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Reynolds wins Foodservice Company Award at Brammy Awards 2011

Ian Nottage, Matt Jones and Paul Collins accept their Brammy Award from Adrian BarlowReynolds was pleased to accept the Foodservice Company Award at last week’s Brammy Awards.  The prestigious annual Brammy Awards are designed to celebrate Bramley apples which are grown only in the UK and are considered to be the best variety of cooking apples.  Now in their 18th year, the Bramley Awards recognise suppliers, caterers and retailers who have supported and promoted this quintessential British fruit.  

‘We were delighted to receive the Brammy Award for Best Foodservice Company,’ commented Ian Nottage, Chef Director at Reynolds.  ‘Reynolds is committed to supporting British growers and sources local products where possible and the excellent Bramley is a versatile cooking apple and a truly British product.’

Brammy Award winner for the second year running, Reynolds has continued to promote the apple since it won the Chairman’s Award at last year’s Brammy Awards.  A mark of its efforts, Reynolds has seen an increase in Bramleys usage amongst its customers as a direct result of its continuing work to highlight the fruit. 

Brammy AwardsReynolds regularly contributes recipes and features around Bramley apples to the media and works closely with its Bramley apple growers to market the apples through its product guide, on its website and during customer presentations.  Its Food Development team, led by Ian, develops innovative recipes in its Development Kitchen that incorporate Bramleys, tailored to suit customers’ individual needs.  Ian’s interactive menu presentations to customers help to showcase the value of introducing Bramley recipes onto their menus.  

The first Bramley apple tree was planted in 1809 by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in her garden in Southwell, Nottinghamshire and the same tree continues to bear fruit more than 100 years later.  The name ‘Bramley’ comes from the Brailsfords’ cottage’s next owner, Matthew Bramley, a local butcher who agreed to let nurseryman Henry Merryweather take cuttings and sell the fruit on the condition that the apples took his name.  Today Bramleys are grown commercially across Kent, East Anglia and the West Midlands and available year-round, representing a £50 million industry.