Community award winner
Norwich-based gourmet potato snack producer Kettle Foods has scooped the Community Partner Award at the prestigious Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Awards for its ‘Kettle Cares’ programme. The ceremony held at London’s The Brewery celebrated businesses across the food and drink industry and their contribution to the community, economy and environment.
Kettle Foods’ employees run the Kettle Cares community partnership programmes which invite employees to highlight a charity or community group to receive support from the company. For example, in 2013 an employee whose son has dyslexia proposed Indigo, a local charity supporting adults and children with dyslexia to receive support from the company. Kettle Foods made financial donations, organised a fundraising quiz night for staff, their families and friends, and funded a stand at the Royal Norfolk Show to support Indigo with awareness and profile raising.
As Kettle Foods has a diverse workforce, Kettle Cares receives requests not just for national charities but also from further afield, such as supporting the Philippines Typhoon Disaster relief efforts. To date, Kettle Foods has been able to support all applications made by employees under this programme.
FDF’s director of economic and commercial services, Steve Barnes, says: “The FDF Community Partner Award recognises businesses that have developed and delivered partnerships that benefit the communities in which they operate. With Kettle Cares, Kettle Foods has given its employees the opportunity to build real partnerships with the local community and direct fundraising and volunteering efforts towards causes close to their hearts. FDF congratulates Kettle Foods and the Kettle Cares Community Team for creating a fantastic initiative that offers demonstrable benefits to employees and the local community.”