Top rural business award for Mash Direct

Specialist in vegetable and convenience foods, Mash Direct has been named regional winner of the Best Rural Food and Drink Business of the Year in Wales and Northern Ireland at the 2021 Rural Business Awards, sponsored by Amazon.

The Rural Business Awards (RBA) recognise businesses operating right across the rural sector, acknowledging the breadth and depth of opportunity presented by the country side, and celebrating the achievements of rural businesses.

 Clare Forster, Head of Marketing at Mash Direct, said: “It is a great honour to have won this award. The Rural Business Awards highlight businesses that value their rural roots and it is an amazing achievement for all our team to have won this regional award.”

 The awards reward businesses who value their rural roots, contribute to employment, infrastructure, and train young people.  RBA encourages entrepreneurial spirit in the rural sector and give recognition to excellence in business set-up, operation, and management.

Based on the Hamilton family farm near Comber in county Down, Mash Direct is now a successful supplier of innovative plant-based foods to supermarkets in Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland, the US, Middle East and Asia.

The awards were established in late 2014 by Jemma Clifford and Anna Price – two business owners who work in rural Leicestershire. The first awards were presented in October 2015.

The Rural Business Awards (RBAs) work with partner organisations large and small, Amazon is the headline partner for the third year running. Amongst other organisations to lend their support to the RBAs have been Openreach, Prysm Group via Farm Business Innovation, HSBC, DEFRA, the CLA, Fisher German, Avantigas, the FSB, and the IFB as well as many niche rural organisations and charities.

The aim of the awards is to celebrate the achievements of rural businesses, from engineering through to artisan food producers and professional services organisations.

The awards are decided by an independent panel of judges drawn from the rural business sector, official agencies and rural charitable organisations. The aim is to grow RBA to become the UK’s most prestigious and respected awards for rural businesses and to develop a strong network and community of rural business owners.