Around Noon take three Awards at "The Sammies"

Newry's Around Noon which counts Starbucks and Henderson as clients, is quickly becoming one of the top food to go manufacturers throughout Ireland and the UK.

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Earlier this month they picked up three Sammies – the UK industry’s top awards, winning against stiff competition.

The fast moving business is on course to grow by some 30 percent this year – from £14m to around £20m

Around Noon employs over 200 people at Greenbank Industrial Estate, beat competition from the likes of Marks & Spencer, Tesco, and Waitrose to collect an unprecedented three awards at the Sammies – the leading accolades of their kind in the UK.

Around Noon is a highly innovative and rapidly-expanding business, having almost tripled its workforce from 80 people just five years ago. And it is continuing to recruit.

The latest awards, which were presented at a gala ceremony in London, reflect the company’s strong commitment to innovation - Around Noon won the prestigious awards’ Innovation Category, Seasonal Category, and Overall New Sandwich of the Year award.

The accolades were for products by its Scribbles brand. The winning sandwiches were:

• Un-bleat-able Goats Cheese, Cranberries, Sweet Potato and mango MUNCH FEST (Overall New Sandwich of the Year)
• Avocado, Mozzarella and Sriracha Comin’ at Cha (Seasonal Category)
• Un-bleat-able Goats Cheese, Cranberries, Sweet Potato and mango MUNCH FEST (Innovation Category)

Gareth Chambers, CEO of Around Noon, says: “I was appointed CEO in 2012 and since then we have been putting in place a programme of transformation that has seen us recruit well over 100 new people, grow our turnover very significantly, and win new and exciting business.

“We see the award wins as an endorsement of our progress, but also an opportunity, due to the additional credibility it gives us in the likes of the London market. Currently, about £2m of our turnover comes from sales in GB, and we see a huge opportunity to radically increase that amount, which would have considerable benefits for our Newry base in terms of investment and employment,” he adds.

The Sammies 2017 – organised by the British Sandwich Association - were held in the Westbourne Suite, at the Lancaster London hotel. They are considered the Oscars of the sandwich business in the UK.