great leadership and for consistently excelling against demanding timelines within the constraints of a busy production operation. She has set the bar high in delivering successful projects for customers, which have secured new business opportunities for the group. Linda has also overseen a major project to completely revamp a key product range for Waitrose, overcoming a high degree of complexity to deliver on time and with excellent customer focus.

Head of Sales F C Robinsons Fred C Robinson is a family owned pork processor that was established in 1905 operating from a 3,700m purpose built facility, processing only pig meat on site, which it sources locally from approved suppliers. As head of sales Danielle is commended and nominated as very hardworking and, from a customer perspective, is a great help as a reliable supplier. The customer nominating Danielle confirmed that she is always going over and above to support its needs and requirements. The company has invested heavily in state of the art equipment in order to maintain the high standards and Danielle has played a full part in the increasing success of the F C Robinsons business.

Technical Manager Pilgrim’s UK Kasia is described as an outstanding team leader. Committed to the highest standards of quality and food safety, Kasia regularly goes the extra mile. Colleagues confirm that she is not just a Technical Manager, but that she is an immense pillar of support for the team. Following the recent launch of the company’s Operational Excellence Quality Pillar, which introduced new standards for all sites to meet, Kasia immediately rose to the challenge, embedding them at both a site and group level.

Group Head of Procurement (Non-Protein) Hilton Food Group This nomination confirms that Andrea has provided real leadership in developing her talented team and in successfully driving packaging sustainability goals for the business, without compromising on food safety and quality. Passionate about addressing climate change and the impacts of plastic waste, she has utilised Hilton Food Group scale and innovation to make step change reductions in plastic use and to significantly increase the recycled content and recyclability of its packs.

Owner / Director
Bridget B’s Butchery

Bridget B’s was formed in 2005 as a diversification to an existing farming business. Bridget moved on from her family farming roots and this enterprise has grown from one retail outlet to four, as well as selling online with an attractive website.  She has sought to offer her customers a really modern approach to her meat offering, mixing all the classics with many new cuts, with a focus on customer service and engaging with her customers to enjoy their meat. Backed up by a team of craft butchers, Bridget always strives to provide meat with integrity and first class customer service.

Skilled Butcher
ABP

Since joining ABP in 2018 Adriana has made huge strides developing her butchery skills, from working at the entry level to become a highly skilled member of the ABP team. She has now reached the highest rank of butcher in the ABP business. Adelina-Adriana has become a key member of the team, being highly respected for her skill and as a result has inspired other female colleagues to pursue a career in butchery, proving women can do the physically demanding role normally only considered by men, and to do it to the highest standards.

Livestock Advisor NFU Harriet has worked for the NFU for eight years and has been the NFU’s livestock adviser for two years. Harriet is nominated as a crucial and influential member of the livestock team, supporting the national livestock board and managing the NFU uplands forum representing the interests of beef and sheep producers across England and Wales. Harriet leads on key policy areas for the red meat sector, namely climate change, clean air strategy and waste. Harriet was also co-author of the NFU’s ‘re-thinking ruminants’ toolkit and infographics.

Chairperson
Quality Meat Scotland (QMS)

Kate Rowell is a consistent voice of reason and a real role model for the whole UK industry. A finalist in this category last year, she is well known for her passion, knowledge and enthusiasm of the red meat industry. Kate is a fifth generation farmer running a 750 hectare farm, but still finds time to be fully involved with QMS and the promotion of quality Scottish meat.

Chief Executive Officer IMTA Katie originally joined The International Meat Trade Association (IMTA) without any trade knowledge, yet quickly developed a grasp of the industry and a knowledge of the complex world of trade related quotas. A baptism of fire followed with Brexit. Her rapid promotion to CEO occurred at a time of great change and uncertainty due to the Brexit negotiations, which had and continues to have a major impact on IMTA members. She has built a strong reputation and has developed a good team around her, gaining a healthy respect from those she deals with.

Managing Director
Porky Whites Ltd

Fran joined her father Graham making award-winning sausages at only 17, initially starting in production. Embracing all aspects of the business, Fran learned butchery at their shop in Horsham, before returning to the factory. Today Fran wears many hats in her role at Porky Whites, from new product development to sales and marketing, plus account managing several of the company’s supermarket contracts. Fran is an integral part of this well established family-run business, which is going from strength to strength.

Regional Training Manager Booker Lindsay has been responsible for Booker’s Butchery Training Programmes since 2015 and has developed great working relationships with the Butchery Operations team to drive all aspects of training. She has been instrumental to improving all aspects of the company’s training structure including launch days, workbooks, workshops, training assessments and graduation events. The company says that Lindsay genuinely cares about the quality of training that her colleagues receive and was instrumental in changing the way trainees were assessed, taking this from a remote, document-based assessment into a process that is engaging and interactive.

Sales Adviser Price & Fretwell Starting without any prior meat experience, Lynsay is now a senior internal sales member and has become an integral part of the Price & Fretwell team. Her nomination describes her passion for the job as infectious and that it played a huge part in Price & Fretwell being confirmed as a Catering Butcher of the Year Finalist in the Meat Management Industry Awards. Colleagues say she is adored by other team members and the company’s customers. Her ability to establish long term relationships with customers and manage a growing customer base is described as second to none.

Head of Quality and Technical Innovation
Foods Connected

Grace has a career built on working across all aspects of red meat supply chains and her knowledge of ‘farm-to-fork’ considerations is, say Foods Connected, industry leading. She brings her experience and expertise to the job on a daily basis, and by doing so can assist suppliers / manufacturers and retailers that work with Foods Connected to drive initiatives that integrate data capture, traceability and business insight, to develop and support transparent and robust supply chains. Grace is described as an insightful presence providing great support to work colleagues and clients alike.

Sales Executive
Foyle Food Group

Joanne’s proposer says she has worked with Joanne for many years both as a colleague and more recently as a customer of hers. Described as incredibly hard working Joanne is also said to be a pleasure to deal with and has a great personality. Joanne has been involved in the meat industry for many years and undoubtedly deserves recognition by participating in the Women In Meat Industry Awards, recognising the good work she does servicing butchers and wholesalers throughout the UK and Ireland.

Head of Leadership Development
Pilgrim’s UK

Siobhan is passionate about identifying and nurturing talent within the organisation. Having introduced Pilgrim’s University, comprising a suite of more than 2,000 online courses, as well as mentoring schemes to match new talent and experience, Siobhan is driven by ensuring both new and existing team members feel motivated and challenged. Recognised as an inspirational leader, Siobhan is reported to have made a marked difference to the business’ learning and development (L&D) programmes.

Quality Assurance
Lynas Foodservice

Quality assurance plays a big part in the  Lynas Foodservice business. A quick visit to the company website confirms that its aim is simple, ‘to serve our customer with the best product and the best service we can provide’. Clare is described as playing her full part to achieve excellence and is extremely passionate about her job. She is very hardworking and self-motivated and colleagues readily confirm she is devoted to her job.

Senior H&S Officer
ABP Group – Birmingham

Jemma has been with ABP for over five years and has embodied what it takes to be a leader in the field of health and safety, and training. Originally recruited from M&S to fill one of two new H&S officer roles, Jemma quickly progressed to her current position of senior H&S Officer. She comments: “I am constantly trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and develop myself as both a leader and as a health and safety professional. I completed the ‘Women in Leadership International’ course in June of 2020 in order to further develop my leadership skills in preparation for the future. Colleagues confirm that Jemma has a ‘can do’ attitude and sees challenges as learning experiences on which to build and grow from.

Butcher Becky’s Butchers Becky has built up her own business in what were redundant buildings on the family farm. Since the first Lockdown the shop has grown in size and in volume of customers. Becky’s aim is to provide good quality local products in her shop including a variety of different flavour sausages, burgers and pies. Apart from the shop her private butchery trade has increased with livestock owners travelling across Essex and Suffolk to get their produce butchered and packaged professionally. Customers and colleagues agree that she is an absolute credit to her chosen career.

Commercial Manager
Dalehead Foods

Grace is responsible for commercial management of the gammon category, the easy to cook category and the BBQ category within Dalehead Foods. The company confirm that Grace has consistently looked at ways to demonstrate innovation and leadership. A good example goes back to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when Grace developed new solutions to help respond to the pressure created by customer demand, and actively led the response by the company to distribution challenges. Her nomination confirms that Grace remains eager to learn and has made a significant impact on the business during the short period she has been employed.

Business Development Manager Buitelaar Group Despite joining Buitelaar during a global pandemic, Annabel has shown true resilience and devotion to the company and the wider industry. She leads a brand new marketing team and has undertaken a full rebrand and developed a new website. In addition, with significant input from Annabel, the business has expanded its meat brand range – Heritage Hallmark – and created an outlet for external calf sales. Annabel has been instrumental in developing an increased social media presence, now reaching over 45,000 on Facebook. She has created various graduate schemes and is a mentor for new entrants.