Charlie Bigham’s Quarry Kitchen
Quarry Kitchen produces every meal Charlie Bigham sells with fresh ingredients prepared daily.
More than 400 people work at the site and the company has focused in the past year on developing skills and capabilities within the team to deliver quality and efficiency.
The company has continuously invested in the business, which has seen an overall increase in Quarry capacity. This has been aided by the investment in a spiral cooler fed by an additional cookwell and two new high-speed production lines.
The company focuses on a complete and continuous program of Continuous Improvement (CI). He has established a cohort of CI leaders who provide problem-solving training and ongoing coaching to 22 team leaders.
Crust and Crumb Bakery
Crust & Crumb is based in Northern Ireland and manufactures gluten-free and commercial dough-based products at room temperature, chilled and frozen. It specializes in the production of private label pizza crusts, topped pizzas, flatbreads, tortillas, and garlic breads. It also specializes in the production of high-quality frozen and refrigerated bakery products for leading retail, foodservice, and manufacturing customers.
Working from his five production facilities, he produces all of his doughs from scratch, proofing them for up to 36 hours.
Its strategy has been to invest in facilities, people and processes. It operates its own wind turbine for energy, has invested in a wood-fired pizza oven fired with beech logs from renewable sources, and works with strategic partners who use their bakery waste to produce animal feed. Over the past year, the business has continued to grow with new international contacts. He recently bought a pre-made business that produces all kinds of garlic bread.
Raynor Foods
Raynor Foods is a fast growing UK manufacturer and supplier of takeaway food products.
The company’s strategy is to focus on product quality, food safety, carbon reduction and innovation. Raynor Foods is also focused on quality assurance and has created a new assistant quality manager position to support this.
Sustainability is at the center of all his innovations and he has worked on The Digital Sandwich project. AI-enhanced blockchain recording of product and process data helps reduce the “bullwhip effect”, currently responsible for a high proportion of waste in the supply chain. This innovation is capable of unit-level traceability throughout the supply chain and, in total, is estimated to increase productivity by 10% and supply chain waste by 14%.
South Caernarfon Dairies
South Caernarfon Creameries (SCC) is the oldest and largest dairy cooperative in Wales, farmer owned since 1938. It produces a wide selection of premium Welsh cheese. All products are produced and packaged on site at the Llyn Peninsula dairy using only Welsh milk.
‘Dragon’ is the flagship brand of the dairy. Their cheese ranges use Halen Mon Sea Salt, Penderyn Whiskey and partner with Llanfair Slate Caverns to mature their premium ranges. Their ‘Dragon’ cheese is also supplied for use in Cradocs Crackers, Tregroes Waffles and Jones’ Crisps. Take part in the annual #LoveWalesLoveTaste campaign that champions Welsh producers.
SCC manages the manufacturing process on-site at the dairy, giving you full control over the process and supporting your quality assurance systems.
The Excellence in Food Manufacturing Awards is also seeking nominations for the Business Leader of the Year Category.
The Awards for Excellence in Food Manufacturing will take place on Thursday 9 February 2023 at the London Hilton Bankside.
To book click here