FEA announces the Light Equipment and Tableware Award Winners 2025
New awards unveiled for LET Project of the Year and Independent Distributor
FEA's annual Light Equipment and Tableware (LET) Awards were announced at the LET Forum Charity dinner on 20th May. This year there were two new awards, for LET Project of the Year and for 2025's top Independent Distributor. They join the established Group Distributor of the Year, the Sales Professional award and the Donald Bird award. During the dinner guests raised over £1500 for Hospitality Action.
The Group Distributor of the Year, sponsored by Tablecraft, is open to larger companies and looks at areas such as their support for the industry, the breadth of products offered and their receptiveness to new ideas. The winner for 2025, announced by FEA's LET chair, Paula Sherlock, was Stephensons, with Alliance also shortlisted.
Parsley in Time was the first winner of the new Independent Distributor award, sponsored by FEM. This award recognises areas such as sales growth, promotion of LET products and support for the industry. Waltons and W H Howe were also shortlisted for the award.
This is the 20th anniversary for the LET Sales Professional of the Year award, which was presented by FEA chair Emma Brooks, who said, "The 20th is a milestone, so this is a particularly big year to win it!" The criteria for judges includes customer service and success in both winning contracts and developing LET sales. Along with their trophy and £500 prize, the winner gets a free place on FEA's CFSP training course. The milestone winner of the award was Rebecca Varley of Brakes Catering Equipment, who Emma described as ‘a consummate professional.' Rob Blunderfield from Parley in Time was also shortlisted.
On to the second new award, for LET Project of the Year, sponsored by Signature FSE. Criteria here included sustainability, design and aesthetics, and success in meeting the project's challenges. Judges also looked at how successful entrants were in terms of their collaboration with suppliers. Presenting the award, Paula commented, "This was a challenging set of criteria, and it's really important to recognise that collaborations like these deliver success for everyone." The inaugural winner of the award was United UK LLP, for their work on the Lounges 2025 menu launch - Paula highlighted how the company had landed an effective and successful roll out, at speed, across nearly 250 sites.
The final award of the evening was presented by John Cunningham, CE of FEA. The Donald Bird award is given to an individual for their outstanding contribution to the LET sector. John said, "This year's well-deserved winner is a British entrepreneur who founded a company that's now described as ‘the Amazon of the cookery business.' He was the unanimous choice of the judges." This year's Donald Bird award winner was Andrew Nisbet.
The LET awards are announced each year during the LET Forum, which is organised by the Foodservice Equipment Association (FEA). FEA is the independent, authoritative voice of the foodservice equipment industry. The association's LET Group also publishes a regular newsletter, Tabletop Trends, which is available free via email. For more about the Forum or Tabletop Trends contact FEA through fea.org.uk or #FEAuk.
The first picture with this release shows the Distributor LET Project of the Year presentation, with, from left to right, Paula Sherlock, Trica Grover and Chris Innes of United, and Emma Brooks. The second picture shows John Cunningham on the left with Richard Ebbs of Nisbets and the Donald Bird Award.
FEA represents nearly 200 companies who supply, service and maintain all types of commercial catering equipment - from utensils to full kitchen schemes. For more information on FEA visit www.fea.org.uk
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Light Equipment and Tableware Award Winners 2025-May-25
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