Our partners

We are delighted to be working with some of the region’s best known businesses and organisations

Caterite

Leading food wholesaler Caterite underwent a significant transformation in 2024, yet its core mission remains steadfast: to deliver top-quality food, drink, and exceptional service to its customers.

Now part of the METRO family, Caterite joins a global foodservice powerhouse with annual sales of £25 billion. This acquisition strengthens Caterite’s capabilities in fresh produce, premium ingredients, and tech-driven solutions, positioning it at the forefront of innovation in foodservice.

Through a new partnership with METRO-owned Classic Fine Foods, Caterite is expanding its offerings and enhancing its Embleton distribution centre near Cockermouth, allowing it to better serve the growing demand across the North of England and South West Scotland.

With a long-standing tradition of excellence and a commitment to staying ahead of industry trends, Caterite serves more than 800 hospitality customers. Its close relationships with suppliers ensure it delivers the finest fresh, chilled, frozen and dry ingredients to top restaurants and hotels. Fresh food accounts for more than 50 per cent of its business, with produce sourced directly from more than 80 UK growers and 40 Cumbrian farms, reaching customers in under 24 hours from field to plate.

Caterite has heavily invested in technology to offer customers a seamless experience on its advanced e-commerce website. Innovations include Caterite Connect, a digital marketplace, as well as a suite of tools such as a warehouse management system, voice picking, vehicle tracking, electronic proof of delivery, multi-temperature vehicles and robust product information management.

Domestic customers can also enjoy the best of Caterite’s produce through its Click & Collect service, bringing fresh, local ingredients to the community.

Caterite remains dedicated to delivering high-quality goods tailored to customer needs, with a commitment to competitive pricing, swift delivery, and friendly, efficient service.

Kendal College

Cumbria and the Lake District are central to the UK’s culinary scene. It’s no surprise, then, that Kendal College is one of the leading hospitality and catering training providers.

Described by restaurant critic Jay Rayner as, “home to one of the most influential cooking courses in the country”, Kendal College has built a reputation for producing talented chefs, managers and industry professionals.

Located in the heart of one of the UK’s most popular tourist destinations, Kendal College offers students a wealth of opportunities to gain hands-on experience. From work placements to traineeships and apprenticeships with top-tier hospitality businesses, students graduate with the confidence and skills they need to succeed in the industry.

The college’s dedicated Lakes School of Hospitality & Management prepares students for the same high-pressure environment that awaits them beyond college.

Highly experienced tutors have worked in the industry at all levels and are dedicated and passionate about their roles.

Tutor expertise and reputation ensure that placements, guest chef events, and foreign trips to dining hot spots are available for students.

The team regularly hosts and supports high-profile functions and events at the college – including the Cumbria Food Awards – giving them the confidence and experience to advance in their future careers.

At Kendal College, you can study hospitality and catering through a range of part-time, full-time and degree-level courses, plus a choice of apprenticeships.

Cumbria Crack

A must-read for anyone interested in the county’s hospitality industry, breaking news website Cumbria Crack is where to find the latest info on food and drink businesses.

The website, which has been media partner for Cumbria Food Awards since their launch, has 540,000 monthly average unique users and 2.5 million monthly average page impressions, plus its Facebook page and group have more than 260,000 followers and members.

The Cumbria Crack team runs Business Crack, the go-to platform for business in Cumbria, with expert insight and analysis.

Cumbria Food Awards are also supported by the team at the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald and The Keswick Reminder, which have a combined total of 32,000 readers.

Booths

Booths, The Family Grocers, is a family-owned, independent specialist food and drink
retailer founded in 1847. The UK’s oldest grocer, it operates 25 stores across Cumbria,
Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cheshire.

Known for its irresistible food and drink, Booths champions high-quality, locally sourced
products, award-winning own-brand ranges and long-standing relationships with regional
suppliers. Building on its rich heritage, Booths is also expanding its role as a producer,
creating high-quality food and drink ranges to share with customers and new audiences
beyond its store estate.

Booths remains family run, with fifth and sixth-generation family members Edwin and Emma
Booth continuing to lead and shape the business.

The Cumberland

With more than 175 years of experience, The Cumberland Building Society remains purpose-led and socially responsible.

When it comes to commercial lending, the team members know their sector. For more than 30 years, The Cumberland has supported businesses across the North of England, Scotland and the Islands.

Discover how we can support you and your business

The Commercial division supports food and drink businesses, from retailers and processors to manufacturers and wholesalers.

The Cumberland’s team combines genuine industry expertise with the commercial know-how to shape transactions around a customer’s business and ambitions.

On offer are commercial mortgages, savings and current accounts, all backed by personal service, from people who take the time to understand their customers.

Grapevine

The expert team at Grapevine, a leading wine wholesaler, is dedicated to providing an exceptional experience for customers.

With more than 60 years of combined experience in wine, they’re always eager to share their knowledge and enthusiasm.

Founded in 1993 and based in Threlkeld in the Lake District, Grapevine is a local staple, with its delivery vans frequently seen navigating the scenic roads of the national park and Cumbria. Grapevine’s advanced e-commerce platform offers a selection of more than 1,500 products, including wines, spirits, ales, and soft drinks.

Rebecca Gibb, one of just 415 Masters of Wine, is wine development manager – making Grapevine the only wine company from Clitheroe to Edinburgh with a Master of Wine on board.

As an Approved Programme Provider with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), Grapevine offers WSET Levels 1, 2, and 3 at its Lake District headquarters. It also provides in-house training options for teams seeking a more casual approach to wine education.

Grapevine’s design team collaborates with bars, restaurants, and hotel owners to create eye-catching, professional menus that enhance the customer experience and highlight their unique offerings.

Thomson Hayton Winkley

Embedded in the local community, Thomson Hayton Winkley has been helping businesses and their owners in Cumbria with a wide range of legal issues for more than 160 years.

One of the largest legal firms in the area, it has a dedicated hospitality department and works with local businesses, from artisan food and drink producers to restaurants, retail outlets and venues.

The award-winning firm offers a fully rounded range of legal services, including transactional commercial and residential property matters, wills and succession planning, contract and employment advice and dispute resolution. Its aim is to make a positive difference to its clients’ businesses and their personal affairs.

Thomson Hayton Winkley’s offices are at Kendal, Windermere, Kirkby Lonsdale and at J36 Rural Auction Centre at Crooklands, near Kendal.

The Rural Law office at the auction mart enables the firm to maintain close links with the farming community and food producers and the firm is a supporter of Westmorland County Show.

Thomson Hayton Winkley’s work in the sector and its place in the local community contributed to it winning the professional business category of the national Rural Business Awards 2021/22.

The firm is also a strategic partner of Cumbria Tourism, which highlights its commitment to the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Westmorland Farmshop

Proper food and Cumbrian produce have been at the heart of Westmorland’s mission since
it was founded more than 50 years ago. The family business – which was started by John
and Barbara Dunning at their farm in Cumbria in 1972 – has developed to include unique
motorway services, including the much-loved Tebay, where local food and exceptional
produce mark them out as something special.

Today, Westmorland includes Tebay northbound and southbound; Gloucester services and
Cairn Lodge services, where the Farmshops and Kitchens celebrate both place and craft.
Westmorland Hotel; Rheged near Penrith and Junction 38, which is dedicated to HGV
drivers, make up the rest of the business.

Westmorland uniquely has its own in-house butchery and development kitchens and the
team prides itself on making the food it sells in their kitchens from scratch.

To encourage a skills based workforce, it has its own apprentice scheme, developing the talent of the future. The apprentices work right across the business, in the motorway service Kitchens, the development kitchens and the Westmorland butchery, where they learn how to break down carcasses and use the whole animal.

They spend time at Westmorland’s large-scale production centre, making sausage rolls and
soup, while at the hotel they are trained in a very different style of service. Meeting
producers and spending time on the Westmorland farm give them a full picture of where
our food comes from.

Lamont Pridmore

Adding value to its clients’ businesses is integral to Lamont Pridmore’s approach.

The firm of chartered accountants, tax and business advisers are tourism and hospitality specialists and work with a wide range of owner-managed businesses in the sector. A warm, friendly and approachable service is provided by knowledgeable staff who understand the challenges of running a food and drink business.

Thanks to its expertise and pro-active, innovative approach, the award-winning firm is able to offer a comprehensive range of services to meet its clients’ financial needs.

At the heart of these services is the desire to help clients to keep their tax liabilities to a minimum, improve their profits, increase the value of their business and invest their wealth wisely. Its aim is to help them understand the impact of their decisions before they make them.

With offices throughout Cumbria and in Carnforth in north Lancashire, the family-run practice aims to start where many firms finish.

Hawkshead Relish

Hawkshead Relish Company is rooted in the Lake District village that gave the business its name but is also a national and international success story.

Established more than 25 years ago by Mark and Maria Whitehead, production takes place in a 16th-century barn one mile outside Hawkshead village. The team continues to make the award-winning relishes, preserves and sauces by hand, albeit in much larger batches than when the couple first started the business.

Jars of products are sold in the UK and overseas – Hawkshead is working with a new company in Canada – and it continues to run its own much-loved village shop.

Hawkshead Relish Company has won many awards, including 70-plus highly regarded Great Taste stars.

The firm’s story began in 1999 when Mark and Maria started a café business in Hawkshead.

They made their own chutney and found it was in demand from café customers who wanted to buy a jar to take home.

Eventually the café was converted into a shop and production took place in a kitchen at the back.

Today the 30-strong team, who all live locally, makes more than 100 product lines and everything produced is vegetarian and free from nuts, gluten, additives and preservatives.

MD Jonathan Robb now works alongside Mark and Maria and their daughter, Izzy Whitehead, who is brand manager and a fellow director.

Mark’s great passion is to develop new ranges. Innovative products, such as Hot Beetroot Ketchup, which has a rare Great Taste two star award, are made alongside established bestsellers.

Traditional Westmorland Chutney was the firm’s first and top selling product until Mark developed a Black Garlic Ketchup which took off after it was featured on the BBC Radio 2 Drivetime show.

The range continues to evolve to take in two new pasta sauces, Christmas Ketchup, Ultimate Festive Chutney, Brinjal Aubergine Pickle and Kimchi Ketchup. They all received Great British Food Awards at the first attempt.

Mark, Maria and Jonathan are export ambassadors working with the Department for International Trade to share their knowledge with other businesses.

More? The Artisan Bakery

Award-winning and totally taste driven, More? was founded by chef Patrick Moore with the ambition to produce a real alternative to processed, quick fix food.

Patrick was baking sourdough bread long before it became everyone’s favourite loaf. From the award-winning gluten-free Muddee brownies and Lakeland Treacle Bread, to deliciously tangy and chewy sourdough pizzas, everything is made at the Staveley bakery, using the best ingredients, by people who care about the process.

The More? café downstairs is a hub for friends, business people and bikers who flock for soups, sandwiches, pies and pastries, sweet treats and fantastic coffee. The delicious food served downstairs is made upstairs. As Patrick said: “If it doesn’t taste great, we won’t make it.”

You may have seen the team on the Channel 4 documentary series about Tebay Services and the bakery at Staveley Mill Yard holds 16 Great Taste gold awards.

Business Finance Cumbria

Business Finance Cumbria is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting the growth and resilience of businesses across Cumbria through the provision of tailored loan finance.

With funding ranges from £25,001 to £150,000*, funding can be used for working capital, expansion plans, equipment purchases or any other legitimate business purpose. As a locally based and independent lender, all funding decisions are made in Cumbria by a team that understands the opportunities and challenges faced by businesses in the region.

*Subject to fund criteria

Cumbria’s food and drink sector is one of the county’s greatest strengths, combining innovation, craftsmanship and fantastic quality to create products that are recognised far beyond our borders. From artisan producers to established manufacturers, these businesses contribute significantly to the local economy while helping to showcase the very best of Cumbria.

Business Finance Cumbria is proud to support businesses that are investing for the future, creating employment opportunities and strengthening the communities they serve. By providing access to finance where traditional lending may not always be available, the team helps ambitious businesses unlock their potential and achieve sustainable growth.

Sponsorship of the Cumbria Food Awards reflects the team’s commitment to championing local enterprise and celebrating the exceptional people, products and businesses that make Cumbria’s food and drink industry such a success.

Herdwick Cottages

The team behind some of the best holiday cottages, lodges and glamping pods you’ll find anywhere in Cumbria, Herdwick Cottages was founded in Kendal in 2018 by Adam Stephenson and Terry Knipe.

They set out to do things differently: a more personal, less corporate service for property owners and a brilliant choice of stays for guests.

Today their portfolio has grown to more than 160 properties across the Lake District and Cumbria, from one-bed boltholes to 12-bedroom showstoppers.

But what hasn’t changed is the dedicated team of six, who know the region like the back of their hands and who’ll always pick up the phone with a recommendation, a laugh and a genuine love of this place.

Academy by Simon Rogan

This innovative culinary course is run by one of the UK’s leading restaurant groups in collaboration with one of the country’s leading providers of hospitality training.

Multi award-winning chef and restaurateur Simon Rogan and Kendal College have together designed a cutting-edge learning package designed to equip students with extraordinary skills and provide them with a strong foothold in the hospitality industry.

The paid course runs for 18 months and culminates in a fully expensed week-long stagiaire at one of Simon’s international restaurants, with paid for flights and accommodation.

Over the course of the bespoke programme, students work across the kitchens at Simon’s Lake District restaurants for four days per week, gaining an insight into the chef’s farm-to-fork ethos, as well as experiencing the unique setting of Our Farm in Cartmel.

The fifth day is spent at Kendal College, learning essential skills to develop a successful career and attain an accredited level 2 City & Guilds qualification.

Reeds

The long-established full-service marketing agency helps businesses stand out.

Its creative and hard-working team members drive commercial growth and results using their expertise.

From research and planning, to creative design, strategic branding, top quality commercial print and sign production, high-performance website design and development, engaging copywriting and effective digital marketing services, Reeds does it all.

The Reeds team gets to know each customer’s business, ambitions, marketplace and competitors, enabling them to deliver targeted and creative solutions.

Reeds has been in business for more than 140 years and has a proud history in Cumbria.

In 2024, the team announced a successful management buyout from H&H Group. The move marked the beginning of a new chapter and continued dedication to delivering exceptional quality and expertise for their clients.

The Reeds directors, Anthony Donnelly, Gareth Rylands and Jonathan Nagle have a combined 40-plus years of experience and in-depth insight into every part of the business. Its core values are high quality, customer care and innovation and they work to continually enhance their services.

Print operations feature cutting-edge digital technology and immaculate finishing, alongside impressive litho print capabilities.

The signs division continues to excel in bespoke project delivery, from concept to completion. Meanwhile, the web design agency is expanding rapidly, creating innovative solutions trusted by leading businesses, organisations and charities across the region.

High-end creativity paired with excellent customer service remains at the heart of Reeds, resulting in tangible results for businesses.

Plain Creative

Plain Creative is a Kendal based creative studio working with food and drink businesses across Cumbria.

From brand and packaging to photography, video and digital, they help independents stand out and grow.

They believe great food deserves great presentation.

MW Craven

Mike Craven is a multi award-winning and bestselling novelist whose Cumbrian based crime and thriller novels, featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw, have been translated into 31 languages.

The eighth in the series, The Killer’s Mark, was published in 2026, while a production company has optioned the TV rights for the Poe and Tilly series and Mike’s US-set series, about ex-US marshal Ben Koenig, has been picked up by a major streamer.

A standalone title, 101 Ways to Die in New York and Mike’s first young adult novel, James Bond and the Secret Agent Academy, are due to be published in 2027.

Born in Carlisle and raised in Newcastle, Mike spent 12 years in the Army before enrolling at Newcastle University and completing a degree in social work. He became a probation officer in Cumbria and rose to become assistant chief officer.

During this time, Mike survived a serious cancer diagnosis and rigorous treatment which helped reignite his love of writing. He has been a full-time writer since 2015.

Mike, who lives in Carlisle with his wife, Joanne, is a former Cumbria Food Awards judge.

A lover of good food and real ale, Mike’s Poe and Tilly books feature many references to Cumbrian specialities – including beer, coffee and pies – as well as the county’s specialist shops and restaurants.

Cranstons

One of the county’s best known businesses, Cranstons is an award-winning butcher, maker and local food retailer.

Established in 1914, it never stands still and continues to push forward to develop its retail stores.

The team at the Penrith production unit produces Cranstons’ own butchery and deli products, making more than 200 product lines, such as salads, cured bacon, roast meat, pies and cured bacon. Its best-selling Cumberland is among 20 varieties of sausage.

A humidity and temperature controlled maturation chiller is used to produce dry-aged beef.
Four food halls and two high street butchers are destinations for food lovers.

The flagship Cumbrian Food Hall in Penrith, which stocks specialities from more than 100 of the county’s food and drink producers, is home to Café Oswald’s, a 90-seat restaurant offering friendly informal dining and fantastic coffee, that’s known as a great place for brunch

From a travelling butcher’s shop to multiple industry awards, Cranstons is also known for its excellent customer service, led by 200 staff.