2009 Great Taste Awards open for entries

The Great Taste Awards helps smaller producers, who lack big promotional budgets, to gain wider distribution and increase sales. Winning foods carry the Awards distinctive logo and producers benefit from a month-long consumer promotion in hundreds of food halls, delis and farm shops. Last year saw some high profile foodies such as Mark Hix and Alex James were involved in the judging of the competition. The Rare Tea Company, Choi Time, The Gourmet Candy Company and Oddono's Gelati Italiani flew the flag for London with fantastic results in last year's competition, each winning the coveted 3-Star Gold Award, of which only 72 were awarded nationally. Melissa Choi from Choi Time, northwest London, said: "Winning so many Great Taste gold stars for all my tea products has validated what we've been saying from the beginning, that our high quality teas are not only good for you but they are also delicious. "It has certainly driven more sales in both the retail and wholesale side of the business. Having the Great Taste Awards stickers on the products gives them an edge as the customer is naturally drawn to the tea with the gold medals, like a wine." The closing date for entries is March 31. Forms can be downloaded from http://www.finefoodworld.co.uk/