Meet Our Sponsors and Partners 
Who are our Sponsors and Partners?
Our sponsors and partners are vital to the ongoing success of the Awards. They allow us to collectively recognise that food and drink producers are not the only players in the industry but a whole host of other services play key and increasingly important roles – such as the allergen testing labs, ingredients suppliers, distribution companies, B2C webshops and many many others.
Each year we are proud to welcome organisations that have been with us from the very beginning, as well as new companies, eager to get involved in the free from world. Find out more about becoming a sponsor or a partner.
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 Allergy & Free From Show is the only dedicated health show focused on the free-from market in the UK.
The show co-locates with Just V Show to deliver the UK’s largest, most engaged community of free from, plant-based and health-conscious consumers.
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.
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.
Caterlyst – helping you grow your foodservice business Caterlyst is the industry leading data and sales management platform for selling to the Foodservice and Convenience Sectors: combining high-quality data with a complete customer and prospect information system, in one easy solution. Does your business supply goods and services to places where people eat, drink or sleep away from home, or to the convenience sector? Increase your profitability through the combined power of Caterlyst’s data and our customer management platform. Helping you to make informed decisions and increase engagement with your customers. Their data is never static because they research, acquire and validate information every day to produce unrivalled market intelligence.
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. They are pushing the boundaries when it comes to allergy-safe flavours too with the invention of HazelNOT, a completely nut-safe chocolate/hazelnut flavour, allowing allergy-sufferers the chance to taste this incredible combination. Creative Nature’s products really are delicious without doubt.
Food Sauce Media
Food Sauce Media, formerly The Food Sauce, 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.
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: Dubai, Amsterdam 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. We provide high quality information, learning and connections through live and digital events, podcasts, videos, written features and articles, masterclasses and trends panels, together with a suite of newsletters.
Food Matters Live continues to be an ever-growing community of people from all over the world. Professionals who are embarked on the same journey towards a future defined by sustainable food production, and optimum nutrition and health for everyone.
Gluten Free Glee
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.
HASUK – Hospitality Allergen Support
A collaboration between Jacqui McPeake from Jac’s Allergen Management based in the north of England, and Caroline Benjamin from Food Allergy Aware based in the south. HASUK aims to make eating out for the FHS customer a safe and positive experience.
Food Allergy Reactions
In 2022 Caroline & Jacqui carried out a Near Miss Campaign to understand the journey of the FHS customer and their experiences, this culminated into a Report which was clear that issues were still occurring. In response to the report, they created a Food Allergy Reaction Reporting DB explaining how to report an issue to the venue and/or appropriate local authority. In addition, they are asking you or the Food Business Operation to complete the DB to enable them to capture a picture of issues across the UK, which we can share to prevent further incidences and fatalities occurring. The DB is not a name and shame tool, and businesses can be reported anonymously, it is about the How, & Why it happened and What can be done to prevent an issue.
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. Returning for 2024 is the Free From Pavilion which is situated within the Health & Wellbeing Section. This pavilion will ensure Free From suppliers stand out to relevant category buyers from across the food and drink sector.
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.
Low No Drinker Magazine – Cheers to a life less intoxicated
Low No Drinker is the no.1 UK magazine for the sober curious drinker, curated to help you live a life less intoxicated whether that’s for a night, a week, a month or a lifetime! It is your resource for all that is happening in the world of low & no alcohol drinks in the UK (and beyond). And because the magazine is both digital and hard copy you can access it anywhere and anyhow you want, whenever you need it. LNDM is published bi-monthly and filled with low/no reviews, interviews and industry news. Bringing you the best from the people, places and brands leading the low-and-no-alcohol revolution.
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. We 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, our deliciously simple range has something for the whole family – they taste so good you’d never know they were gluten free.
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 Food Expo – 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
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 well and truly out of the whole supply chain process. Sustainability is at the core of our business offering Innovative sustainable supply chain solutions. Oakland customers know they are in good hands, choosing our business time, and time again, as their preferred supply chain and logistics partner. Our depots are strategically located within the UK and Ireland, Redditch, Corby, Bardon in UK, Dublin in Ireland. We offer 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 through Eori at Folkestone and Worksop.
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 United Kingdom Ltd
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 tailor-made allergen validation programs to suit your needs, as well as offer a positive release service, and a wide array of 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.
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.
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.
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
Thomas Franks Ltd – The Ethical Caterer of Choice
Fresh food using nutritious, local and seasonal produce is the cornerstone of Thomas Franks Catering. As one of the leading independent caterers for both the Education and Corporate sectors we are all too aware of the importance in providing food that meets the needs for all dietary requirements including food allergies.
At Thomas Franks we believe in providing nutritious, seasonal food, using fresh, local ingredients and cooking from scratch. Our food is consistently exceptional, but Thomas Franks is about more than just food: it is about people and community. Good food is life-changing and life-enhancing, it brings people together, it supports local farmers and suppliers. Eating quality food in a well-designed environment has a lasting impact on physical health, nutrition, mental wellbeing and our sense of community or family.
Unismack – The House of Snacks
Unismack has been a producer of great tasting, healthier snacks for over 15 years – all of our products are made with carefully selected, better-for-you ingredients which are perfect for our ever-changing and health-conscious world. We have a dedicated gluten, nut and egg free factory, which offers a wide range of baked snacks to meet all snacking needs. Using ingredients such as lentils, chick peas, cheese and wholegrain rice – we offer a wide range of crackers, chips, crisps and bakes that can have the benefit of offering higher levels of protein, calcium or fibre to suit any dietary requirement. We truly understand that all snack products also need to be really tasty to succeed and that’s why tasty innovation and products are at our core. The strength of our team, controls and food technology experience provides NPD and production excellence, that allows us to maintain and grow long-term customer partnerships across the globe.
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.