Meet the Judges
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Fiona Anderson
Customer Service Manager, Serco NorthLink Ferries
Best Food and Drink Tourism Experience
Fiona leads the Customer Service team at NorthLink Ferries Aberdeen . NorthLink Ferries sail daily from Aberdeen to Shetland and from Shetland to Aberdeen, these ships call in at Orkney frequently. NorthLink Ferries also sail from Scrabster on the north coast of Scotland to Stromness in Orkney. NorthLink Ferries are committed to using locally sourced produce wherever possible.
Fiona has a great passion for all things local and enjoy supporting local and small businesses in her area. Let’s shout about what we have on our doorstep!
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Peter Cook
Director of Food, Drink and Agriculture at Opportunity North East
Most Innovative Business
Peter Cook has led the Food and Drink team within private sector led and funded economic development body Opportunity North East (ONE) since 2016. The team works with food and drink businesses of all sizes across the North East to accelerate their growth, through one to one work and programmes covering entrepreneurship, market development, technology innovation, skills and funding. ONE works with businesses and all economic development partners to grow the economy of North East Scotland beyond oil and gas. Peter has also farmed in Aberdeenshire throughout his career. -
Yvonne Cook
Tourism Consultant
Food and Drink Tourism Experience
Yvonne is a University of Aberdeen modern languages graduate and has a diploma in Business German and French. She has over 40 years’ experience in tourism, starting her career in the Aberdeen Tourist Information Centre. She then held various roles in the north east area tourist board network including destination development, stakeholder management, TIC network management and destination marketing. With the merger of the area tourist boards with VisitScotland, she took on a national remit and held several Head of Department roles at VisitScotland. As part of her responsibility for strategic development of Quality Assurance schemes, she instigated and developed the Taste our Best accreditation scheme which recognises tourism and hospitality businesses which source and promote Scottish produce on their menus.
Yvonne joined VisitAberdeenshire early in 2018 as Head of Tourism Development where she was responsible for industry development initiatives, including helping food and drink producers develop new products and experiences. She has recently semi-retired and is now working as a freelance tourism consultant.
As a self-confessed foodie, Yvonne likes nothing better than sampling the north east food and drink scene.
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David Edgar
Food & Beverage Development Manager, National Trust for Scotland
Team of the YearFrom a young age David, from Aberdeenshire, worked in hospitality in positions both front of house and back of house. After leaving University in 2001, he became Assistant Manager of a local fine-dining restaurant that served six menus daily with a focus on using local and seasonal produce. In 2005 he moved to Melbourne, Australia managing a commercial water dispensing business. On returning to the UK in 2009, he spent some time managing a team working for one of Europe’s leading premium health and fitness groups. After that, his time was split working across Scotland, Northern Ireland and London supporting operational teams in the Commercial Property environment. In 2018, the opportunity to return to hospitality arose and David joined the National Trust for Scotland. David now works for the central Food & Beverage team as the Food & Beverage Development Manager. As well as looking after employee training, developing menus, and working with teams across the Trust’s properties to deliver day-to-day experiences, he works closely with suppliers to develop new products for the Trust.
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Chris Foy
Chief Executive,
VisitAberdeenshire
Best Food and Drink Tourism Experience
VisitAberdeenshire chief executive Chris Foy has over 30 years of tourism industry experience. Prior to moving to the North-east in 2017 his career included roles at the former London Tourist Board, London Development Agency, in the heritage attractions sector and at VisitBritain, the national tourism agency for Great Britain.During Chris’ time at VisitBritain, Scottish tourism was integral to his roles. As head of Visit Britain’s 2012 Games unit, Chris led the implementation of a strategy to spread the tourism benefits of the Games to the whole of the UK. After the Olympics, Chris led VisitBritain’s global network operations, before moving to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to work on the UK Government’s GREAT Britain campaign.
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Ben Hopkins-Lefevre
Founder, Hopkins-Lefevre
Best Drink Product
With 20 years of experience building e-commerce and subscription food & drink brands, Ben was instrumental in the turnaround of Virgin Wines and additionally Co-founder of Naked Wines. In 10 years, he recruited c. 800,000 new customers to buy wine online. He has since provided strategic support, growth planning and marketing partnerships to many retailers, including the likes of Hotel Chocolat, Beer52 and Gousto.
Now, Ben runs HOPKINS – LEFEVRE®, or H – L® for short, Food & Drink Marketing, a food & drink specialist agency founded on the principles of pro-active marketing planning, driving revenue and customer growth, and exploring the potential for membership or subscription that will engage loyal followers.
The H – L® team help founders and owners of food & drink brands to grow their businesses, stimulate sales through automated email marketing, and identify and deploy scalable growth opportunities.
Ben’s 1 on 1 consultancy for business owners additionally equips them with someone who’s been there before and can help them find the best possible path for their business.
H – L® Food & Drink Marketing work closely with a network of eCommerce partners, including Klaviyo, Shopify, Reviews.io, Recharge and Gorgias – giving invaluable support for brand founders when it matters most.
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Jamie Hutcheon
Manager, Business Gateway
Best Young Business
Jamie has over 17 years of success within the corporate and entrepreneurial environment in providing strategic direction within business development, marketing and sales. A senior Business Leader with experience across food & drink, education, hospitality and manufacturing industries. Jamie has built a food brand from the ground up and is an ambitious and creative individual passionate about the food and drink sector. Jamie works for Aberdeenshire Council and manages the Business Gateway Service along with some wider business support initiatives.
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Martyn Lee
Executive Chef responsible for innovation, Waitrose
Best New Food Product & Best New Drink Product
Martyn Lee has been working within food development for over 20 years, first within the restaurant sector and for the past 14 years in manufacturing and retail environments. Formerly Executive Chef at Tesco, and now Manager of Food Innovation and Executive Chef at Waitrose he has a passion for bringing new and exciting products to market; bringing together AI, collaborative techniques and data led insights to elevate the customer experience.
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Jane MacLeod
Senior Business Growth Manager in the Food, Drink and Agriculture Team at Opportunity North East.
Best Young Business
Jane has been with ONE for 7 years and designs and runs start-up, business growth, mentoring, leadership and Insights into New Product Development programmes.
Jane’s team includes the Market Insight Manager providing valuable support to businesses. She is passionate about the food & drink industry and strives to support companies fulfil their growth ambitions. She has hands-on experience in Product Development, Account Management, Business Development and Economic Development and prior to joining ONE spent 4 years as a self-employed Innovation Adviser and 12 years at Scottish Enterprise following a spell working in the food & drink industry. She is a graduate of RGU and holds a BSc in Home Economics, a CIM Diploma in Marketing, an ILM Diploma in Business Advice and Counselling and an MBA. -
Evelyn McGaw
Food To Go Sales and Development Manager, SPAR Scotland
Best Food ProductEvelyn has worked with CJ Lang since May of 2023 but has over 11 years of experience working in the Food To Go (FTG) category. She has 27 years of experience in retail, with 16 years as a Store Manager of multiple award-winning convenience stores.
In her previous employment, she worked as part of a team to deliver over 180 stores with a FTG mission, driving sales, any training requirements, and working closely alongside store teams . Now she brings this experience and knowledge to grow the FTG category in CJ Lang.
Evelyn’s aim is to work closely with store teams to ensure they are confident in the FTG offering and supports where required. She works hard to ensure the teams are confident in what they are doing while delivering great-tasting products for CJ Lang customers. The customer experience is the most important part of our journey.
She also works closely with all of the firm’s suppliers to bring new products to the market and to ensure CJ Lang achieves mutual success on any new lines introduced.
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Margo Milne
Director, DYW North
Rising Star of the Year Award
Margo has over two decades of management experience spanning various sectors. She is experienced in managing teams to deliver against business objectives.
A supporter of DYW since its inception, Margo has previously been involved as an employer partnered with Meldrum Academy, a member of the DYW North East board and an Employer School Coordinator.
She understands the vital role that employer-school engagement plays in helping young people to connect their in-school learning with post-school opportunities. Margo is keen to raise awareness of the benefits to employers of supporting young people and is a proponent of the Young Person’s Guarantee.
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Paul Northeast
Head of Procurement, Strachans
Best Young Business
When presented with the opportunity to take up an appointment with Strachans Ltd, based in Peterhead, Paul jumped at the chance of an exciting change of professional direction and a greatly reduced daily commute.
Starting with Strachans as a commercial Key Account Manager Paul was responsible for managing the business relationships with several high profile customers. After 5 years in the commercial department, Paul was offered the position of Head of Procurement within Strachans and excited by the further challenge, he took up the role which he continues to date.
A qualified scuba diving instructor, Paul likes nothing more than suiting up and exploring the undersea environment whether at home or in tropical climes.
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Lindsay Prior
AGS Culinary Lead, ESS, Energy, Government & Infrastructure
Best Drink Product
Lindsay is based at Aberdeen Airport managing the Northern Lights Lounge with additional responsibility for the food and beverage operations at Southampton Airport.
Coming from a strong background in the hospitality industry, initially starting out at Langans Brasserie London, Lindsay is a champion of local suppliers and has developed our aviation food offer, showcasing a strong, local provenance influence both in Aberdeen and the south of England.
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James Payne
Operations Manager and Sommelier, Douneside House
Team of the Year
As a former UK Sommelier of the year, and with over 25 years experience at the highest level working with Michelin starred chefs and passionate hotel & restaurant front of house teams, James currently curates the fine wine flight to accompany the tasting menu experience at Douneside House, Tarland Aberdeenshire. This role allows James to take Douneside’s guests on a culinary adventure by explaining each wines back story and how it should enhance their appreciation of a dish’s flavours and textures. His formative years were spent working in some of France’s most iconic wine regions and he has also visited South Africa and New Zealand to discover the ‘New World’ of wine. Based in Scotland for nearly 20 years, James enjoys using local produce, if possible, from innovative alcohol-free beverages to naturally produced salt and local honey. Two of the five marathons he has completed helped raise money for two blind children’s charities
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Alistair Reid
Business and Industry Team Manager in Economic Growth, Aberdeenshire Council
Business Growth AwardAlistair manages the Business and Industry team within Aberdeenshire Council’s Economic Development service.
The team’s remit is to support the key sectors in Aberdeenshire; food and drink, agriculture and fishing, energy, tourism, and creative industries.
Prior to joining Aberdeenshire Council, Alistair was a company director and also worked for a major high street retailer. A visit to Chelsea Flower Show this summer, will allow Alistair to cross an item off his bucket list. -
Carlyn Sinclair
Head of Consumer Industries, Scottish Development International.
Most Innovative Business
Carlyn is responsible for raising the export ambitions of over 400 companies across Scotland. Along with her team of 10 Trade Specialists, Carlyn has successfully applied over 25 years’ experience in global business to drive the economy and help Scottish businesses to think, compete and trade globally. Building on a successful career in both the private and public sector across multiple sectors and international markets, the programme of activity delivered Carlyn at SDI provides companies with support, insights and opportunity, and is fundamental in supporting and driving Scottish exports. Through practical advice and support, researching potential export markets, finding the best routes to market and overcoming challenges to accessing finance and setting up overseas, the team at SDI has been pivotal in delivering £400M of export sales from Scotland. The collaborative approach championed by Carlyn, ensures that the work of SDI in Scotland is aligned with the support from 25 international offices, many with dedicated food & drink specialists, as well as other key industry bodies as part of the Scotland Food and Drink partnership.
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Graham Singer
ESS Culinary Director for Scotland, Energy, Government & Infrastructure
Best Food Product and Rising Star Award
Over the last 15 years, multiple award-winning chef Graham Singer has been giving back to the next generation of talent. He’s worked for ESS, part of Compass Group UK & Ireland for over 14 years, developing the delivery of food operations, training initiatives and defining and managing the food strategy for both onshore and offshore.
In 2021 Graham led the COP26 culinary team delivering multi-site service requirements. It was Graham’s passion for food sustainability and Scottish produce, and years spent building relationships with suppliers across Scotland, that made him the perfect fit for the project. He has long been committed to this work and is responsible for giving many smaller producers access to the ESS and Compass supply chains.
Prior to his role at ESS, which he has held since 2010, Graham worked in executive-level positions in some of the world’s best restaurants and hotels where he won awards like Caribbean Chef of The Year and Bermuda Restaurant of The Year.
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Mark Spalding
Senior Trading Manager, C J Lang / SPAR Scotland
Best Drink Product
Mark has 40 years experience working within the wholesale delivered & convenience store sector.
Mark has looked after various categories during this time, with the key footfall driving categories of alcohol & tobacco being the areas where he has extensive experience. Mark’s primary mission is to support the 300+ SPAR Scotland retailers supplied by CJ Lang to meet both their and their customers’ needs, taking account of both regional and local demand.
Mark works closely and collaboratively with many suppliers to bring new products to market and to ensure success is achieved for all concerned.
Mark is a member of the SPAR UK off licence committee and also supports the Scottish Grocers Federation and Scottish Wholesale Association throughout the year, providing input and feedback concerning forthcoming legislation, and also acting as a judge as part of the annual SWA Achievers Awards.
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Sinead Thomas
Head of Brands & Communications, Scotland Food & Drink
Business Growth Award
Sinead has over 16 years’ experience in consumer and business to business marketing. She has previously held senior roles in VisitScotland, working with the Scottish tourism industry to inspire and motivate European visitors to come to Scotland. This included supporting the development of food tourism experiences for discerning European travellers. She has also gained experience in the financial services and charity sectors, before coming to Scotland Food & Drink where her primary focus is to grow the profile of Scotland’s food and drink industry at home in Scotland, across the UK and on the global stage. Sinead is honoured to play her part in celebrating and championing the wonderful produce Scotland offers.
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Craig Wilson
Senior Associate, CMS
Most Innovative Business
Craig is also a member of their Energy & Climate Change sector group and his main focus is mergers and acquisitions in the Energy sector. Craig also plays a key role on the firm’s EquIP programme in Scotland which seeks to work with exciting growing businesses with innovate and technological solutions for today’s fast developing world. Craig was born and brought up in Aberdeenshire and considers there to be significant opportunities for businesses in this area to develop digital sales and delivery strategies to further enhance the reputation of the North East Food and Drink on the global stage.