UK producer of vegan lunch meats and ready to eat plant meat pieces, Squeaky Bean, has been announced as Plant-Based Food Manufacturer of the Year at the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards 2021, through its parent company Winterbotham Darby. The popular brand developed a range of RTE plant-based chicken pieces in just 13 months, for which there is continuing consumer demand.
In response to this increasing demand, Squeaky Bean invested in a multi-million-pound refit at its Bicester based facility, to produce its existing portfolio of lunch meat slices as well as the new line of Chicken Style Pieces in flavours including Kick of Tikka, Sweet Smokey BBQ, Hot & Spicy and Garlic & Herb. The products are available in major UK retailers such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda.
The Food Manufacture Excellence Awards highlight category leaders and trendsetters for their benefit and the benefit of their customers. Across 13 categories, entries must demonstrate significant achievement in their category in at least three of the following areas: customer relationship building, quality assurance, environment and efficiency, skills development, and training and business development.
Judges praised Squeaky Bean for setting an example in adapting to a new product category in response to consumer demands, demonstrating a clear commitment to innovation, building customer relationships and producing a quality product, with an impressive pace of roll-out into retail.
Tom Faulkner, Head of Plant-Based at Winterbotham Darby commented: “This is truly a fantastic team achievement, of which I am incredibly proud. The project team undertook an enormous challenge and were set a tough deadline to deliver.
“Once again, our passionate, committed, innovative and enthusiastic team achieved all that we set out to do – with positive feedback from customers and consumers alike for the finished product. To win this award further endorses all that hard work and to be recognised independently is a fantastic boost for the team,” he added.
