About Sponsors & Partners
Our sponsors and partners are vital to the ongoing success of the Awards. They allow us to collectively recognise that alongside food and drink producers, a whole host of other services play key and increasingly important roles, such as allergen testing labs, ingredients suppliers, distribution companies, B2C webshops and more.
Each year we are proud to work with organisations that have been with us from the very beginning, as well as welcoming new companies, eager to get involved in the free from world. Find out more about us
We choose our sponsors and partners with care – and they all have something to offer you whether you are a business or a consumer.
The Free From Awards must remain accessible to all sizes of food and drink producers. As a result, we keep our prices lower than other mainstream food and drink awards with the help of our sponsors. Our partners enable us to spread the word across the sector, whilst also sharing their expertise with our entrants
Our entrants get the very best value, enabling us to bring in the best judges from all over the country. Every product entered can get tailored feedback. We have a growing consumer audience; a very valuable commodity and adding incentive to entrants!
About Sponsoring
What are the benefits of sponsoring?
We have evolved our sponsorship opportunities at the request of brands and other associated industries:
- Become familiar with the hundreds of entrants, consumers, bloggers, press and judges
- Demonstrate your commitment to one of the largest growing sectors of the UK food & drink market
- Create business opportunities by networking within the ever-growing, extensive free from community
What could a sponsorship package include?
We are uniquely placed to engage with both industry and consumer audiences via owned digital and social channels, judging sessions and our Awards’ Presentation Party.
- Inclusion in social media posts across our platforms which have a combined following of over 20,000
- Unique content creation that will be used on our platforms and outside
- Features in our regular email newsletters and awards updates
- Your company or brand logo in multiple locations on our website, at the Awards’ Presentation Party and at any consumer or trade events we attend during the Awards year
- Taking part in the judging for the sponsored category
- Complimentary tickets to the Awards’ Presentation Party, joining free from industry players in celebrating along with the winners as they are revealed
- Presenting the award for the sponsored category (any photos/videos will then be available for your use)
How does sponsorship work?
Objectives and budgets will vary and we offer a range of opportunities from headline sponsorship to basic packages. We want to get to know you and your aims, working together to create unique opportunities that best fit your brief.
If required, we can offer payment plans to accommodate budget phasing and cash flow.
Interested to know more?
To raise your exposure amongst the free from community and to discover more about what collaborating with the Free From Awards could mean for you and your brand, please get in touch.
Our Sponsors
Oakland International – Working together to deliver solutions that make a difference
Oakland’s reputation is built on delivering the best customer focused, reliable, and flexible multi temperature storage and logistics service, designed to help suppliers and manufacturers cope with peak seasonal demands, taking the pressure out of the whole supply chain process.
Oakland customers choose their innovative sustainable supply chain solutions time and time again, knowing they are in good hands. Their depots are strategically located within the UK and Ireland, offering a range of value-added services encompassing Contract Packing, Food Tempering, Direct to Consumer (D2C), Distress Load Management, food and drink brand development support via Acorns Trade Partnership, and Border and Customs support.
Romer Labs – Making the World’s Food Safer.
Romer Labs is a leading global supplier of diagnostic solutions for food and feed safety. They offer a broad range of innovative testing solutions and services covering mycotoxins, food pathogens, food allergens, gluten, GMO, veterinary drug residues, and other food contaminants.
SGS’s allergen centre of excellence, based in Hebden Bridge, UK, offers comprehensive testing and monitoring assessments which are designed to form part of your food allergen control program, wherever you are in the food supply chain. Their flexible accreditation scope means they can quickly add further testing solutions to their portfolio. Providing services spanning the entire food supply chain including testing, audit and certification, inspection, regulatory compliance and advisory services, social and sustainability services, supply chain and customized solutions and training.
Unismack – The House of Snacks
Unismack has been a producer of great tasting, healthier snacks for over 15 years – all products are made with carefully selected, better-for-you ingredients which are perfect for our ever-changing and health-conscious world. Using ingredients such as lentils, chick peas, cheese and wholegrain rice – we offer a wide range of crackers, chips, crisps and bakes with higher levels of protein, calcium or fibre to suit any dietary requirement. Their own a dedicated gluten, nut and egg free factory and understand that all snack products also need to be really tasty to succeed. The strength of their team, controls and food technology experience provides NPD and production excellence, maintaining and growing long-term customer partnerships across the globe.
The Asda Free From range includes a wide variety of products for people with dietary needs, such as gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free diets. The range covers staples like bread and pasta, ready meals, snacks, and sweet treats. ASDA aims to provide these options without compromising on taste or quality.
Nairn’s – Delicious oats, endless possibilities
Nairn’s have been baking in Scotland with pride and imagination since 1896 and believe the simple natural goodness of oats is for everyone to enjoy. They lovingly bring together the finest quality gluten free oats with real, natural ingredients and over a century of expertise. Whether it’s a quick snack or something more substantial, their deliciously simple range has something for the whole family – they taste so good you’d never know they were gluten free.
Tesco – Freedom to enjoy the foods you love
Tesco want everyone to enjoy the foods they love. That’s why Tesco’s Free From range champions delicious and inspiring foods across a wide range of products to help take the stress out of shopping and preparing so you can enjoy the food not the faff. Their chefs and experts are continually listening to you and innovating to create high-quality award-winning food that is packed with taste. They are passionate about Free From which is why they are delighted to sponsor Start Up of the Year to help other businesses develop Free From products.
Creative Nature Superfoods – Delicious Without Doubt
Creative Nature is one of the UK’s leading Allergy-Friendly brands, focused on cutting out all the 14 most common UK food allergens and manufactured in allergy-safe environments to avoid the need for ‘may contain’ warnings. With multiple industry-leading awards like The Grocer, Quality Food, Great Taste and of course Free From Food Awards, Creative Nature have proven that removing allergenic ingredients doesn’t remove the taste or enjoyment of a product.
This Way Up – designing a healthier future
On a mission to create positive change and build a healthier future, improving consumers lives, as well as the long term health of the planet. They believe the best way to achieve this is through ‘boundless creativity’: curiosity, positivity, open-minded collaboration and the limitless power of imagination. Asking people to ‘buy into’ a better world starts when you design it. But this isn’t just about designing brands that offer better nutrition, immunity or fitness. It’s about the promise of improved well-being in the broadest sense – positive mental health, human equality, eco-diversity and sustainable living. Idealism is nothing without realism and numbers speak volumes. They are proud of the commercial successes associated with their work. So in each of their case studies you’ll instantly see the metrics that matter.
About Partnering
What are the benefits of partnering?
We have evolved our partnership opportunities at the request of brands and other associated industries:
- Become familiar with the hundreds of entrants, consumers, bloggers, press and judges
- Demonstrate your commitment to one of the largest growing sectors of the UK food & drink market
- Create business opportunities by networking within the ever-growing, extensive free from community
What could a partnership package include?
We are uniquely placed to engage with both industry and consumer audiences via owned digital and social channels, judging sessions and our Awards’ Presentation Party.
- Features in our regular email newsletters and awards updates
- Your brand logo on our website
- Taking part in the judging
- Presenting an award at the Awards’ Presentation Party
How does partnership work?
We operate our partnerships on a ‘like for like’ basis, and are happy to discuss what that could mean for you individually.
Interested to know more?
To raise your exposure amongst the free from community and to discover more about what collaborating with the Free From Awards could mean for you and your brand, please get in touch.
Our Partners
The Allergy & Free From Show is the only dedicated health show focused on the free-from market in the UK.
A family show frequented by thousands of adults (of all ages) and children. Visitors are decision-makers on household spend, plus influencers on spend beyond their household (huge additional word of mouth reach).
This is an opportunity for brands to engage directly with customers to get feedback, gain share of wallet and disrupt buying behaviour. Visitors who attend are there to decide what products they like, which brands they trust and where their purchasing loyalty lies. They are also there to buy products.
Anaphylaxis UK – a brighter future for people with allergies
Anaphylaxis UK is the only UK-wide charity operating solely for the growing numbers of people at risk of serious allergic reactions and anaphylaxis. While there’s no treatment or cure for anaphylaxis, by providing information, training and support, they support a brighter future for people living with serious allergies. Their mission is to create a safer environment for everyone with allergies by working with and offering training for the food industry, schools, pre-schools, colleges, health professionals and others.
Bread & Jam – a vibrant community of the UK’s most exciting emerging food & drink brands.
Bread & Jam began in the autumn of 2016, as a festival for food &drink brands to network, learn from each other and scale up fast. Today, Bread & Jam is a vibrant community of the UK’s most exciting emerging food & drink brands and has become the first port of call for anyone looking to launch, grow or scale a fast growth food & drink brand.
Food Sauce Media (Spill the Beans)
Food Sauce Media is a fast-growing online platform that uses social media to showcase great products and support independent brands and start-ups. Food Sauce Media exists to connect food fans, businesses and bloggers. They are the home of good food online. Their unique and original content is focused upon food-related articles and news, panel events, workshops and popups, product and experience reviews, video content and reviews written by a trusted panel of guest bloggers and industry individuals. What to expect at Spill the Beans: our foodie events are the perfect opportunity to get your amazing food products in front of a range of supermarket buyers, so take your business to the next level at Spill the Beans!
Free From Festival – the UK’s first food festival that focuses on people intolerant to gluten and dairy (and other top 14 allergens.)
With the rising number of people developing dietary needs, FFF is a popular event to expose your brand to a niche audience. If you are interested to exhibit please click here to register your interest. Events take place in Bristol, London and Birmingham.
PLEASE NOTE: All products sold at the event need to be 100% gluten-free (made in a coeliac friendly kitchen with no risk of cross contamination with gluten) and also dairy-free. Please only apply if you comply with these criteria.
Free From Food Expo – Europe’s only dedicated free from and functional food trade show and conference.
Free From Food Expo, a leading innovation international platform for the free from, organic, vegan, functional and healthy ingredient food industries, is a uniting force bringing together eminent international food manufacturers, distributors and local key decision makers in the retail, food services, catering, wholesale, and all other ‘Free From’ & Healthy Ingredient distribution channels. Free From Food events boast an impressive record of over 350 exhibitors & 9,000+ retail and food manufacturing professionals from more than 110 countries at their international editions: Vienna, Dubai, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Bangkok.
Food Matters Live – to inspire a better future for food by stimulating industry innovation, technology and people.
Food Matters Live aims to inspire a better future for food by stimulating industry innovation, technology and people. Their events are known to be the most highly targeted in the Food & Drinks industry.
Gluten Free Glee is an online review and community platform for the 10% of the UK population living gluten free; think TripAdvisor but for gluten free! Eating out with an intolerance or an allergy can be extremely challenging and it usually involves doing significant upfront research, so that’s where they come in. With their online app, you’ll be able to search, find and review places based on their gluten free friendliness, helping you eat out with confidence. Gluten Free Glee is set to launch soon so head over to their website to sign up now and be notified when they go live.
A specialist training and consultancy service supporting food businesses with allergen management, food safety, and best-practice implementation. Through their Food Allergy Aware Certification Scheme, they help Food Business Operators improve standards, strengthen compliance, and build confidence in delivering safe meals for food-hypersensitive customers. As part of this journey, they signpost and recommend trusted free from suppliers, and because they know one size does not fit all. Their tailored approach ensures that businesses of every size can progress at a pace that’s both realistic and affordable. If you’re looking to raise your allergen management standards, explore their certification scheme today.
IFE – International Food & Drink Event
For more than 40 years IFE has sat at the heart of the food and drink community, welcoming 30,000 retailers, wholesalers, and foodservice professionals to taste, test and source products from a global list of producers. Taking place annually in March at ExCeL London, IFE, the UK’s largest food and drink trade event, provides producers with the perfect opportunity to showcase their latest products to thousands of buyers who are all sourcing new and innovative products to enhance their businesses. The Free From Pavilion which is situated within the Health & Wellbeing Section to ensure Free From suppliers stand out to relevant category buyers from across the food and drink sector.
Jane is a food industry expert who with her team helps food & drink businesses by providing growth support and knowledge while connecting you with the right people and carefully curating teams of industry specialists to help fast-track your business success.
Jane has a passion for helping food & drink businesses grow in the most effective way to maximise their profits. Over the years Jane and her team of food industry experts and business growth consultants have helped thousands of food and drinks businesses become established successful brands. Jane and her team are waiting to hear about your journey and discuss how we can work together to grow your business.
Kitt Medical – Adrenaline Pens + Training + Emergency Kitt. All-in-one service.
The new standard for allergy care. Providing schools and businesses with emergency adrenaline pen Kitts alongside accredited online training, all-in-one annual subscription service.
Love Free From curate discovery subscription boxes: each month, you get a selection of 12 or more snacks, as well as condiments, cooking/baking ingredients and drinks, 2 recipe cards, samples and discount codes and a mystery gift too, from different free-from producers around the world. You can also buy just the one box rather than sign up for a subscription. It’s a great way to try new products that will fit your diet, and the contents of every box is a surprise. They have three main options – gluten-free, gluten- and oat-free, and gluten- and dairy-free– plus others.
Natasha Allergy Research Foundation
Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse launched The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation following the death of their 15 year old daughter from a food allergy in 2016. The foundation is dedicated to funding medical research; it aims to identify the underlying causes of why increasing numbers of people are being diagnosed with food allergies and also to researching new and viable treatments to improve the lives of those who are diagnosed. It’s focus is also to highlight and lobby for necessary law and/or policy changes that are necessary in order to protect the allergic population and to raise allergy education and awareness across society. Natasha’s Law is now a fully enforceable UK law and a testament to her parents’ hard campaigning; it is the closure of a food-law loophole that was directly endangering allergic people’s lives. The foundation’s mission is to protect and highlight the needs of our food allergic population and to offer hope to the 2 million plus people living in the UK with a diagnosed food allergy.
Natural Brand Works – Build your brand with the power of experience.
Natural Brand Works works with owners of eco-friendly, organic, and natural products to grow their businesses and solve problems. You’ll get personal, expert advice. Let their brand building, import/export, U.S. and International Natural & Organic Trade Show experience introduce your big idea to the world. Natural Brand Works is the U.S. & Canadian exhibitor sales agent for three of the largest International Natural & Organic Products Trade Shows held in Europe, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and Australia. They offer peace of mind, a compelling benefit for new founders and existing brands.
Every day brings new opportunities and challenges for CPG companies. You will get a fresh perspective with guidance in startup, sourcing, packaging, sales, strategy, marketing, and logistics. They provide brand strategy and product development support for food, beverage, beauty, health, home, and wellness categories. Natural Brand Works is a trusted advisor to clients in all aspects of brand building.
Natural & Organic Food Show – the home of natural and speciality food & drink
Welcoming 1000s of key retail buyers from across the industry, this trade show is the place to get your products stocked by major retailers and grow your brand. You can join the hundreds of exhibitors already signed up, by booking a stand.
Including a number of initiatives to make it easier than ever to make these connections, including ‘Meet the Buyer’ initiatives with Holland & Barrett and Whole Foods Market’s buying teams. Also, a Hosted Buyer Programme which will bring the UK and the World’s highest spending buyers to the show, to find their next best seller. Could one of them be yours? There is no other place like the Natural Food Expo – the industry’s key meeting place.
Nordic Organic Food Fair – The essential trade event for organic & sustainable products
Speciality & Fine Food Fair – The UK’s leading showcase of artisanal food and drink
SFFF is the home of fine food & drink discovery for buyers from across the retail, hospitality, foodservice, manufacturing, import & export, and wholesale sectors. Whether you’re looking for product inspiration for your business, or you’d like to learn the latest trends and insights from top industry experts, you’ll uncover the ideas you’re searching for at the Fair!
Sustainable Kitchen Consultants
Sustainability Business Consultants for Hospitality: Sustainability and Nutrition trained Chefs and supply chain experts, with 40+ years combined Hospitality experience, and strong Sustainability credentials. Sustainability solutions for your entire operations from Back of House to Front of House to Customers.
The Curious Mentor – mentoring people and organisations to inspire curiosity and bravery.
Curious? Curious as in interested in the why things are as they are and what we can do to change them for good. adjective: inquisitive and eager to learn. Not curious as in ‘sinister being’ or ‘odd’.Mentor? Bringing knowledge, skills, understanding, compassion, hope and creativity to help you thrive. noun: an experienced and trusted advisor. verb: advise or train
TickEat Ltd is a pioneering procurement and solutions partner dedicated to the travel and leisure sectors. For over a decade, we have connected buyers with innovative suppliers, helping airlines, trains, cruise lines, lounges, and hospitality providers discover products and services that elevate their customer experience.
As the only service provider focused primarily on travel, TickEat goes beyond traditional sourcing, we deliver tailored strategies, masterclasses, curated events, and powerful partnerships that save time, drive innovation, and create lasting industry relationships.
Trust Diner – Shared allergy experiences for safer choices
A free, community led platform that helps people with food allergies find genuinely allergy friendly restaurants and review airlines too making it safer when flying. It’s built around clear allergy ratings, simple filters and honest reviews from people who live with allergies themselves, so you can feel more confident when eating out.
It was co-founded by Dan and Jacob, who both live with severe food allergies and understand first-hand how scary eating out can be. Trust Diner is already live in the UK and Ireland, and Australia. Since December, the community has shared over 600+ allergy reviews, helping others feel safer and more confident when choosing where to eat. Trust Diner is completely self-funded and will always remain free, because no one should have to pay to eat out safely.
What Allergy – Allergies, Anaphylaxis, Eczema, TSW and Asthma
What Allergy is written by Ruth Holroyd who is allergic to many things, including nuts, dairy, soya, wheat, latex, nickel, dust and pollen. Ruth has been blogging now for many years, since she first created What Allergy back in April 2009. Since then her blog was voted in the Top 5 UK allergy blogs and in the Top 10 UK Health Blogs by Vuelio and regularly gets between 20-30,000 unique visits a month with some blog posts getting hundreds of comments each. She won the Free From Hero Award in 2021 and the blog regularly wins awards. Author of ‘Anaphylaxis: The Essential Guide: An Action Plan For Living With Life-Threatening Allergies and The Shape of Skin, poems for eczema, Ruth is passionate about raising awareness of allergies, anaphylaxis, eczema, topical steroid withdrawal and asthma; all life limiting conditions. She wants to help others feel less lonely, normalise people’s views and perceptions and promote positive living. Ruth has been in TV, speaks regularly on the radio and has also cmapaigned at the Houses of Parliament to help raise awareness about allergies, anaphylaxis, asthma, topical steroid withdrawal and eczema.
Yumbles – Eat. Enjoy. Thrive.
Yumbles is a curated online marketplace exclusively featuring the very best artisan and independent food & drink producers in the UK. They provide a thriving and growing direct to consumer platform for producers getting their brand and products in front of over 3 million consumers shopping on Yumbles every year. What’s more, they work uniquely with their hand-picked sellers to help them succeed providing extensive support, marketing, seller events and additional.