Elite Meat in Starbeck, Harrogate, is celebrating a high profile triple awards windfall. The High Street shop has been crowned the Best Family-Run Butchers in the UK and also scooped another brace of top-notch Great Taste Awards.
The best shop accolade comes in the 2019 UK Enterprise Awards, run annually by SME News Magazine and open to businesses the length and breadth of the nation.
The awards are given solely on merit and commend those most deserving for their ingenuity and hard work, distinguishing them from their competitors and proving them worthy of recognition.
Award Coordinator Jessie Wilson said:
The United Kingdom, as a business community, is renowned for its ability to thrive in diverse conditions and time of economic uncertainly. It is for this reason that we celebrate and showcase some of the UK’s strongest, most innovative businesses and business owners.
In the Great Taste Awards, organised by The Guild of Fine Food and described as the world’s most coveted food and drink awards, Elite Meat repeated a feat the shop last achieved in 2016 when this year picking up two 2-star awards for its Nitrate-free Smoked Bacon and Prime Yorkshire Pork Pie.
The annual showcase – 12,722 products from over 100 different countries were sent in this year – is judged by over 500 of the most demanding palates; food critics, chefs, cooks, restaurateurs, buyers, retailers and producers, as well as food writers and journalists, who decide which products are worthy of a 1-, 2- or 3-star awards. Less than 10% of entries schieved 2-stars.
Judges said it was great to see nitrate-free bacon among the entry,with comments such as “best bacon tasted for a long time…a good rasher with a meaty bite… well balanced and succulent… lots of porky flavour coming through.”
Adjudicators also praised Elite Meat’s Prime Yorkshire Pork Pie, describing it as “a really attractive pie with a lovely light sheen on the top and a gorgeous golden brown… a lovely crunch to the pastry with really good seasoning…the jelly is delicate and light with a great flavour. A good size pork pie with good balance of meat and pastry…a joy to eat…. a ‘proper pie moment.”
The meat used in both Great Taste 2-star products all comes from Yorkshire and outdoor-bred pigs from Elite Meat’s long-time supplier, Colin Piercy, Easingwold, near York.
Elite Meat was established by Gordon Atkinson in 1999 and the shop has clinched multiple awards over the years for its products.
Mr Atkinson said:
To be chosen as the Best Family-Run Butchers in the UK is without doubt one of our single most important honours to date, demonstrating the dedication we show to both our customers and our own business.
Great Taste Awards are widely acknowledged as the most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers – the ‘Oscars’ of the food world, the epicurean equivalent of the Booker prize.
As well as a badge of honour, the unmistakeable black and gold Great Taste label is a signpost to a wonderful tasting product, which has been discovered through hours and hours of blind tasting by hundreds of judges. It is the sign people can trust when buying from a local, quality retailer.Yet again, these latest glittering awards wins represent an all-round team effort.
